Fritz Haeg on Observing His Audience

Haeg likes to see his audience's reaction because, he says, it's part of the project.

Question: Do you watch people looking at your work?
Fritz Haeg: Yeah, I am really interested in what the public and what the audiences thinks about that work and how they experience it. It is part of the project really, it is not just a secondary thing that you make something and then you hope people like it, it is really that experience of people interacting with it is, is part of the whole way the idea for the work was generated. I created a project where there is the animal homes in the Duncan's sculpture court and then around the perimeter at the side walk there is 12 blocks one for each of the animals with the animal in first person telling you about their home. So, the project is really designed to be experience from the street, from the side walk not necessarily by people who are going in to the museum, so I really viewed it as projects for anyone who talks about that can get drawn into the story of by these block in these stories by these animals. So, I had the benefit of starting insulation about two or three weeks before anyone else did and it is already been installed, they don't place for few weeks. So, I have been really interested to see how people of experienced it and it is really nice to sit down in the sculpture court look up and see these faces pop up, read the blocks look around, there is the Bob cap blocks, so they look down look for the Bob cat home and then they are looking for the Bob cat, see if he is there, but the project is really generated for that is sort of experience with by the audience and I am always way where I have been.
 
Recorded On: 3/10/08