Graeme Walker was born in Ayr, Scotland, in 1980, and studied at the University of Northumbria. His first London exhibition was in the BookArtBookShop in 2002, and he has published a number of books including Crisis! (2002) and The Drift Book (2004). Between 2004 and 2006 he curated events and exhibitions at Bookville, a mobile distributor, publish-a-thon, and centre for site-specific happenings, both in the UK and in the Netherlands. Apart from being a book-artist, performance-maker, one-man mummer, musician and cultural provocateur, Graeme Walker is also a country in and of himself. All queries can be directed to the embassy.
What do you do all day?
In no particular order: wake, eat, excrete, dream, stress out, ride my bike or walk, consume, procrastinate, tap tap on the computer, read and fall asleep again.
What did you/are you doing do today?
I am doing a residency in Cork in the house of some people I’ve never met, trying to decide how much of a tourist I want to be and whether there are things to say here. There is a private view next week.
What’s the best thing about your job?
I don’t have a job.
And the worst thing?
Accounting.
How did you get into it?
You may as well ask how I could ever escape it.
What’s been your biggest achievement in your career so far?
All I want to do is say what I want to say. Everything I do is leading me towards that end. Sometimes it is about finding what I want to say and other times it is about saying it. All I am interested in is the quality of this activity. I cannot make value distinctions beyond this primary concern. Everything is absolutely equal in terms of its properties – beyond that I can only consider its quality. I do not think of my work in terms of its achievements, but only in terms of its ability to satisfy my demand of quality.
Where do you go from here, career-wise?
You cannot assume that I am in a position that I need to go anywhere from. I am choosing to remain in this position – to concentrate on the study of it. The development of my absolute position will reinforce the quality of my work. That is my only ambition.
Any advice for someone trying to get into art?
Call me: +44 (0) 7952065556
If you were going to have a complete career change, what would you go for?
Geography.
