Robert Heineken: An Interview

Robert Heineken (1931-2006) used technically sophisticated photographic methods to mingle erotic images with visuals from TV and advertising. The American artist was known for appropriating and re-processing images from magazines, product packaging or television. In the "Are You Real" series from 1964 to 1968, he created a portfolio of images filled with unexpected and sometimes surreal juxtapositions by placing a single magazine page on a light table, so that the resulting contact print picks up imagery from both sides of the page.

In the late 1960s, he also began cutting up popular magazines such as Time and Vogue and inserting sexual or pornographic images into them. He would place his collage-publications back on newsstands in Los Angeles to be sold to unsuspecting buyers. In the 1980s, he created several series on American news television that involved photographing images on the television or exposing the light of a television set directly to paper to create what he called "videograms."

In this interview, Heineken is framed in front of playback monitors, and the camera alternately zooms in on Heineken and his video image. He discusses his influences, education, and his interest in the audiences’ ability to respond to images without necessarily knowing how they are created.

A historical interview originally recorded in 1976 and re-edited in 2007 with support from the Lyn Blumenthal Memorial Fund.