Reflecting on the relationship between artists and their audiences, this book examines how artists have presented themselves publicly through interviews and sought to establish a critical voice for themselves.

Considering the interview as a form of cultural production, contributors explore the criteria for determining the artist interview as a distinct field of research in relation to other cultural fields. Structured in four parts, ‘History and Historiography’, ‘Subverting the Biographical Model’, ‘Interviews as Practice’ and ‘Materiality and Technology’, the book takes an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses the fields of art history, fine art, oral history, curating, media studies and museum conservation. By theorising the artist interview as a form of cultural production and embracing it as a co-constructed critical practice, this volume aims to show and encourage an approach to art history which dismantles old hierarchies in favour of valuing dialogue and collaboration.

The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, museum studies, oral history and historiography.

Lucia Farinati is a writer-researcher, curator and activist. She holds an MA in Curating from Goldsmiths University and a PhD in Critical Studies from Kingston University, London. She is the co-author of The Force of Listening (2017), and Training for Exploitation? Politicising Employability and Reclaiming Education (2017).

Jennifer Thatcher is an art historian, critic and curator. She co‑curated Folkestone Book Festival (2023), curated the public programmes for Folkestone Triennial (2014, 2017) and Whitstable Biennale (2016), and was Director of Talks at the ICA (2003–2010). She is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Kent, Canterbury.