“Why make things so difficult for the viewer?

“We are a consumer-society, and it seems to me that art has become a passive ‘spectator sport’ to an extent unprecedented in history.I have always tried to work against this tendency by producing ‘occasions for interpretation’ rather than ‘objects for consumption’.I believe that the ability to produce rather than consume meanings, and the ability to think otherwise ways of thinking not encouraged by the imperative to commodity production, ways condemned as ‘a waste of time’ – is fundamental to thegoal of a truly, rather than nominally, democratic society. I believe art is one of the few remaining areas of social activity where the attitude of critical engagement may still be encouraged – all the more reason then for art to engage with those issues which are critical.”

— Victor Burgin