mono.kultur is an interview magazine, so naturally we take an interest in publications that trumpet the medium. Phaidon has just published Speaking of Art: Four Decades in Conversation, a large selection of interviews taken from Audio Arts, founded in 1973 by William Furlong. One of those conceptually innovative and fun magazines only possible in the analog age, each issue was a cassette tape on which Furlong recorded his interviews with artists, including Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, and Gerhard Richter, and then mailed to subscribers all over the world. He stopped publishing in 2006, primarily because of the art-star system; as he recently told the New York Times, “Art is such a business now [...]. I could always ask an artist to sit down and talk, and now you have go through so many P.R. people and gallery gatekeepers.” A feeling we can certainly sympathize with…
The Times has posted some actual audio from the magazine, so you can experience that wonderful facet of Furlong’s work lost in its translation into print. Or, if you’re in New York, head over to MoMA’s library and check them out…
Photography, of William Furlong interviewing Philip Glass, from Speaking of Art: Four Decades in Conversation (Phaidon Press)
