Mark Pimlott (2002)

R.J. Preece
artdesigncafé | café library | Published 15 September 2009
This interview took place in 2002 and was previously published in a shortened version in Sculpture magazine in May 2004, 23(4), pp. 22-3. The text with a white background is the shortened version; paragraphs with a gray background are from the original extended interview.

Mark Pimlott. La Scala, (1999-2003). Reinforced concrete, 10 x 9 x 6.1 m. Installed at University of Wales, Penglais campus.

Perched on a plaza overlooking the Irish Sea, Mark Pimlott’s La Scala (1999–2003) looks like a minimal stairway to heaven. But what is it—art or design? For the past 14 years, Pimlott has faced this question. Trained in both architecture and fine art at McGill, London’s Architectural Association, and Goldsmiths College, he’s been accused of lacking “commitment”; but fusions of sculpture, painting, photography, film, interior design, and furniture are the crux of his practice.

Born in Montreal and resident in London, Mark Pimlott has exhibited around the world. In addition to La Scala, he installed Guinguette (2000) in Birmingham—both through Modus Operandi, a London-based public art agency. Pimlott also pursues an interior design practice. He was recently appointed to the post of Visiting Professor at the Technische Universiteit Delft in the Netherlands.

R.J. Preece: Your work raises the question of whether it’s art or design. How do you see this?
Mark Pimlott: I have come to see it simply as a practice where I look at a given situation, think about it analytically and critically, and make a proposal that I think is right. I want the work to be a part of the world—special, but part of the world nevertheless. Perhaps the pieces can be thought of more as art than design because of the way that they come into being and their relative autonomy.

Although there are many public commissions, I think it has become rare for artists to work in ways that a designer might—to consider the same things. It used not to be the case. Artists in the past were asked to reflect on issues outside of their specialized areas of work. Like during the Renaissance and more recently with artists such as Noguchi or Chillida.

More often than not, the people commissioning a work are doing so because they want some sort of “solution” rather than some sort of “thing.” Ultimately, they respond to sensitive proposals that address their needs.

This may put art in a difficult situation, because it is often expected to solve problems of all kinds. In Britain, for example, it is expected to provide solutions to local economic and social problems. I think this is an unfair expectation. It demeans and debilitates art. I do not even attempt to address these issues. My concern is with how people perceive themselves as active agents in the city and the world.

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