Thomas Hirschhorn


I love to do exhibitions. I love to set up my work. During the set up of my work, I am happy. The result of my work doesn't make me happy, nor does my happiness come from compliments, comments, critics, or reception. I am happy because I try to do my work, I am happy because I can do my work, and I am happy because I have the ability to do my work. I am happy because I have to face infinitude and impossibility in doing my work and, in order to progress, I have to say, Yes. Yes to form. Yes to production. Yes to insistence. And Yes to mobilization. I want to do my work in a kind of deliberate "nonconcentration." And to make a decision in "nonconcentration" makes me happy because it's a decision. A decision fixes things for a time, it does not resolve things, it does not take problems away, but it does make things definitive. During the setup of my work, it's not the choices or the options that make me happy but the decisions I have to make and stand for. It's about working and refusing any self-analysis. Being at peace with my work, beyond success or failure, this privileged moment of loneliness during the setup does make me happy. That's why I love to do exhibitions. And during the setup of my work, I am tired, but I am never exhausted—that also makes me happy. Somebody asked me, "Are you happy?" Yes, I am happy, happy not about my work, and not with it, but happy to do my work. Happy to work.