As his new book extolling the virtue of imperfection is released, we talk to esteemed curator and art director Erik Kessels to find out why we should all be spending more time in our back gardens
Erik Kessels, one half of the founding duo behind independent communications agency KesselsKramer, is a passionate advocate of failure. “Without it, you’re stuck in a zone of mediocrity and ‘meh’,” he explains, straightforwardly. “Seek out failure. Train yourself to recognize it all around you. Get to know it and take it away for a romantic weekend.” Indeed, if ‘seek out failure’ is Kessels' guiding motto then it’s certainly served him well: in addition to the world-renowned agency he leads with partner Johan Kramer, a string of books and a growing number of exhibitions, the Dutch art director and curator has this year been recognised for his astounding ability to establish narrative themes through found imagery, with a nomination for the Deutshe Börse Prize – one of the most distinguished awards in the industry.
His newest book, entitled Failed It! and published by Phaidon, is a fine example of such skill – it combines the work of established artists and designers who embrace spontaneity with found photographs taken from Kessels' own, ever-expanding archive. "I collect a lot of photos where there is an amateur component, because an amateur is really open to making mistakes," he tells AnOther. "They don’t have that perfect state of mind that a professional sometimes has." The book's release this week is accompanied by an exhibition at KK Outlet, the London gallery run by the agency, and will be followed up with a more extensive show at Arles photography fair from July until September later this summer – presenting a perfect opportunity for us to glean a few words of wisdom from the man himself.
On the value of mistakes to the creative process…
"We live in a world where everything is heading towards perfection: with all the computer programmes, the navigation systems and the phones we have, you can hardly make a mistake anymore. I think that, for the creative process, it’s very important to deliberately look for a mistake sometimes – that way you kind of disrupt your thoughts a little bit. To deliberately make a mistake is to create an opening to make creative work, either in photography, or design, or any discipline."
On the importance of looking up from our screens…
“I’ve been trying to tell people for a long time already that we live in a renaissance of imagery and visual culture. Nowadays a person can see more images before lunch than somebody in the 18th century might see in his whole life. We consume images like fast food, but we don’t actually look at them anymore, they just come in, we swallow them, and then they’re gone. It’s good to pause and look at something, look at the story behind it. I’m always trying to dig these things out and show them in a different context, in a book or an exhibition, so that people have a second look.”
On his advice to people who are too concerned with perfection…
“What you see often now, is that, metaphorically, people are only in their front garden. In your front garden, you show things you have finished – it’s a window for the stuff you make, or who you are. But a lot of those people haven’t even gone into, or worked in, their back gardens. The back garden is where you can go to walk around in your underwear, where nobody sees you: you make mistakes, you fuck things up, and then when you find something in there you can bring it out into your front garden. I say it in the book: thinking is quite hard, but not-thinking is even harder, you know? You need to shake things off and become a bit more childish in your head."
Erik Kessels: Failed It! runs until April 30th at KK Outlet, London.
