Gilbert & George in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist

Video Documentation

Gilbert & George in conversation with curator Hans Ulrich Obrist on an oeuvre that spans 50 years. The conversation is a journey through five centuries from 1967 until today. It is based on how they as young artists begin to live their own art as living and singing sculptures. The conversation is about their idea of an art for all, their work with available books, the way to their very unique imagery and about the transition from analog to digital technology.

Hans Ulrich Obrist

Hans Ulrich Obrist is a curator, critic and art historian who has studied Gilbert & George for five decades. He is the artistic director of the Serpentine Gallery in London, and the founder of the Interview Project, an ongoing expansive project to interview major cultural figures. He is also co-editor of Cahiers d’art revue.

Hans Ulrich Obrist co-curated The Great Exhibition together with Daniel Birnbaum. In conjunction with the exhibition, they have interviewed Gilbert & George five times, once for every decade. These interviews are included in the catalogue for “Gilbert & George: The Great Exhibition”.

Gilbert & George

Since Gilbert (born 1943) and George (born 1942) met at Saint Martin’s School of Art in London in the 1960s, they have formed an indivisible artistic team. As both the subject and object of their own art, they have dedicated their life together to art. Sex, money, ethnicity, social status, and religion are recurring themes in pictures that successfully unite comedy with tragedy, desperation, courage, and depression. Throughout their career they have created works that completely disregard popular conceptions of “good taste” and challenge conventions in society and in the art world. ”The Great Exhibition” is a retrospective of works from Gilbert & George’s five decades together.

Contact: Karin Malmquist, Curator