I find it very easy to listen in a room. I find it much easier to listen than to speak my mind. This is especially true in rooms full of opinionated people. Because of this, I made my goal for today be to ask a question and voice an opinion. I’m so pleased that I did both, although I feel that my question went entirely unanswered!
This morning we talked about performance art, and especially the performance art that is coming out of London, England right now through conversation with Brian Lobel, Debbie Pearson & Tania El Khoury. Here are just a few of the things that were said that stuck with me (and are sadly paraphrased from my notes):
“Art is really boring. There is nothing inherently interesting about it.”
“Ambiguity is the difference between live art/good theatre and a popular story where we all need to feel the same thing at the end.”
“Let a little idea hole big meaning – Let others read the big things in it.”
“Sometimes we get paid, sometimes we don’t, but faith in yourself as an artist makes investing in yourself worthwhile.”
“Our work is about relating to others. Otherwise it is masturbation.”
“[Getting in with a company] is not about going to the top of the ladder, it’s finding the right person who will be excited about you.”
“The pickier you are, the more successful you will be.”
There is so much in there and at 2am I cannot even begin to unpack it now, but I’m so glad that I have it to think about for the future.
In the afternoon we met with SummerWorks AD Michael Rubenfeld and GM Lucy Everleigh to talk about producing the festival and the work that excites them.
The evening was full of shows – four of them to be exact – as well as numerous run ins with friends. It’s what makes it feel like a real festival, I think – the running into people you know at every venue you show up at. The final show we saw tonight - Haunted – was my favourite of the festival so far. I think that the reason it was my favourite was that it felt the most like a completed piece rather than a work in progress.
Alas, I must sleep. We’re back in the room in 8 hours and tomorrow we are being joined by the first artist whose work we have seen – I wouldn’t want to be tired for that!