INTERVIEW WITH HAN HOOGERBRUGGE
INTERVIEW WITH HAN HOOGERBRUGGE
by Domenico Quaranta
DQ. From 1996 to now, from Neurotica to Spin, your work always had just a leading character, your animated alter ego. Hotel has many characters, and no one looks like you: but the life you describe is always the same – absurd, risky, nevrotic. Are you entering a new phase – from all in one to one in all? And what about Dr. Doglin, the main character in Hotel?
HH. Yes in a way it’s a new phase. All the characters in Hotel are real people, friends of mine.
Alltough they act like me in a way, I create them, I do try to put something of their personality in them.
It’s starts with my decision to ask someone to act in Hotel. I try to ask people I think that will fit into my world.
They are all friends of mine so the got to have something I like to start with. Once I ask someone we try to find something we could do, trying to figure out how they can act in my world but using their way of moving, behaving.
Dr. Doglin is someone I met through the internet. He mailed me about 3 years ago that he liked my site.
We started an on going e-mail conversation and about 6 month later we met in real life. We are of the same age (40) en we have a lot in common. like the same music, films, comics etc.
Because of how he looks I thought he would be the perfect character for my Doctor.
DQ. The adventures of your character are always short movies, with just one situation. What kind of difficulties did you have to get over facing an even more complex narrative?
HH. It’s very difficult. Specially because I don’t have much time to tell a story. I always try to make my animations as economical as possible.
Like with Nails and Modern Living the character is always there, waiting for you as a visitor to start the action. I don’t waste time with letting a character walk into the stage or doing any movement that isn’t important. The character is only there to do what he should do.
With Hotel I need to focus on just a few scene’s with very little animation to tell a story. WIth every part of Hotel I have only 3 scene’s to tell what going on with the Dr and his volunteer.
To be honest I think it’s almost impossible. I can fully understand when people tell me they have no clue what’s going on.
On the other hand I think that’s kinda cool. I like things I don’t understand myself. It’s like with Matthew Barney. I cannot tell you what it is all about but I feel strongly related to what he does. I hope Hotel will work a bit simular. You don’t have to fully understand it to get connected.
DQ. How do narrative and interactivity go together in your work?
HH. I try to let it melt together. I don’t want you to have the feeling that you must click or tough anything to experience my work. It should be something you do in a natural way. It should feel as a part of the work, not something to start the work or finish it. The interaction itself must be a vital part of the work. Each click should give you something worth while: a small surprice, something to think about, to laugh about. For example if it’s delicate you just need to touch it, or if it’s rude you need to click. Or you need to click like a maniac because the animation is diabolic.
DQ. As an ex-artist, do you never feel any nostalgia for the white cube?
HH. Well, I don’t consider myself an ex-artist. I choose to publish most of my work on the web because that’s were I made it for.
That doesn’t mean that’s the only thing I do, or the only place I exhibit my work. I also show my work in musea or galleries.
I also make prints and drawings. This year I participated in a few shows. At the moment prints and drawings and animations are show in Centraal Museum Utrecht here in Holland as a part of their collection. I showed my work in Musea Tamayo in Mexico City and in the Design Museum in London.
DQ. Which artists, writers, cartoonists or directors mostly influenced your work?
HH. Tommy Cooper, Charles Buwkoski, Winsor McKay, Damien Hirst, Matthew Barney, David Lynch, Tarantino, David Bowie, Star Trek Voyager, Chris Ware, and most of all Silvia B.
Hotel
Hoogerbrugge.com
Submarinechannel
Preconstruction
Hoogerbrugge & Wiggle: Flow
