Six questions for
PUTPUT

Tique asks six questions to an artist about their work and inspiration.
This week: PUTPUT (Stephan Friedli & Ulrik Martin Larsen).

Artist PUTPUT (Stephan Friedli (CH) & Ulrik Martin Larsen (DK)
Lives in Copenhagen, Denmark
Website https://putput.dk/

How do you describe your own art practice?

An exploration of the every day to find hidden potentials in often overlooked generic objects.

Which question or theme is central in your work?

Quite often it’s about removing the intended function, combining objects in new ways to create hybrids or questioning the value and meaning of certain artifacts. We like to operate somewhere at the cross-section of art, functional art, design and anti-design which in itself raises a lot of questions related to distinctions, definitions and perception/interpretation and context. The intention is to create works that are improbable, and seemingly normal but at a second glance reveal a new perspective – be it profound or superficial.

What was your first experience with art?

Probably being handed crayons by someone as kid and being asked to sit and draw something. Later on, we had arts and crafts classes in school and there would also occasionally be field trips to museums.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

Everyday life, everyday objects and our relationship with both.

What do you need in order to create your work?

Mostly hardware stores, junk markets, dollar stores, and 2nd hand stores for sourcing materials and objects, and then we go into a process of collaborating with exceptionally skilled craftsmen/women who master the techniques necessary to complete the pieces. It’s always our goal to have pieces that look like the intervention or change that happened during an industrial manufacturing process.

What work or artist has most recently surprised you?

We’re continually surprised by the work of Dutch artist Helmut Smits, he has a unique way of viewing the world that somehow seems both effortless, unexpected, and exhausting.

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