,,,,“Wow!” you think from the anonymity and safety of your seat in the bustling food court, “That was an awkward, discouraging experience at the Designer Clothing Store.” However, after a quick pretzel, your confidence bounces back and you’re feeling impulsive.
[[Next->Aggression]]It could be that malls are intentionally infused with psychological cues for aggression, hunger, urgency, and desire, or it could be that you feel you’ve reached a turning point in your life.
Today will be the day you express yourself wholly and boldly! From now on you will ask questions! You will not be intimidated by stylish, cryptic stores! You are going to get what you came for! You decide to commemorate this decision with a special souvenir.
(link:"Next")[(show:?Laminateseat)]|Laminateseat)[
You push off from your laminate-covered swivel seat. With one hand over your eyes like a visor, blocking out the ferocious florescent lights, you scan your options.
Three possibilities grab your attention. Where do you go?
(link:"The engraving store offering premium engraving")[(show:?Engravingstore)]|Engravingstore)[Perfect! What a timeless and elegant way to mark the occasion!
[[Enter the engraving store]]]
(link:"The tattoo parlour advertising walk-in appointments")[(show:?Tattooparlour)]|Tattooparlour)[Perfect! What an impactful way to mark the occasion!
[[Enter the tattoo parlour]]]]You saunter over to the engraving kiosk, circling the carefully curated display of items engraved and ready to engrave. Practically anything can be engraved... cheeseboards, tumblers, pens, pencils, pendants, purses, computers, watches, mugs...
What will you select to engrave?
(dropdown: bind $engrave, "cheeseboard", "tumbler", "pen", "pencil", "pendant", "purse", "computer", "watch", "mug")
[[Talk to the engraver]]You enter the small shop. It’s cramped, filled with the harmonious buzz of tattoo machines and a condensed selection of colourful flash art in frames on the wall. As today’s adventure is all about art writing, you have a good feeling about the environment.
(link:"Look around")[(show:?Flashart)]|Flashart)[
You notice a sign under the flash art:
“WALK-INS: FLASH FROM THESE FRAMES ONLY”
Hm... you won’t have too many options for this decision.
[[Next->Dolphin]]]"I'd like to engrave this $engrave, please," you say to the engraver.
“Of course,” the engraver says. “What will the engraving be?”
“I’d like the engraving to speak to transformation and inspiration,” you posit. “Do you have any suggestions?”
The engraver shrugs, a little overwhelmed by your enthusiasm.
[[Next->Pretzel engraving]]Suddenly, the perfect idea strikes. “Let’s start with an image of a pretzel and go from there.” You excitedly thrust your new $engrave towards the engraver.
“Sorry, I can’t,” the engraver mumbles. “I can only engrave words and a selection of emojis.”
(link:"But there's a pretzel emoji!")[(show:?Pretzelemoji)]|Pretzelemoji)[
"Sorry, we don't have that one."
(link:"But your sign says custom!")[(show:?Custom)]|Custom)[
“I could engrave the word “pretzel” for you. How about that?”
[[Next->Filled with dismay]]]]You are filled with dismay. You know that your vision, nebulous and blossoming, can’t be satisfied with mere words and emojis.
You thank the engraver for their time and continue on your journey.
[[Next->Art writing is everywhere]]<img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/523b539be4b0a75330f9c8ce/1621983268358-WY6L8JRJDLDGJA1Z7A2B/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGfiFqkITS6axXxhYYUCnlRZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpx1B3uKuIxKkeNobmVrkfsvhi7vfNIYPwuNoe0YQqN5qRcQyCP0lZkCSDZ8KLElTzs/CreativeOutlet_Dolphin.jpeg?format=750w" height="300" width="300" alt="an AI-generated image of a dolphin-like creature in the ocean">
You consider getting the dolphin illustration on the wall, but something about the it isn’t quite right—maybe it doesn’t look peaceful enough? Maybe the fins are drawn at awkward angles?
[[Ask the artist at the front desk for help]]You flag the attention of the tattoo artist behind the desk.
“Excuse me,” you gesture at the wall of flash art, “do you have anything that communicates a feeling of inspiration?”
The tattoo artist ponders your question, brow furrowed. They finally gesture to a small illustration on the top row of illustrations—
(link:"Next")[(show:?Pretzeltattoo)]|Pretzeltattoo)[
<img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/523b539be4b0a75330f9c8ce/1621983270176-LS0JA8GGXAP6KSQE8NQ7/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGfiFqkITS6axXxhYYUCnlRZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpx1B3uKuIxKkeNobmVrkfsvhi7vfNIYPwuNoe0YQqN5qRcQyCP0lZkCSDZ8KLElTzs/CreativeOutlet_Pretzel.jpeg?format=1000w" height="300" width="300" alt="an AI-generated image of a close-up pretzel">
—a perfect pretzel.
[[Next->Pretzel angst]]]It’s perfect! Or is it?
All of a sudden, something feels not right. You think about what you’re about to do—something particularly permanent, to document how you feel right now.
You love the prospect of a tattoo just for fun, but pretzels mean multitudes to you. You think about all of the pretzels you have eaten in your life. Some of them haven’t been great. Some of them have been terrible! What if you don’t love pretzels a year from now? Or tomorrow, for that matter? Or what if you love them even more, and a tiny flash tattoo can’t encompass the feeling?
You realize you’ve suddenly become very sweaty.
[[Turn back to the tattoo artist]]"Can I grab you a waver?” the artist asks.
You manage a quick “no thanks” before leaving the shop and continuing on your journey.
[[Next->Art writing is everywhere]]Art writing is everywhere. Artists are tasked with writing artist statements, biographies, social media posts, and more. Catalogues and exhibition texts accompany exhibits. Hundreds of publications dedicate space for art reportage.
In addition to creating artwork, artists are tasked with talking and writing about their work in accordance with standards of how talking/writing about artwork should sound/look. Consider the models in place for contributing to a critique, trying to show in a gallery or applying for a grant. An artist’s ability to talk and write about their art and argue for its meaning is crucial to the perceived validity of a practice. If you do not have the ability or resources to write, you face exclusion from not only art writing, but greater artistic discourse.
[[Next->Why words]]While words can constitute art themselves, why does art require the use of writing to legitimize understanding? Even when images, sounds and encounters have the power to communicate, why do words seem so intrinsic to experiencing visual art?
(link:"Next")[(show:?Eurocentrism)]|Eurocentrism)[There are endless ways to communicate, but the Eurocentric and settler-colonial contexts which most art spaces either exist in or reckon with uphold a hierarchy of meaning and validity, where written, colonial language is privileged above other forms of communication. The privilege of written languages like English to be didactic where other languages or modes are not respected as such is both a result and strategy of colonization.
[[Next->Legibility]]]The <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hegemony" target="_blank" style="color:#FF69B4;" rel="noopener noreferrer">hegemony</a> of language bestows written record the ability to categorize and prescribe meaning upon the world with gravity. This enables writing to fix the meaning, of itself or the art it discusses, in place and time:
“To be legible is to be readable. To be legible is to be an entry in a ledger—one with a name, place, origin, time, entry, exit, purpose, and perhaps a number. To be legible is to be coded and contained.” <a href="http://www.madrid.org/bvirtual/BVCM019114.pdf" target="_blank" style="color:#FF69B4;" rel="noopener noreferrer">(Raqs Media Collective, 159)</a>
[[Next->Fixed meaning]]Despite dominant art world culture dictating what kind of writing is valid, all writing is consequential. Going ‘on the record’ denies us neutrality. We must be accountable to our words as we can’t remove them from existence. Even the internet, which has the potential to offer greater flexibility in what we write and who can see it, is a permanent and consequential public record, which encourages and suppresses response according to its own algorithmic hegemony.
This can make writing a terrifying commitment.
[[Next->Words can't describe]]Of course, writing about an artwork cannot perfectly replicate the sensory experience of an artwork—artworks lead their own lives within the networks of discourse surrounding them.
(link:"Next")[(show:?Ifyoureanartist)]|Ifyoureanartist)[
If you're an artist, have you felt like words couldn't describe your art?
(link:"Yes")[(show:?Wordscantwhy)]|Wordscantwhy)[<iframe src="https://pollev-embeds.com/free_text_polls/jBZJPXxyKMYxnAM0Z2km3/respond" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Better or worse]]]
[[No->Better or worse]]]<iframe src="https://embed.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/ulJy84rogMlh3jMwzAwbw?controls=none&short_poll=true" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
(link:"Next")[(show:?Writingbetterorworse)]|Writingbetterorworse)[
Do you feel like writing has made your art better or worse? Why?
<iframe src="https://pollev-embeds.com/free_text_polls/9Hznfe3Bwo0zuq9paiOqL/respond" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Better or worse response]]]<iframe src="https://embed.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/SmUggPkyIRZ9tO1nsBYoo?controls=none&short_poll=true" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Systems]]Language and its systems are so consequential to artwork that fool-proof formulas for art interpretation have been developed.
[[Back to the mall->Fountain]]<img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/523b539be4b0a75330f9c8ce/1621983269309-H6JN8VW1AOJC8CERYZRL/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGfiFqkITS6axXxhYYUCnlRZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpx1B3uKuIxKkeNobmVrkfsvhi7vfNIYPwuNoe0YQqN5qRcQyCP0lZkCSDZ8KLElTzs/CreativeOutlet_Fountain.jpeg?format=1000w" height="300" width="300" alt="an AI-generated image of a fountain">
Thoroughly disappointed, you find your way to the center of mall: the fountain.
(link:"Sit at the fountain's edge")[(show:?Fountainsedge)]|Fountainsedge)[
You are in the heart of the mall. Light and colour and motion surround you. For a moment, you forget the art writing-induced void within you that consumerism has yet to fill.
The water is so blue.
[[Try to touch it]]](text-style:"rumble")[WRONG!]
You feel the eyes of your fellow mall patrons burning a hole through your skull. You have broken the covenant between Mall Goers Everywhere that states the fountain is for gazing, longing and dumping loose change into ONLY.
(link:"Next")[(show:?Noblyconsider)]|Noblyconsider)[
You nobly considered the stimuli presented to you—
* The medium of the chlorinated water
* The form of the tiles
* The context of ‘literally who cares if I touch the water in the mall fountain’
—but your interpretation of the fountain was (text-style:"rumble")[WRONG!]
[[Collapse into yourself in shame]]]Have you experienced a model of art interpretation in a survey-level art history or writing course similar to this:
"Subject matter + Medium + Form + Context = Meaning" <a href="https://academics.skidmore.edu/blogs/ah108-18spring/files/2018/01/Barrett-Interpreting-Art.pdf" target="_blank" style="color:#FF69B4;" rel="noopener noreferrer">(Barrett, 198)</a>
[[Yes->Introductory instruction]]
[[No->What model]]Introductory instruction of writing about art often simplifies the process as steps or equations one needs only plug an artwork into.
<img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/523b539be4b0a75330f9c8ce/1621983269309-H6JN8VW1AOJC8CERYZRL/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGfiFqkITS6axXxhYYUCnlRZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpx1B3uKuIxKkeNobmVrkfsvhi7vfNIYPwuNoe0YQqN5qRcQyCP0lZkCSDZ8KLElTzs/CreativeOutlet_Fountain.jpeg?format=1000w" height="300" width="300" alt="an AI-generated image of a fountain">
What is the form?
[[Water in a tiled vessel->Context]]What method of art interpretation did you first learn?
<iframe src="https://pollev-embeds.com/free_text_polls/9fXcVlKL9J66FsuxzJSPF/respond" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Introductory instruction]] <img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/523b539be4b0a75330f9c8ce/1621983269309-H6JN8VW1AOJC8CERYZRL/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGfiFqkITS6axXxhYYUCnlRZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpx1B3uKuIxKkeNobmVrkfsvhi7vfNIYPwuNoe0YQqN5qRcQyCP0lZkCSDZ8KLElTzs/CreativeOutlet_Fountain.jpeg?format=1000w" height="300" width="300" alt="an AI-generated image of a fountain">
What is the context?
[[Water feature in a mall->Symbolism]]
[[Mall surrounding a water feature->Wrong1]]<img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/523b539be4b0a75330f9c8ce/1621983269309-H6JN8VW1AOJC8CERYZRL/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGfiFqkITS6axXxhYYUCnlRZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpx1B3uKuIxKkeNobmVrkfsvhi7vfNIYPwuNoe0YQqN5qRcQyCP0lZkCSDZ8KLElTzs/CreativeOutlet_Fountain.jpeg?format=1000w" height="300" width="300" alt="an AI-generated image of a fountain">
What symbolism is present?
[[Fountain of youth->Themes]]
[[Blender at the juice stand->Wrong2]] (text-style:"rumble")[WRONG!]
[[Try again->Context]] <img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/523b539be4b0a75330f9c8ce/1621983269309-H6JN8VW1AOJC8CERYZRL/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGfiFqkITS6axXxhYYUCnlRZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpx1B3uKuIxKkeNobmVrkfsvhi7vfNIYPwuNoe0YQqN5qRcQyCP0lZkCSDZ8KLElTzs/CreativeOutlet_Fountain.jpeg?format=1000w" height="300" width="300" alt="an AI-generated image of a fountain">
What are the themes?
[[Replenishment from a long day of shopping->Interpretation]]
[[Replenishment from a long day of art interpretation->Wrong3]] (text-style:"rumble")[WRONG!]
[[Try again->Symbolism]]<img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/523b539be4b0a75330f9c8ce/1621983269309-H6JN8VW1AOJC8CERYZRL/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGfiFqkITS6axXxhYYUCnlRZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpx1B3uKuIxKkeNobmVrkfsvhi7vfNIYPwuNoe0YQqN5qRcQyCP0lZkCSDZ8KLElTzs/CreativeOutlet_Fountain.jpeg?format=1000w" height="300" width="300" alt="an AI-generated image of a fountain">
Accordingly, an interpretation is produced:
"The object consists of water in a tiled vessel. Within its context as a water feature in a mall and its invocation of the fountain of youth, the fountain suggests replenishment from a long day of shopping.”
[[Next->While a formula]](text-style:"rumble")[WRONG!]
[[Try again->Themes]]While a formula suggests certainty and consistency, the risk of making wrong interpretations still looms large. If you input an irrelevant value, or focus too much on a question less relevant to the artwork, your writing risks crumbling in the face of critique.
[[Next->Recognition]]These models of interpretation often require the recognition or memorization of details or codes already deemed meaningful to deploy in writing.
While this is not inherently a bad thing—we all bear unique familiarity with different cultural codes—the specific codes required by institutions to properly understand, discuss, and write about art are pronouncedly based in the Western art history canon, and colonial value systems hundreds of years old.
(link:"Next")[(show:?Wolfflin)]|Wolfflin)[
For instance, Swiss historian Heinrich Wölfflin championed formal analysis in the 19th and 20th centuries to characterize the regional progress painting in Europe had made. Formal analysis has remained a staple of art interpretation to this day, despite our drastically transformed social contexts over one hundred years later.
[[Next->Not neutral]]]What formulas for art interpretation teach us to look for is not neutral; adapted to certain types of objects but not others. Formulas are invested in the categorization of artists and objects regardless of whether they fit into the categories suggested. Western models of art interpretation poorly represent artwork and items from or in hybridity with other cultures, which occupy their own vital structures of meaning.
Inversely, artworks that speak to specific cultural and racial experiences outside of those of hegemonic museum/gallery/biennial-viewing audiences are themselves othered for their perceived inherent politicization or audience ostracization.
[[Next ->Bordeaux]]The continued requirement of audiences for codified understanding of artworks without addressing the barriers to receiving these codes also functions to bolster education and class differences—and, as Pierre Bordeaux recognized in the 20th century, rendering the understanding of art a matter of mastery, or hiding your lack thereof as hard as possible.
[[Next->Break]]If you learned some version of the art interpretation formula mentioned earlier in a formal environment, you might learn about poststructuralism, or fetishism, <a href="https://www.eaford.org/site/assets/files/1631/said_edward1977_orientalism.pdf" target="_blank" style="color:#FF69B4;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Orientalism</a>, and other elements of postcolonial theory, but often only as amendments to your base interpretive structure.
Writers are expected to master Western colonial rules before they can break them, which does not bode well for wider publics looking to share their ideas on art.
[[Back to the fountain]]The fountain continues to roar, water spilling out in enticing, arched streams. If you lean in close enough, you can feel tiny droplets of water landing on your face. You inch closer, you can’t help it! It’s so refreshing!
A shadowy figure enters your peripheral view. It’s the mall security guard, and they've come to tell you to back away from the fountains.
[["But I'm not touching the water!"->Mall options]]
[["But the water's touching me!"->Mall options]]The security guard shakes his head. “If you want something refreshing, you have to buy something from the juice stand. Or a ticket to the waterpark. Maybe you should go outside for some fresh air.”
[[Go to the juice stand]]
[[Go to the waterpark]]
[[Go outside]]You didn’t bring a bathing suit, and they won't let you swim in your clothes.
Discouraged, you [[leave the mall.->Go outside]](text-style:"fade-in-out")[The juice is all vegetable flavored.]
Besides, you have to sign up for a membership in order to get this juice. You’re suddenly not thirsty anymore. You decide that some fresh air is a good idea after all.
[[Go outside]]You take the nearest exit, which delivers you to the second level of the mall’s parkade. Above you is open blue sky. Is this the same blue sky you peered through the mall’s skylight?
Despite the heat rising from the asphalt in transparent (text-style:"sway")[wriggles,] despite the car exhaust, despite the direct sun, it //is// refreshing out here.
You take a deep breath. You appear to be alone out here. There's no one to commiserate with, but at least you have space to think.
[[Next->Creative livelihoods]]When our creative and professional livelihoods ride on our ability to write and write well, the practice is intimidating by design. Not only are we certain our writing will be judged against hegemonic writing conventions, but we may also feel like imposters. Who gave us the authority to write about artwork when the artist is out there thinking and living their own art? Or another writer could do a better job? Or our opinions or style will be maligned for existing outside of hegemonic standards?
[[Next->Researching opportunities]]If you are familiar with the landscape of opportunities for art writing, you might know that traditional platforms for art writing, such as visual arts magazines or exhibit catalogues, can be exclusive, scarce, and limited for emerging writers. While there are many ways to share art writing online and within our communities, these platforms don’t always compensate writers. Writing is labour, and it can be discouraging to maintain a practice that will not be heard or valued how we need it to be.
Upholding a writing practice takes time, which is a resource and a privilege. When art writing is not a reliable source of income, then it is a practice that’s only realistic for writers who have the time and resources to take it on. This limits the perspectives and voices we encounter in published art writing.
[[Next->Call out]]Many artists, writers, and activists continue to criticize mainstream publications and museums for continuing to center white, male voices and upholding racism in the art world.
(link:"Next")[(show:?News)]|News)[
In 2020, oualie frost with Alicia Buates Mckenzie, Michaela Bridgemohan, Uii Savage, and Levin Ifko published an <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/10D5n3G03OR5-C4zGhzDETtMIgovK2Z0zy-kNbd1lbjo/edit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">audit</a> of Black representation in Calgary's artist-run centres, demonstrating the lack of Black artists in these spaces. <a href="https://canadianart.ca/news/community-speaks-on-lack-of-black-artists-in-art-gallery-of-albertas-biennials/" target="_blank" style="color:#FF69B4;" rel="noopener noreferrer">x</a>
In the fall of 2020, several artists withdrew work from Edmonton’s borderLINE Biennial to protest the absence of Black artists in the biennial’s history. <a href="https://canadianart.ca/news/community-speaks-on-lack-of-black-artists-in-art-gallery-of-albertas-biennials/" target="_blank" style="color:#FF69B4;" rel="noopener noreferrer">x</a>
[[Next->Improvement]]]Though some publishers and galleries are taking steps to improve representation and access within the pages and structures of their publications (with varying degrees of effort, attunement and success), it’s still the case that few people have both the opportunity to write about art //and// receive a living wage and secure work.
(link:"Next")[(show:?Trypublishing)]|Trypublishing)[
Have you tried to publish your writing? What was your experience?
<iframe src="https://pollev-embeds.com/free_text_polls/WObfqNKeWfcxLdpAiRPYU/respond" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->The Participatory Museum]]]Stepping back, we can identify ways that meaningful dialogue and engagement with art are limited from the start.
In her book //The Participatory Museum//, Nina Simon lists “commonly-expressed forms of public dissatisfaction” with cultural institutions:
(link:"Next")[(show:?Theinstitution)]|Theinstitution)[
“The authoritative voice of the institution doesn’t include my view or give me context for understanding what’s presented.”
“The institution is not a creative place where I can express myself and contribute to history, science, and art.”
“The institution is not a comfortable social place for me to talk about ideas with friends and strangers.” <a href="http://www.participatorymuseum.org/preface/" target="_blank" style="color:#FF69B4;" rel="noopener noreferrer">(preface)</a>
(link:"Next")[(show:?Experienceofdiscomfort)]|Experienceofdiscomfort)[
These prevalent experiences of discomfort and exclusion signal fundamental issues with art institutions. If most people are unable to or discouraged from sharing candidly about artwork on display in these spaces, how can we expect plentiful and diverse dialogue around art? How can we expect people to engage with art writing when an encounter with art takes time and energy and offers nothing in return?
Writing and talking about art may bring some satisfaction but without validation or compensation, this pursuit burns out quickly.
<a href="https://www.theworks.ab.ca/creativeoutlet" target="_blank" style="color:#FF69B4;" rel="noopener noreferrer">END OF PART TWO</a>]]