Siobhán Hapaska
Siobhán Hapaska is an artist who lives in London. Her solo show at Camden Arts Centre runs until 25 November.
What images keep you company in the space where you work?
A really big map of the world, a picture of my kids, Cyrus and Orla, and a white-board that I never remember to write anything on.
What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?
When I was a child, I lived in a Victorian house with a high-walled stone yard that never really got much light. I was standing in the yard one day, looking up at the sky, which was contained as a perfect blue square by the perimeter of the walls. Seconds later, a high altitude aircraft entered the blue square precisely at a corner and I watched it slowly make a diagonal white line to exactly the opposite corner and then it disappeared. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
If you could live with any one piece of art what would it be?
Well, I wouldn’t say no to Walter de Maria’s The Lightning Field (1977).
What film has most influenced you?
That’s impossible, there are so many. I have a few problems at the moment, so Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000) gives me a warm feeling. I also like Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man (2005).
What is your favourite title of an art work?
Oppenheimer’s Baby Feeling (1993) by Graham Westfield.
What do you wish you knew?
How to converse in Chinese and why my father, Pervez Kapadia, doesn’t want to know me. I’m also plagued with seeing ‘11:11’ everywhere. I thought I had conditioned myself to look at the clock at this precise moment but it happens in other ways that I can’t control. For example, someone on the street might ask me what time it is and, guess what, it’s always 11:11.
What should change?
Where do I start ? On a personal level, basically socks and knickers.
What should stay the same?
Nothing.
What could you imagine doing if you didn’t do what you do?
I get a lot of satisfaction from cleaning windows but only with the best Ettore squeegee.
What music are you listening to?
Sultan-Osman (2003) a collaboration between Pete Namlook and Burhan Öçal given to me by David Fitzgerald from the Kerlin Gallery who has a music collection to die for.
What are you reading?
The manual for my new mitre saw, as it’s not cutting at a proper 90 degree angle. Also, Herman Melville’s novella The Encantadas or Enchanted Isles (1854).
What do you like the look of?
Snow.
What is art for?
Confusing the masses.
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