Want an example of how social interpretation (audience-produced meaning making that occurs in/through public settings and mechanisms) operates in the contemporary arts world? Check out the Audience Review portal at The Dance Enthusiast.com. The brainchild of former dancer and producer Christine Jowers, The Dance Enthusiast is a self-described “digital news site and arts service … [Read more...]

"What matters is not what happened but what people think happened."   ~Harold Pinter The human mind is always busy translating symbols (whether man-made or natural) in the external world. The Latin word translatio expresses the process beautifully. It means, “to carry across.” The human mind is also always looking for opportunities to integrate those symbols into a higher-order unity, in … [Read more...]

In Art and Intimacy, evolutionary anthropologist Ellen Dissanayake’s recent study of the relationship between art making and the “infancy of the human species,” she notes that meaning was first located in “what ‘felt right’—a full stomach, a safe environment, nearness of familiar others, or ways to acquire these.” Over a millennia of human evolution, the mind increasingly became a “making-sense … [Read more...]

Autumn brings the urge to change up my rhetorical strategy a bit, so for the next month or so I’ll switch from writing self-contained essays on different topics to posting a series of quotes, ideas-for-thought, and short provocations exploring the concept of meaning-making in the arts. As readers of this blog know, my mission is to open up the meaning-making process to and for our … [Read more...]

We are accustomed to describing the premiere of Le Sacre du Printemps as a riot. That’s what the history books say and that’s what Wikipedia says so there you have it. But another way of framing Sacre is to call it one of the last examples of more than 2500 years of audience-centered social interpretation in the Western arts tradition. That infamous uproar was not so much an aberration as it … [Read more...]

I’m sitting on a blanket on the lawn of the Boston Common, sipping my Pinot Grigio out of a water bottle (like half the audience) and finishing my sandwich (pesto, sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese=good). On my right a family group with several young children are huddled around a smart phone looking at a video and laughing (the mother too). Just a few minutes ago they were all laughing at Sir … [Read more...]

I have been invited to participate in a Pillow Talk discussion at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival on July 11 (5 p.m. for those heading to The Berkshires this weekend). “Talking About Dance” will be moderated by Scholar-in-Residence Maura Keefe and also includes Christine Jowers from Dance Enthusiast and Nancy Wozny from CultureMap Houston and Dance Magazine. I’m a big fan of the audience … [Read more...]

In a post from a few weeks ago I stated that the term “research” is often narrowly defined in the arts industry, at least that part of the industry controlled by funders and agencies. I argued for a broader definition of what constitutes data (big or otherwise). My data, for example, come from the historical archive and from a variety of contemporary narrative sources that provide information … [Read more...]

A few weeks ago I was invited to present on my concept of Arts Talk at the University of Chicago’s Cultural Policy Center. (Here’s the link to the video of my talk if you’re interested.) Among the many valuable aspects of my Chicago visit was a stimulating dinner conversation with Executive Director Betty Farrell and Research Manager Jennifer Novak-Leonard about the definition of arts research. … [Read more...]

In the arts industry, “artistic excellence” is routinely posited as an empirical fact—a thing outside of our individual heads and hearts that is locatable, measurable, quantifiable and justifiable. Like thirsty shamens with divining rods, somehow those of us with aesthetic expertise can locate artistic excellence through the vibrations we feel when we get near it. I’m skeptical. First of all, I … [Read more...]