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 ….

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.

AR:
Do you perceive art production as a profession or as a vocation or would you define the artist in a different way?

JH:
It can be a profession, a vocation, a vacation, something cathartic or just like breathing, something that just is there without question or any flowery ornate explanation ….

AR:
When thinking of “vocation”, could you please describe more closely what you mean using this term?

JH:
Calling … identity … simple that … while profession can be more ornate … a choice … working to progress ….

AR:
Would you say that the quality of art is defined by the added value created for a society?

JH:
No ….

AR:
Does the quality of art come from financial ressources?

JH:
… Sometimes it comes from almost nothing ….

AR:
Does the quality of art come from know-how?

JH:
Impossible to answer. That is purely subjective. What is know how? It could be a year of research, a flash of intuition or a mistake being caught and looked at and something being right there that inspires a line of thinking …. ( I used to read multiple books simultaneously to try [and] get that trigger in language … also by reading in diagonal and backwards scanning patterns or in totally unrelated areas at once …. Sometimes it led to interesting accidental metaphors and concepts ….. They then lead to an idea for a project or section of text created later ….)