Julian Laverdiere: Controlling Your Dreams
By Boris Moshkovits
Boris Moshkovits: A lot of your work has a historical quality and resembles models that can be found in natural history and technology museums,. Where does this influence come from?
Julian Laverdiere: When I was an undergraduate, I became particularly interested in the way history or invention was remembered. After a visit to the Smithsonian Patent Museum, wher they have a vast collection of models, I stared to woek on a patent model myself, that very much looled like those in the museum and could have easily passed as one submitted in the mid 19th century. Influenced by stories of industrialists trying to get the maximum out of their labor forces by investigating the possibilities of exploiting workers while they sleep, I thought that there might have been a scientist investigating sleepwalking as a source of labor. Thus I created the Apparatus for Examination into Somnambulism, a chair examining the mechanics of sleepwalking.
BM: Looking at some of your more recent work, it seems that your passion for the past has been replaced by one for the future,for Utopia?
JL: That is true to a certain degree. Initially my works were built to look con- vincingly like antiques, I wanted the viewer to believe that he was looking at real artifacts. As I proceeded in my efforts, I started to incorporate technologies of the present, still utilizing the same construction sensibilities. Then, instead of ro- manticizing the inventions of the past, I went on to use even more up-to-date technology, wanting to become an inventor myself. Works like Flight Pillow, an airplane pillow inducing different kinds of dream modes, can be seen as a continuation of my early work Apparatus for Examination into Somnambulism.
BM: How would you feel about a mass production of your Flight Pillow and its instant accessibility to the masses? Do you think this would compromise your work?
JL: On the contrary I would be delighted to see some of my work in mass production. Even though I love the ivory toweraspect of the art world, I also want to be able to produce something that can touch the masses. Michael Grey, for example, has not only created amazing works of art, but also invented a toy called Zoom, that can be found all around the globe. If I can find a way to market my pillows as successfully, and reach out to as many peo- ple, that would be great. I have actually already started the patent process, and ID magazine has awarded the work in its concept section.
BM: What makes you that different from cutting-edge designers like Mark Newson?
JL: I don't actually think that I would be in the same category as designers. My work is not necessarily beautiful, which is one of design's main focuses. It always has an underlying concept, which makes me an inventor rather than a designer. Let's take my Flight Pillow as an example again: for me it is a critical investigation into brainwashing, mass mind control, seduction, and their social and political implications. It is one thing to buy this work in a design or museum store purely for its form, but another to actually think about it as a pillow controlling your dreams, thus making you reflect upon the issues of relinquishing control over your own dreams, and allowing someone else to tamper with your thoughts.
BM: What does dominate the work then, the functionalism or the subtext?
JL: Both. In fact I am inspired by big budget film productions like Stanley Kubrick's 2001: Space Odyssey, which can be viewed as an amazing Science-Fiction Movie or as a challenging social commentary. When Star Wars was released, I loved it for its action. Now, in retrospective, I think it is also a key to understanding World War II.
BM So, besides your passion for history and technology, are you also influenced by other cultural aspects?
JL: Certainly, I think that I have a strong relationship with all aspects of Fashion, Design, and Film. Three industries that tend to follow each others path and interact with the fine arts. My production company Big Room gives me many opportunities to incorporate elements from all these fields.
BM: When did you start Big Room and how did it come about?
JL: At some point I felt that if I wanted to reach a wide audience, I would be better off entering the commercial industry, rather than showing in museums. And that is what led us, Vincent Mazeau, Randall Peacock, and myself to start Big Room. We wanted to find out how the media industry functions and get into it. Once inside, we wanted to act as provocateurs of taste or change. Since that initial thought we have had the opportunity to work with many successful commercial artists like Richard Avedon, Steven Klein, and the Beastie Boys.
BM: How exactly do you think you can achieve any kind of relevance through Big Room without compromising your work as artists?
JL: By constantly investigating the relationship between filmmaking, social commentary, and art, and where they overlap. I have always been fascinated with the memento mori in classic painting. Through Big Room we have gained access to the media industry, creating commercials, in which we have the opportunity to create evocative props, that could raise some ones conscious in a very subtle fashion or at least be more complicated symbols or reminders.
BM: Incorporating popular images and catering to mass culture, do you consider yourself a Pop artist?
JL: I am not a Pop artist. I believe my work definitely has entertaining moments appealing to a wider audience, but it is only a means to an end. I want to get my message across. I always incorporate some kind,of subliminal message in my art, and also in my commercial work with Big Room.
Boris Moshkovits is the U.S. Editor of Flash Art.