Tim Noble And Sue Webster - Interview

Interview, Sept, 2000 by Ingrid Sischy

IS: How did it come about that you two began to work together as an official thing?

SW: I don't think we actually worked together when we were at college, but it came quite naturally when we left. In college we were making similar work, and we liked what the other was doing. With the exception of Gilbert and George and a few others, most of the collaborations that are happening today hadn't started yet, so we actually felt really strange about the whole thing, like we shouldn't be doing it. Except it felt so right for us.

IS: Have you ever worked apart?

TN: Yeah, it's inevitable now and again, but we always floated back together. Like a balloon to static. SW: We were talking about Gilbert and George the other day and wondering whether they had made a kind of death pact that if one of them were to die the other would commit suicide, because I just can't imagine one without the other.

IS: Or maybe what happens is that when you work that intensely and intuitively together, after a while you learn what the other person would do or say, so one can represent two.

SW: [laughs] Well, that's a nicer way of putting it.

IS: Is one of you more rebellious than the other?

TN: I think we take turns at being rebellious.

SW: I certainly get us into a lot of trouble. [laughs] Can't help it. I just think we're bad for each other.

IS: Which is good.

TN: It does make life more interesting.

IS: What was the first piece you did where you went "Yeah, that's our work?"

SW: Probably a quite recent one, actually. I think maybe when we first got to London we felt a little bit vulnerable and possibly made stuff that we thought would be successful, as opposed to things we actually felt comfortable with ourselves. It's only in the last three or four years that I've actually begun to feel comfortable making work that I feel is real. This would include some of the first light pieces we did, such as "Forever," or "The Fountain" and "Excessive Sensual Indulgence." Also the first shadow work we did, called "Miss Understood and Mr. Meanor."

IS: Does that one involve garbage?

SW: Yeah, it was the first piece using garbage. We fumbled around in the studio making it and were really embarrassed by it. We didn't think it was any good. It was made up out of found objects that I collected, things like bean tins and other rubbish.

IS: And the shadows of your profiles on the wall, are these actually made by the shape of the sculpted garbage?

SW: Yes. Making the sculpture is one thing, but then disguising the fact that it makes the shadow is another--that's why the sculptures are such odd shapes.

TN: The light pieces are very hands-on, but they can be manufactured elsewhere. The rubbish pieces are too, but we need to do those ourselves--they're very time-consuming.

SW: Just because you can't afford bronze or other materials is no excuse for not making art. There's good material everywhere.