,,,,While the fear of getting interpretation ‘wrong’ is substantiated, it conceals a joyful freedom: an interpretation is an opinion. It's an argument, explanation or story supported by any variety of evidence: what you see, lived experience, traditions, anecdotes or other sources.
[[Back inside the mall]]Emerging from a corridor, you have made it back into the mall. It looks different at night, with all of the stores shuttered and lights off. It's calmingly eerie, with an electricity in the air.
[[Look for a light switch]]
[[Venture deeper->Food court]]You turn to your right to see another corridor flanked by a large (text-style:"emboss")[STAFF ONLY] sign. Maybe there's a utility room at the end of it.
[[Press on->Solid metal door]]
[[Nope, I don't belong here; go back->Food court]]You reach the end of the corridor. Ahead of you is a solid metal door. The mall does not want you to go here.
[[Twist doorknob->Click]]You return to the complex you realize you paid little mind to in your original procrastinatory excursion: the food court.
(link:"Next")[(show:?Restaurant)]|Restaurant)[
What do you see?
(link:"Frozen yogurt stand")[(show:?Frozen)]|Frozen)[
Hmm... it would be nice to imbibe in all the toppings you enjoy.]
(link:"Combination of two fast food restaurants in one booth")[(show:?Fastfood)]|Fastfood)[
How novel and surely delicious!]
(link:"Next")[(show:?Explorefurther)]|Explorefurther)[
So many entry points! Which will you explore further?
[[Frozen yogurt stand]]
[[Combination fast food booth]]]]//Click!//
This door is also unlocked, and opens with a formidable groan.
You were correct: this appears to be a utility room. Though the darkness, you see an open metal cabinet on the wall. You approach it cautiously.
[[Look at the switches inside]]What do you see?
(link:"A red plastic switch with masking tape")[(show:?Red)]|Red)[The red switch is flipped to the off position. The masking tape attached to it is curled and yellow with age. Maybe it bore writing at one point, but now, it is hard to say.]
(link:"A plain metal switch")[(show:?Metal)]|Metal)[The metal switch is flipped to the off position. Its lack of insulating material may be cause for caution.]
(link:"A green plastic switch")[(show:?Green)]|Green)[The green plastic switch is flipped to the on position.]
[[Next->Flip]]You think long and hard about what you see. More light would certainly make your journey easier, but just like writing about art, messing with a switchboard feels dangerous.
[[Flip a switch]]
[[Leave the utility room and return to the mall proper->Food court]]Which switch do you flip?
[[The red switch->Wait]]
[[The metal switch->Wait]]
[[The green switch->Wait]] WAIT! Before you flip it, describe why you are picking this switch. Go into however much detail you please. What did you see in it?
<iframe src="https://pollev-embeds.com/free_text_polls/svbfF2ANbqDaRu0GxuryQ/respond" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Flip this switch]](text-style:"rumble")[//WRRRRRRR//]
A pronounced electric hum fills the air, as the room fills with florescent light. Excellent choice!
(link:"Return to the mall")[(show:?Lightmall)]|Lightmall)[
You emerge from the corridor. Now illuminated, the mall appears less mysterious, even in its unfamiliar state.
[[Next->Food court]]]<img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/523b539be4b0a75330f9c8ce/1621983269563-OJGM43LRHNN0MK7K5U6S/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGfiFqkITS6axXxhYYUCnlRZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpx1B3uKuIxKkeNobmVrkfsvhi7vfNIYPwuNoe0YQqN5qRcQyCP0lZkCSDZ8KLElTzs/CreativeOutlet_FrozenYogurt.jpeg?format=750w" height="300" width="300" alt="an AI-generated image of a commercial cooler with colourful filling">
Look all around you. What do you see? What matters to you in the frozen yogurt stand? Rhapsodize.
<iframe src="https://pollev-embeds.com/free_text_polls/6iFx8qIIE2B2zJ3sSMCf7/respond" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Frozen yogurt answers]]<iframe src="https://embed.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/5mF7PZIcA8CVDnZ1da6Oz?controls=none&short_poll=true" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->No wrong answers]]If you can develop an opinion, you can write an interpretation. There are no wrong answers, just as there is no other you writing about this frozen yogurt stand, or this combination fast food booth, in this moment.
“As artworkers we need to recreate our narrative of the self by cultivating different temporalities of making, celebrating criticality and sustaining our field’s bountiful ways of knowledge production through the uncertainty of encounters and questions. We need to allow ourselves to get lost in the abstract abyss of noise on a screen without feeling like we are being left behind: irrelevant.” <a href="https://flatjournal.com/work/static-noise-dynamic-uncertainties/" target="_blank" style="color:#FF69B4;" rel="noopener noreferrer">(Khoshgozaran)</a>
[[Next->Preston]]<img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/523b539be4b0a75330f9c8ce/1621983268908-21WDIGB157O9MM55OT3R/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGfiFqkITS6axXxhYYUCnlRZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpx1B3uKuIxKkeNobmVrkfsvhi7vfNIYPwuNoe0YQqN5qRcQyCP0lZkCSDZ8KLElTzs/CreativeOutlet_FastFood.jpeg?format=750w" height="300" width="300" alt="an AI-generated image of a counter at a food court">
Look all around you. What do you see? What matters to you in the combination fast food booth? Rhapsodize.
<iframe src="https://pollev-embeds.com/free_text_polls/r0Gu7HNYvJXsox2gzrBiI/respond" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Fast food answers]]<iframe src="https://embed.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/Nk7zDAcSF6GB2h8cbpvkP?controls=none&short_poll=true" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->No wrong answers]]<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8Cq27NwoAtA" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Preston Pavlis discussing his feature <a href="https://cmagazine.com/issues/148/feeling-the-spirit-in-the-dark" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">"Feeling The Spirit in The Dark"</a> in C Magazine, Issue 148.
Preston Pavlis is an artist living in Edmonton, Alberta. His work on canvas, linen and fabric represents his interest in the fusion of painting and textiles as a means to explore material, narrative and form. The resulting works often situate solitary figures in painted
environments, their gazes affixed on the viewer or somewhere else beyond the picture plane. Whether their expressions are pensive, contemplative, ebullient, or intent – there is an interiority that is palpable. Pavlis’ figures convey a subtle energy and a deep sense of presence that is enhanced by their imposing scale.
[[Back to the mall->Limits to the mall]]You finally feel closer to satiation. You know your time at the mall is coming to a close. However, you question if you have acquired everything you came for. As monolithic as the mall is, there are limits to what it can provide.
[[Next->Coffee shop]]After taking the elevator back to the ground floor, you notice something peculiar: another coffee shop, from the same chain as when you first entered the mall. How bizarre; these coffee shops are only a short distance from one another, and you can only go to one coffee shop at once!
(link:"Hm...")[(show:?Whycoffee)]|Whycoffee)[
Why is there two of the same coffee shop in the same mall? Write a short treatise about it. Don’t think; just write:
<iframe src="https://pollev-embeds.com/free_text_polls/pfSs8RCdKiwmGYUXmG0Co/respond" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Coffee answers]]]<iframe src="https://embed.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/PYtfNAwk6yuBVhKiyD1Ir?controls=none&short_poll=true" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Not the best]]While that was thrilling, it probably wasn't the best writing you've done in your life.
[[Agreed->Who do you know]]
[[Speak for yourself->Who do you know]]Who do you know who has insight into this topic?
(link:"...")[(show:?Who1)]|Who1)[...
(link:"...")[(show:?Who2)]|Who2)[...
(link:"...")[(show:?Who3)]|Who3)[...
[[Cool new friend who is probably still looking for their car outside the mall]]]]]You whip out your phone and deliver the call:
(link:"...")[(show:?Who1)]|Who1)[...
(link:"...")[(show:?Who2)]|Who2)[...
(link:"...")[(show:?Who3)]|Who3)[...
[["Hey, you’re a barista at a mall, correct?"]]]]] "Yeah I am! At Articles of Loathing Mall!"
[["Do you know why Creative Outlet Mall would have two of the same coffee shop?”]]"Oh! It’s because they want to make more money."
[["Thanks! Have a good evening!"->Look beyond yourself]]Empowering your own ability to develop and share your interpretations of artwork does not entail a disregard of research or looking beyond yourself. Even in the above exercise—and in the spirit of entry points—your writing likely already incorporated conscious or unconscious outside insight into coffee or late-stage capitalism.
As a writer bearing a unique knowledge of unique acquisition, it is important while writing to consider who you are in relation to an artwork, and where your biases lie.
[[Agreed->Considering bias]]
[[Wait, I'm not biased->No neutrality]]The goal of considering bias in writing is not to ascend to a false objectivity nor exacerbate difference—it’s to develop and communicate self-awareness and justness in relation to what we are writing about. You don’t need to be a character in your writing, per say, but you need to be aware of the field and where you stand in it.
(link:"Next")[(show:?Yourinfluences)]|Yourinfluences)[
What is your relationship to the topic you just described? Did any influences or biases come into play?
<iframe src="https://pollev-embeds.com/free_text_polls/CqYwjqjGJMD6EPQgUJr7j/respond" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Do not fear]]]There's no such thing as neutrality in writing. If you are taking the time, effort and care to develop an interpretation—an opinion—on an artwork, you will both consciously and unconsciously weave in your own or someone else’s beliefs and values.
Likewise, no one is immune from bias, which is itself influenced by larger systems of oppression, supremacy and domination.
[[Next->Considering bias]] Do not fear the limits of your own experience—embrace both what you uniquely know and what you don't know as diving boards into the fountain, and impetuous to develop your scope to include that which has potentially been systemically excluded.
* Whose insight must you consult?
* What causes, practices or techniques must you champion?
* What must you read/listen to/watch more of to understand your topic?
[[Do I have to read?]]It is an occasionally frustrating truth that reading makes you a better writer.
Do you have a favourite journal/blog/source to read writing about art?
[[Yes->What is it]]
[[Nope, I hate writing about art, remember?->Sources]]What is it? Maybe it can become another mall patron's favourite.
<iframe src="https://pollev-embeds.com/free_text_polls/9B7w1taOl7dkyTFYgW7O3/respond" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Sources]]Here are some sources to check out:
<iframe src="https://embed.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/36CxO1Bu8i946Xr9LiI2p?controls=none&short_poll=true" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Exit]]With your final ponderance resolved, you approach an exit far from where you entered the mall, unlocked from the inside. The door automatically opens with ease. Sometimes you need to leave the mall to get what you need.
[[Step out]]While this is an art writing session, it is worth returning to the hegemony of language, and recognizing the interpretation that takes place outside of the written word.
We’ve used interpretation and writing somewhat interchangeably throughout this session to broaden the session’s applicability. However, we’d like to draw attention to how slippery the distinction between thinking and doing, and theory and practice are. Writing is itself a process of understanding, and interpretation is a creative, critical practice.
[[Next->Have you responded]]How have you responded to art outside of writing, or more formal writing opportunities?
<iframe src="https://pollev-embeds.com/free_text_polls/qF20GCGt6okC5yV8TKTF3/respond" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Other responses]]<iframe src="https://embed.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/5N8f9zjlEAhrJxNIWkl5R?controls=none&short_poll=true" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Back outside the mall]]A cool breeze touches your face at last. You’ve made it out of the mall again, this time on your own terms. The ground-level parking lot you now face is empty. It makes sense, given the time of day, but you’re drawn to reflect upon the times you’ve seen it full.
As you embark on your journey home, you look at your phone to check the time. It’s 2:00 am.
[[Check the news]]
[[Check your email]]A headline blasts across your screen:
<img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/523b539be4b0a75330f9c8ce/1621983270420-A0PPLDX5MNUKH7AJ0M7Z/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGfiFqkITS6axXxhYYUCnlRZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpx1B3uKuIxKkeNobmVrkfsvhi7vfNIYPwuNoe0YQqN5qRcQyCP0lZkCSDZ8KLElTzs/CreativeOutlet_Tunnel.jpeg?format=750w" height="300" width="300" alt="an AI-generated image of a hallway at the end of a tunnel">
SECRET TUNNELS UNDER CREATIVE OUTLET MALL: TRUTH OR HOAX?
While tunnels under Creative Outlet Mall have long been a staple of our local mythology, do they exist? If they do, why do they exist? Do people live down there? (text-style:"blur")[We talk to...]
[[Close news app->Close]]A promotional email from a store you used to shop at years ago graces the top of your inbox:
<img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/523b539be4b0a75330f9c8ce/1621983269871-Y54A7O7EOEP9I9WBX0VM/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGfiFqkITS6axXxhYYUCnlRZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpx1B3uKuIxKkeNobmVrkfsvhi7vfNIYPwuNoe0YQqN5qRcQyCP0lZkCSDZ8KLElTzs/CreativeOutlet_Liquidation.jpeg?format=750w" height="300" width="300" alt="an AI-generated image of a red and black garment">
CLOSEOUT LIQUIDATION SALE!
After 30 years, we’re finally saying goodbye to our storefront in Creative Outline Mall. Don’t worry! You’ll still be able to find all of your favourite staples as NFT’s on our online store. Buy one, and we’ll destroy two original poly-cotton sweater sets for you at no extra cost. If you’ve had previous NFT’s from our store copied and devalued, we’ll throw in an (text-style:"blur")[extra sweater set!...]
[[Close email->Close]] What does writing do that no other media can?
<iframe src="https://pollev-embeds.com/free_text_polls/FvmazLWGiI43NGR0HppYb/respond" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Writing can do]]<iframe src="https://embed.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/Z9vkCer1Gq7rJrOl9Ws6D?controls=none&short_poll=true" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
[[Next->Limited public space]]With limited public space, people use the mall as a space to gather and live. The necessity, of course, is not for the institution, but for community space, sharing resources, and meaningful connection with those around us.
While not resolving need for physical community spaces, writing does bolster community, and gives us the language to do so with the potency of transgression, ir/reverence and experimentation.
[[Next->Malls are dying]] You may be familiar with the assessment that malls are themselves dying. The slow ‘death’ of malls is not the defeat of institutions—it is merely a shift to other platforms (namely, online) to increase capital.
In the context of a perpetual anxiety to always be new, and erase the antiquated and suppress that not in hegemonic interest, the value of writing is paramount in its documentary, archival and reflective function. If an artwork matters to you or outrages you, writing about it ensures your interpretation goes noted, whether it sees the light of day or not.
[[Next->Earlier response]]<iframe src="https://embed.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/dpAXAYvtmAD74vsrCEeBX?controls=none&short_poll=true" width="800px" height="600px"></iframe>
If you responded this question, how do you feel about your earlier answer? Has it been validated? Has your perspective changed? What would you write differently?
(link:"Next")[(show:?Respondingthusfar)]|Respondingthusfar)[If you’ve been responding to these and other questions thus far, you’ve already been practicing and reflecting on writing about things you see and think. It is easy to critique and edit ourselves before we’ve even put words on substrate, so we hope it’s been helpful to gain momentum.
[[Next->Home]]]You finally arrive at home after a contemplative commute home. You sit down at your desk and open your laptop.
[[Open your word processor]]You gaze upon the blank document. It gazes back at you. You have so much to put into words—you always have.
You begin writing.
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