THE ART OF PERFORMANCE |
DAVE MANN
Writing
I
performance
n an age of online-first, visually-driven content, what
of slang words or phrases they used in direct quotes, were
is the value of writing about art or performance? And is
to be taken out. Other requested edits were that I include
writing about art even necessary?
absolutely every piece of work they’ve done, and accolades
For someone who enjoys writing about art and
they’d received named in full. In short, I had written a piece
performance, those are a few of the questions that can
that spoke on the nature of their craft, why they did it, and
gnaw at my mind each time I sit down to begin a new
what it meant to them and those who engaged with it, and to
piece. I never used to think like this. Back when I first
my mind, they had simply wanted an incredibly long-winded
realised I loved writing about art, I was convinced that
artist bio all along. Besides those ‘small changes’, they told
writing was more important than ever – that it was an
me, they absolutely loved the piece.
entirely necessary medium that wouldn’t fade away no
The whole experience made me want to quit banging
matter how smart they made our phones, or how cluttered
around on keyboards for good. Afterwards, I called a
our timelines became. And I still feel that way about
friend for advice. ‘What’s the point of writing about
writing, it’s just that these days I fight a little harder each
someone’s practice if all they want is a new artist
time to remind myself of those feelings.
statement for their website?’ I asked. ‘And what’s the
It was a few months back when I really struggled to reconcile these viewpoints. I had written a long-form piece on a performer and the interview had gone well. I took my time with the piece, polishing and re-reading it many times over, and before I was set to send the piece in for publishing, I sent it to the performer for a read-
“Writing is performative – it’s process-based. You go out and experience something, gather the facts and the insights, run those things through your own experiences and knowledge, lay it out in a format that’s readable and understandable, and then you let it go”
through. I do this whenever I write a particularly indepth piece about a person, because I like to believe that
point of writing about someone’s process if everyone
whenever you’re tasked with handling someone’s personal
would sooner watch an Instagram story about it?’ A little
story, there’s an agreement of trust that’s entered into,
dramatic, yes, but the call helped. As these things go,
and by working through the final draft of that person’s
the friend had no quick-fix advice on the matter, but we
story with them, you’re honouring that relationship.
did end up having a good conversation about the value
The piece came back to me filled with requests for changes. As I read through the edits, I realised that nothing about the form, the facts, or even the story itself was an issue for the performer, but that small things like the inclusion
78 / Creative Feel / July 2018
of process, and the value of documenting and archiving outside of social media. Writing about art or performance is a tricky business for a number of reasons, one of which is that the majority of
