What do you remember about your work, 'What is the sound of one hand clapping?', entering the Arts Council Collection in 1999?

LL - My records tell me that, in March 2000, the Arts Council purchased no 6/200 of a vhs edition I made of What is the Sound of One Hand Clapping. It also mentions the price at £100. I should note here that the edition did not go to 200. I probably only produced 20 numbered VHS copies with a cover I had designed. I was then contacted by Lux, who now distribute the film. I have no further comments about it. I may have some email correspondence but that is difficult to locate now.

What was your prior or subsequent relationship to that particular group of selectors (Guy Brett, Pavel Buchler and Yinka Shonibare)?

LL - I have never met Pavel Buchler or Yinka Shonibare although I have seen and admired the latter's works.

On the contrary, I have known Guy since 1964. I first met him in Paris when he visited my then husband, the Greek artist Takis in our studio dwelling on the rue St Andre des Arts. I saw much more of Guy when I moved to London in late 1966. I had been invited by Signals Gallery to work in London towards an exhibition at their Wigmore street Gallery but, when I arrived in the autumn of 1966, both David Medalla and Paul Keeler, the two directors of the gallery, had disappeared subsequent to the gallery being shut down by Paul's father. I found myself more or less stranded and during this difficult period, when I needed to find my feet again, Guy was very kind and hospitable towards me. It was about then that Guy curated an exhibition in Cambridge In Motion, in which he exhibited 2 or 3 of my spinning Poemcons. More recently, my works Liquid Reflections were shown in Force Fields, the kinetic exhibition curated by Guy, at MACBA in Barcelona and at the Hayward Gallery. He purchased a small Poemcon for his own collection from my exhibition Koans, at Shirley Day Ltd. in 2000. In 2002, Guy contributed to the catalogue of my Italian solo exhibition, Light and Memory, in the Rocca of Umbertide. His contribution took the form of a lengthy and searching email dialogue with me. This was and no doubt still is one of the most interesting interactions I have experienced with an art curator/writer. The catalogue, Light and Memory, was also published as a book in the UK by Thames & Hudson Ltd.

At the time your work entered the Collection, it was during the first stages of the Collection purchasing video work, to what extent were you aware of this?

LL - I was not aware of this at all. In fact, a copy of the original 16 mm film version of What is the Sound of One Hand Clapping had been purchased by the Arts Council (I think by Dave Curtis if I remember correctly). The film is now distributed by Lux, who have had a new cleaned copy made of the original and produce high quality dvd's for circulation from that.

To what extent did entering the Collection effect your circumstances as a practicing artist at the time?

LL - No doubt in numerous ways I am unaware of.

What is your opinion of the Arts Council Collection?

LL - Let me preface this comment by saying that I have only seen one or two exhibitions of the Collection that hardly were surveys of the entire Collection. From them, the Collection seemed to be heavily weighted with works of young British artists.

It is a well known premise that to create a great collection, one must buy the very best work available. With contemporary art, that is always very difficult and it seems that the Arts Council spread their bets, so to speak, by allowing the Collection to be built by a large and varied number of curators/buyers. However, judging from my work in the Collection, I do not think that they have been daring enough. When purchasing the works of a relatively inexpensive and possibly undervalued artist, one should purchase the top of their range and, if possible, also the most representative works of their oeuvre.

Guy Brett and his committee did well to buy What is the Sound of One Hand Clapping for a number of reasons. The film is now recognised as having been well ahead of its time in the way it uses graphic elements and the way it related words to sound. As a purchase, its cost was very low. Most importantly, however, the film relates to the only sculpture of mine in the Collection and is a documentary history of all the cones I had made up to the date of its making, including See Thru Koan.

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