It feels like the baroque ornamentation you find on and around something special. that’s what the language in art writing is all about—to give it extra significance and value.
It might also be functioning to build a relationship with or at least spark a conversation with the reader/viewer. But just like how a poor or miscalculated joke can create further distance between people, someone might be put off by this flowery sort of language and feel less connected to the art by association.
Tangentially related, but I remember sitting down at my uni entrance ceremony, watching the dean go through his whole speech, listening to the master of ceremonies introduce each speaker and thank them afterwards in that very familiar, formulaic way, and hoping beyond hope that something—anything—would go wrong. I wanted to see all this built-up structure; all this constructed pomp and circumstance collapse and shatter. I didn’t really want to be at the ceremony—it was nominally for me as a new student, but it was long and boring, and I didn’t really enjoy it.
We use special actions, language, clothing, etc. to demarcate specific events and give structure to our lives. This works a lot better at small scales when the people celebrating can personally know the participants and can give the actions or language more meaning for those present. I’ve mellowed out since uni and I do appreciate the function of formalities, but I often think about how I felt back at that uni entrance ceremony.
Anyway, I sometimes get jobs to translate stuff for art exhibitions and so on, and while I can’t do it as well as I’d wish, I really enjoy it. I get to use metaphors that I wouldn’t usually be able to employ elsewhere—it’s a welcome break from doing corporate translation (though I think I’d probably get fatigued if I were doing translations for artistic things all the time—I do enjoy having a mix of projects in work).
... Oh, this is a good opportunity for a small announcement about a little track I’m making!
“what happened here” straddles the boundaries between soundscape, ambient music, and background noise. the title is simultaneously a statement and a question; the sound wordlessly depicts a specific space in a specific time but leaves us lingering for clues about how this space came to be. part of a forthcoming nanoloop mobile compilation album (early 2023).
Or alternatively,
I opted to join in for a nanoloop mobile compilation that will come out this year, and I thought it would be kind of boring to do a “normal” kind of track (and I thought the other participants would do a better job at “normal” kinds of tracks!), so I got experimenting with LFO settings on an FM drone. After messing around a while, I found something that sounded kind of interesting, so I got to work slapping on some simple polyrhythmic percussive sounds plus some sci-fi style sound effects. Still trying to figure out how to make a sense of progression in the music (or at least a way to avoid it feeling too samey), but I hope I can get it done by the deadline. Kind of weird, but also kind of captivating.
Which is better? Well, if you asked me, I’d give the old refrain, “Why not both?” ;-P
By mojilove on 2023-01-24