In the early 90s, Andrea Zittel’s artistic investigations found her creating new strains of prize bantams by designing special “Breeding units”—one of which she exhibited at the 1993 Venice Biennale. Since then, she has turned her attention from selective breeding to the living habits of homo sapiens, designing furniture, garments, containers, living units and even an entire custom-made floating island, which, in her words, deal with “aspects of private space and personal experience”, most notably her own, as she is always her own guinea pig for all her designs. This month Zittel, who bases her “A-Z” home-cum-studio-cum-design lab headquarters both in Brooklyn and in the Southern Californian desert, is showing examples of her custom-designed structures for human habitation in Birmingham, in a disused space near the Ikon Gallery, and in London at Sadie Coles HQ.
The Art Newspaper: Every year since 1992 you have been making “Living units” and the 2001 version that you are showing at Sadie Coles is based on homestead cabins built in the Californian desert on the plots of land parcelled out by the US government in the 1940s and 50s. What attracted you to this prototype?
Andrea Zittel: I was intrigued by people’s desire to possess a territory of their own at almost any cost. Most of these homesteads ultimately failed because they stretched so far out into the desert that access was were difficult, and so were power and water. But so many people crave their own plot of the earth so much that, even now, they still buy these homestead cabins, fix them up and live in them until they are driven out again by loneliness and the extreme elements. I actually love the desert because it still embodies a true tension between nature and man, and it’s so extreme there that, most of the time, nature wins.
TAN: Now you are transplanting this “Homestead structure” into the very different environment of an art gallery in the centre of London.
AZ: One of my motivations to move out to the desert was that I hoped to build more experimental housing designs. But instead I have been surprised at how many arbitrary restrictions prohibit this, and how they make it increasingly difficult to build on a small budget. With the original homesteads, the government was practically bribing people to put up houses, but now they make it almost impossible. Sometimes I feel like I am being "overprotected" to death by building and safety restrictions! Anyway, the “Homestead unit” that I ended up making can, to the best of my knowledge, slip through these restrictions and could potentially be “put it up anywhere in the States without "asking permission”.
TAN: If I wanted to buy a “Homestead unit”, how would it work? Is it a limited edition or would it be unique to me?
AZ: Like the “Living unit series”, there will be a new model of "Homestead units" each year. I make as many as people commission during that year, but each one is unique. Usually, the steel frame is the same for each unit, but the panel inserts and interiors can vary. For instance, I made a unit for myself similar to the one on show at Sadie Coles, but I don’t have any glass in mine because in the desert it would be too hot—like a greenhouse. I put glass in the one for Britain because I’m assuming that someone would want to keep the heat in here. So things like that vary, and the furniture inside varies.
TAN: At the same time as your London show, you have also made a “Show home” for Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery, composed of 10 of your “A-Z cellular compartment units”, chamber-like boxes, each of which has a specific function—eating, sleeping or whatever.
AZ: The “Homesteads” and the “Compartment units” are based on two models of housing found in southern California that I think represent two particular human desires. The “Homestead unit” reflects the desire for autonomy and independence and the “Cellular compartment units” play off of mass housing and compartmentalisation. For instance, in new mass-built luxury homes, the phenomenon of creating more and more rooms with specialised functions—a gym, a washroom, servant’s quarters, etc—gives them greater sales value (even if people will never use really use them). It is also interesting how this compartmentalisation folds into all different aspects of contemporary living, from time schedules to compartmentalised living.
TAN: As with everything you make, you are both designing and testing these units by using them yourself.
AZ: Yes...before I came I actually figured out 10 functions for the 10 rooms. But now that I’m here and living in the space ,I’ve actually realised that there are other things that I’d rather have, so we’re changing a lot of the functions to meet needs while working and living here. For example, a lot of people are coming to visit and before there was just one bedroom so I’ve added two more...
TAN: When you move out and put the work on show, it will reflect the slice of time that you’ve spent living here? It is almost as much a diary of lived experience as a design project.
AZ: Yes, but I actually feel that everything I’ve ever made reflects some situation or need in my own personal life.
TAN: So, although the end products—whether they are a “Living unit”, a “Personal panel garment”, a piece of furniture or a container—may be utilitarian and minimal in appearance, they have emerged out of a process that has as much to do with emotion as with objectivity.
AZ: I think there’s a misconception about my work where people think that I’m addressing abstract ideals, but it’s not really the case at all. Usually I’m having some sort of personal crisis, and I think, “If I made this design, it would solve all of the problems in this situation.” If I look back at every piece I’ve ever made, I can identify what was going on that inspired it. When I look at the work of other designers, I feel that often their designs are put forth as being objective, but, in reality, they are also addressing their own subjective concerns. This subjectivity is the part that’s the most interesting to me.
TAN: Do you consider the distinctions between fine art and design to be irrelevant?
AZ: No, not irrelevant. I position myself as an artist because I’m fully aware that, as a designer, I couldn’t do 90% of what I do, because a lot of what I’m doing is experimenting with things that are more likely not to work out or are too subjective. I do think that design has a responsibility to make things that will function in a positive way in most people’s lives—the only authority that I have to answer-to is my own curiosity and sense of exploration. I feel like an empowered consumer—than a designer.
TAN: But you use the vernacular of design with your two showroom-testing grounds “A-Z East” in Brooklyn and “A-Z West” in California, in which you and your team both try out and show a range of end products.
AZ: Design issues in a general sense seem more relevant to me than most issues that come up in the art world. These are real concrete things that address our culture as it stands today. When I lecture, I always say that if an art historian 200 years from now is talking about this period in history, I’m convinced that they are going to talk more about architecture and design than they ever will about evolution in art. We get hung up on the distinction between art and design which is less interesting than looking at the issues that are in design and starting to use art to explore those issues.
TAN: Would you manufacture any of your pieces?
AZ: No. I’ve been offered the opportunity to do so, but it isn’t something that appeals to me much. It always seemed like it would slow down my process. Usually when I’m making a piece I’m already dreaming of the next phase—I can’t wait to get going on the next thing, and the next.
TAN: What kind of response do you want to elicit from the viewer?
AZ: I’m trying to think of how to explain it…I guess I could start by saying that I feel slightly different from my contemporaries in the US and really different from a lot of British art in that I am inherently idealistic; it is part of my personality, not an artistic position. My parents were both school teachers and I’ve often felt almost guilty because what they were doing was socially much more productive than what I do, but I would also hope to elevate people on a similar level. I know that when I see a really good art show, I feel almost high afterwards, and I would like to feel that I could also give people that same kind of experience.
Biography
Background: 1988: BFA Painting/Sculpture, San Diego University; 1990: MFA Sculpture, Rhode Island School of Design; lives and works in Joshua Tree, California and Brooklyn, New York.
Currently showing: Sadie Coles (until 8 December); 43a Commercial Street, Birmingham (until-2 December;
Selected shows: 1988 Flor Y Cant Gallery, San Diego 1989 Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island 1993 Andrea Rosen Galley, New York; Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco 1994 The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Anthony d’Offay, London 1995 San Franciso Museum of Modern Art; Andrea Rosen, New York 1996 Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark; Cincinnati Art Museum 1998 Andrea Rosen Gallery; University Art Gallery, San Diego 1999 Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; The Public Art Fund, Central Park New York; Sadie Coles HQ, London; 2000: Andrea Rosen Gallery; Regen Projects Los Angeles 2001 Massimo De Carlo, Milan.