So the art world, like every other world or community, is made up of several pieces. Camps of people who believe different things about art, who it's for, what it's supposed to look like, what it's supposed to mean, IF it's supposed to mean anything, all those things. I wouldn't know what to do if the community suddenly decided these walls needed to come down and we all suddenly agreed on everything because part of what I love about it is how often I can change camps without having to overhaul my whole self or fill out paperwork or anything. But some days man...some days.
This leads me to say that I'm thinking about accessibility and performance. Like academia, too often you get a lot of people talking about things "for the people" and then talk about it in language that only they, other academics or artists, understand. All full of jargon and what not, hegemony my ass. So too in art you get a lot of folks that want to make art that is so about their own self-expression that they don't care how it is consumed by their audience. Then of course that leads us to the other side of if you get too preoccupied with your audience then you lose what you were originally trying to say. So it's about balance, properly conveying your ideas in a way that the audience receives so everyone feels like can understand what happened, even if they have differing opinions or experiences, which of course they will.
This is especially true of political art. If you are trying to accomplish something by producing some artwork, trying to sway people or influence an institution or what have you, you want to be understood. The Man will not feel affected by a thing that he "just doesn't understand" because he's not "with it." (I feel like by definition the Man isn't with it.) It's one reason I like commedia dell'arte so much. It could simultaneously reinforce and reject the status quo. It's a thing that was designed to appeal to everyone, a thing that everyone could enjoy on some level or other.
This is turning into just a pile of thoughts again.
BUT into that pile we throw other ideas of narcissism and responsibility. And the clown. There's a certain degree of narcissism necessary to become a clown; it's so centered on the clown performing, even if it's a clown that's more reactionary like Buster. It's hard to clown about the world at large, at least in lecoq clown terms, because it's about the world that this clown creates and exists in. The clown isn't responsible for making good choices. In fact it would be an excruciatingly boring clown if she went up there and did the Right Thing all the time. She is only responsible for herself, even if she's decided that her purpose for being there is to keep things proper (oh no the boat is leaking, I'll just plug that so no one notices. Gah! Now there's a leak over there! I'll just stick a toe in there and we'll be fine. Oh no...)
I think one reason there's something of a clown resurgence these days (new vaudeville as it's called by other more official sources) is that our culture has become so individualistic, we've decided/been told that the most important thing in the world is our opinion of things and we are being responsible citizens by voicing those opinions and making ourselves heard and therefore happy. Everyone thinks they're a clown and a comedian and a commentator and a critic and a...carburator (because...it also starts with C.) And this, my friends, is just not true. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but no one is obligated to express it.
So now I've plopped myself firmly on both sides of the original issue, accessibility. Art should be a thing that everyone can enjoy, but not everyone needs to create it because some people should just shut the hell up. I have no answers, friends. If you have something to say about the world, a feeling you need to express, I encourage you to do so in a way that feels good. I can't guarantee that I will like it or agree with it, nor can I guarantee that I won't resent you a little after you've done so. I will just keep being one person.
And as usual, here's a thing that's great. I put it here because it's a thing that may not be accessible to everyone but is so because it's so plainly stated that anyone can have an opinion about it.
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