LCB
Randall Casaer

Randall Casaer

Gent, Belgien

Zu Gast im LCB:
Februar 2018

Randall Casaer, geboren 1967 in Gent, ist Künstler, Schriftsteller, Zeichner und Kabarettregisseur. Mit seinem Graphic-Novel-Debüt »Slaapkoppen « (2007) gewann er zahlreiche Preise. Seitdem hat er mehrere graphisch-literarische Werke veröffentlicht, die ins Französische, Englische und Italienische übersetzt wurden. In Zusammenarbeit mit PassaPorta, Brüssel.

Casaer Randall © Stephan Vanfleteren

»a kind of polite or friendly isolation«

What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on a graphic novel about an artist who does not want to produce any more work unless the work comes straight from the source. He will only start painting if he feels that what happens is pure creation. Nevertheless he is in his studio every day, sitting and waiting and thinking and talking to parts of himself, to ghosts and to visiting friends.
The book is an examination of motives for creation, at the point where I am now it seems that for this artist most creation is a form of affirming an identity, and the question gets to be how does the sense of identity of the artist shift when the artist-function is no longer being performed.

How does your stay in the Literary Colloquium Berlin affect you and your work?
If I had performed this examination experientially I could have just sat in my room in contemplation. Which could have been a very honest an direct method, but my stay at the LCB has given me a lot of focus and permission to let anything that is unrelated to my work disappear. The kind of polite or friendly isolation I have experienced here has resulted in a great production. I did 30% more than I had anticipated. Doing the opposite of the character in my book 🙂

What experiences will you take home?
Being here and meeting people and artists from everywhere, I have understood that my work is not really important or special. There are a thousands of artists out there, all good people very dedicated to their work. So I have come to accept more of the privilege of being able to serve society as an artist. I feel very lucky.

The interview took place in February 2018.

Randall Casaer im LCB, Februar 2018, © LCB

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