Kieran Swann

  

This year’s Made by Melbourne Fringe keynote project will see three local artists captivate and enthral Melbourne with their very public, very large and very free program of Atlas installations.

This year’s Atlas artists have been challenged to intervene into everyday sites to uncover just what makes Melbourne who she is.

Keep up to date with the artists’ works as they evolve; see in-progress footage; and find performance dates and times at melbournefringe.com.au/atlas.

He chats to ArtsHub about his career.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I cycled through the pretty standard stages of palaeontologist, marine biologist, psychologist, that I’m pretty sure any kid more interested in how words sound than what they mean goes through. However, the earliest - and cutest - was when I said I wanted to be a gardener and take care of my mother. Now I can't even keep a succulent alive, and I'm ashamed to say my track record of keeping in contact with mum isn't much better.

When did you know you would work in the arts?
Probably about halfway through high school - sculpture and Shakespeare seemed, oddly, like the stage of my teenage rebellion that dad was least prepared for - so I stuck with it.

How would you describe your work to a complete stranger?
I would usually change the topic. The starting point for a lot of my work is about the impossibility of communication, of people being able to understand each other; and that conversation's generally not the right foot to start off on.

Is there a mission to your work?
To ask questions. I trust questions more than answers.

What's your background - what did you study to get where you are?
I originally trained as a set & costume designer for theatre at QUT, in a course that really was for stage managers and lighting designers. They didn't quite know what to do with me there, so they kind of let me make my own decisions and sort out my own path. I started to transition into performance art and installation a couple of years after finishing, and I’ve since done my post-grad in performance creation at VCA.

What's the first thing career related you usually do each day?
Check my email. Generally before I’m even upright, I have my phone next to me downloading new mail.

Can you describe an "average" working day for you?
I really can't. Some days I'm flying around doing a million things an hour; some days I don't even wear pants (on those days - most of them - my head is usually cycling through about a million things an hour).

What's the one thing - piece of equipment, toy, security blanket - you can't work without?
Walking. I find I brainstorm best when I’m walking at a brisk pace; no headphones, just me and the pavement in a straight line.

What gets you fired up?
As in, angry? People who refuse to reason, or talk things out.

Who in the industry most inspires you?
Maybe a predictable answer, but i love Marina Abramovic's work, I admire her persona, and I respect her savvy. Locally? the work Leisa Shelton does to enable the work of young artists / performance makers, and her own work, are phenomenal.

What in the industry do you despair about?
That the value of the arts isn't recognised as it should be, and I think artists are guilty of this as well. Maybe we don't live in a culture that appreciates people who stand up and assert that what they do or the group they belong to is valuable, but I don't see much sense in presuming disdain and remaining tucked away in niches. I don't know what the solution is.

What is the best thing about your job?
That it’s something I want to do; that fulfils and challenges me. That it’s right for me.

What's the worst?
The days when you scroll through pages and pages of seek.com and you ask yourself, "man, do I have any valuable skills?"

What are the top three skills you need in this industry?
Tenacity, courage, and self-reflectivity.

What advice would you give anyone looking to break into your field?
I would encourage them to start doing stuff. Don't just talk about your plans, or what you'll do when you get the money, or the space, or the time. Just start making it out of whatever scraps of material you've managed to steal, in the dead of night. You might not get any sleep, but you'll have something dimensional in front of you, and that's the only way your work can grow or change, or take the form that it’s meant to.

How do you know when you missed the mark?
When you take a break, look at the sky for a while, then go back to what you've made with fresh eyes. It becomes pretty clear pretty quickly when you're talking yourself into something being right; work that's overlaboured or underdone becomes apparent. It's when it's really very nearly there, or just not quite right, that might not be clear until later. That's when you need a good community around you, to dialogue with. And besides, you learn the most from failures anyway.

Which phrase best suits your career development to date?
Easily "the road to success is always under construction". I don't know what I'd do if I ever got there.