1969 INTERVIEW BY JÖRG HAUSMANN

Jörg Hausmann
Mr. Sandback, as an artist you are very sparing in your use of artistic means and yet you use them to great effect. Would you like to tell us what Minimal Art is? 

Fred Sandback
Minimal Art-that's just a term, and for me it's inappropriate as an expression. You could just as easily speak of Maximal Art. Light, space, facts are involved. But of course that has a lot to do with the viewer's personal standpoint. 

Hausmann
For whom do you produce your art? 

Sandback
For myself. 

Hausmann
At exhibition openings you practically always see the same people. Does the artist not run the risk of becoming just the art producer for a certain social group, a clique? 

Sandback
Yes, but I hope that will change. 

Hausmann
Artists have always dreamed of producing art for everyone, art for small sums of money. It seems to me that artists today do anything but that. The opposite is even the case. As soon as an artist becomes in any way known, gets a few good reviews, or can fall back on an astute manager, the prices rise. What do you think of this development? 

Sandback
I'm not sure if what you are saying is quite true. But if you want one of my objects, for example, you can simply imitate it. All you need is a piece of string. . . . 

Hausmann
But would I then have a genuine Sandback? 

Sandback
Are you claiming that there's something special about my strings that other strings don't have? 

Hausmann
What do your objects cost? 

Sandback
I don't know-perhaps from one thousand to ten thousand marks. 

Hausmann
What will a work of yours cost tomorrow? 

Sandback
I don't think about that kind of thing. 

Hausmann
What do you do with the money you earn? 

Sandback
Eat, sleep-everyone has to eat and sleep. And I need to have time to work. For me, that's the main thing. 

This interview was first published in German in"Fred Sandback: Licht, Raum, Tatsachen." Neue Rhein Zeitung, July 4, 1969.