AR:
In ten years, do you think that there will be an increase, a decrease or the same overall amount of public funding means for the arts in the US?

JH:
Same amount of public funding.

AR:
Which effects and consequences can you imagine regarding this situation?

JH:
Stasis.

AR:
In ten years, do you think that there will be an increase of private sponsorship for the arts in the US?

JH:
Probably not …. Unless things radically change and also if this culture gets wise to technology and creativity and just more of its own cultural value ….

AR:
Which effects and consequences can you imagine regarding this situation?

JH:
Stasis … or change … can only hope for change ….

AR:
Do you live from your art production as main occupation?

JH:
Hell no.

AR:
Do you need other income than that coming from your art production to make a living?

JH:
Yes.

AR:
Which kind of job/s are you holding?

JH:
Professor.

AR:
What is your contract for this/these jobs?

JH:
It varies ….

AR:
Which one of these jobs would you define as your main occupation or would you define your art production as your main occupation?

JH:
All the things I do I see equally.

AR:
As part of an art producing collective/initiative/organisation, how would you define your role and function in the team?

JH:
We are dormant right now but we bled into each others areas nicely although I was the writer, theorist and one of the conceptual team ….

AR:
When you are not part of an art-producing collective/iniative/organisation: Do you often cooperate with other artists and persons involved in creative production?

JH:
Yes …. I do a lot of work on my own but also a lot of collaborative work.

AR:
On which basis do these cooperations work in regard to content production and financial settings? Which forms of budget and work sharing do apply?

JH:
It varies …. Sometimes there is no money involved …. Other times we try for grants together as a team …. Other times I hire people on for certain aspects of the work as a programmer and collaborator ….

Clear roles and skills and cross over work, ideas and skills can really lead to amazing quality and community as well ….

AR:
Which function/s would you ascribe to yourself as an artist in the society you live in?

JH:
Overall … outside of the one I have in new media and locative media …. This is really hard to answer …. I wouldn’t want to ascribe a “purpose” … That sounds forced and marginalizing somehow …. There really doesn’t feel like there is any chosen purpose … at the risk of sounding naive it is to me really playing like a kid in a sandbox … This is true in all the things I do and even when I lectured on a panel at M.I.T. it was like we are a bunch of kids sharing what we made in the park at play …. That purity I never want to lose ….

http://www.datonet.at/kanonmedia/wulz_subclip5.mov

[AR:
.. Wenn Du[, Heidulf Gerngross] sagst, … wir bewegen uns heute … in einer Zeit der Selbstverständlichkeit, dann erinnert mich das auch ganz stark an Netzwerkgedanken: … dass du nicht mehr … von einem Standpunkt ausgehst, von einer Position ausgehst, von einer Wahrheit, von dem, was da als richtig zu gelten hat, ausgehst, sondern, dass es auch schon viel selbstverständlicher geworden ist zu sagen: es gibt immer gleichzeitig sehr viele Informationen, und es gibt ein Netzwerk an Informationen, und darin bewegt man sich …. - wo auch einerseits eine Subjektivität wieder verstärkt worden ist, aber auch - mitunter auch problematisch behaftet - so eine Egalität der Egalitäten, eine Egalität der Werte, wo es einfach in einem Bewusstsein nicht mehr so vorkommt oder gar nicht mehr vorkommt zu sagen: es ist richtig SO. Und das ist ja für die künstlerische Position durchaus auch etwas ganz Wichtiges ….]

HW:
Heute ist das eine Notwendigkeit mitunter. … Wenn man Kunst als Prozess sieht im 21. Jahrhundert - mit all der Problematik -, dann muss man Dinge auch offenlassen - können. … Und das haben wir entdeckt in der Moderne und in der Postmoderne: dass die Welt nicht fertig ist. … Das ist eine neue Position, die man eigentlich mit Freude auch leben kann.

Das Werk kommt uns auch etwas abhanden, weil das Werk zum Prozess wird. Ich sehe das eigentlich als grosse Errungenschaft unserer Zeit.

AR:
In your opinion, which role does a contemporary artist have in the social society you live in?

JH:
Autonomous yet connected, vital yet to an extent in certain contexts marginalized.

AR:
Which role would you define for yourself? As an artist, what would you define as your task/s in society?

JH:
Hmmmm …. Artist/Writer/Musician/Professor are the hyphenated signifiers …. The tasks are almost ephemeral … a flow and ebb from day to day, year to year …. It really is like science … question … search … research … marvel in conundrums and collisions … work … edit … redo … share … loop this.