Re: [microsound] outsider artists and the audience

[Damian Stewart <damian@xxxxxxxxxx>]

John Hopkins wrote:

> Inside/outside is all about social positioning. it has nothing to do 
> with the energized expression itself (its materialization -- music, 
> visual, movement, etc), but everything to do with the way the social 
> matrix in which the individual is embedded either accepts the form of 
> the expression or not.  "Ahead of her/his time" is another facet of this 
> concept.  It can also be a matter of choice of the individual as well -- 
> for example, there is a guiding principle in the concept "tactical 
> media" that explicitly seeks to remain out of view of the eye of the 
> social media system -- realizing that that attention DOES have a deep 
> effect on the process of expression itself.  So that keeping OUT of view 
> is a strategy for survival of the orginating impulses of creative action.

I used to try and get my music played on the radio, with a goal to 
selling lots of cds. Then I discovered the politics that have to go 
along with that, and I decided not to do that.

Re insider and outsider art, my current definition of what makes 'good' 
art is something that makes me actually say 'wow' or 'ooh', verbalise a 
deep experience. The things that have been doing that the most lately 
have been comic books and stencil art. Seth Tobocman, who was deeply 
involved in the New York squat 'wars' of the early 1990s, has made a 
book called /You Don't Have To Fuck People Over To Survive/, which is 
nothing short of *amazing*.

In terms of music, I find myself wanting to get these kinds of strong 
reactions from people that I'm feeling when I read this sort of stuff. 
I've learnt that audience and politics is important - if doing a laptop 
improv gig it's /vital/ that I explain to the audience before I go on 
stage that I'm improvising, usually providing some 'proof' like 'I 
recorded the sounds this afternoon' or 'I'm going to record the sounds 
as I go along'.

I like getting too loud too, playing with nasty digital feedback and 
sounds that people find uncomfortable or unpleasant, and generally 
disrespecting the expectations and/or the sensibilities of the audience, 
drawing my inspiration from what people tell me I /oughtn't/ do (mixing 
it up with healthy doses of 'nice' stuff as well, even if only to make 
the impact of the 'nasty' stuff stronger... ;) Disrespect is very 
important if you want to challenge people's perceptions, I find.

This tends to spring from my anarchist political tendencies (which some 
people may find distasteful) but I'm getting excellent responses to it 
across the board (those parts of academic music I'm involved with, those 
parts of popularish radio I'm involved with, friends, and family) so 
it's currently a path I'm adopting with lots of energy.

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