Just a Little Off the Top

This passage in a piece by Darren O'Donnell "Social Practice, Children and the Possibility of Friendship" in Blast Counterblast ed by Anthony Elms and Steve Reinke (Toronto: Mercer Union, 2011) reminds us of the importance of audience.

This displacement of critical categories away from notions of craftsmanship and virtuosity allows for an easier involvement of the nonartist, children and young people, particularly populations who may be marginal to the dominant culture and thus less conversant with the language and postures of art.

Consider the various productions of Haircuts by Children mounted by Mammalian Diving Reflex (with which O'Donnell is associated): a performance about trust, children’s rights, generosity and vanity, where ten-year-olds offer free haircuts to the public. This has been mounted in several cities around the world.

http://mammalian.ca/projects/

And so for day 1860
16.01.2012