What's that Sound?

Ah yes. It's butter being slapped, of course!

Post modern and contemporary art are probably some of the most divisive topics I know. Everyone has a strong opinion about it. Generally, it’s one of anger! How dare they! Don’t they know what real art is? Anyone could make this shit.
Ah. There we are.

Does the fact that “anyone” could do it make it less likely to be art? What does that say about our biases on ability? What does that say about our encouragement of the budding child artist? What does it, most importantly, say about us? 
The title of this post is referring to a viral video I saw on Instagram of someone criticizing an artist slapping a block of butter with a tiny microphone. In fact, I’ve had so many discussions about this very video with several people that it lead me to start blogging on Substack! The person criticizing the artist makes claims along the lines of “this isn’t real art” or “it’s a scam” and there’s absolutely a subtext to his comments that “this is some academic liberal bullshit” (not his words, I’m just mind reading). His response, and so many in the comments, are of extreme, vitriolic anger. Everyone, it seems, is pretty confident this isn’t art!

Earlier today, I showed my 8 year old son a music video by The Wallflowers called “Sleepwalker.” It’s pretty standard 90s stuff with various Americana symbolism and of course, performing with instruments along with the track. At the end of the video, I asked him what he thought.

“Why did he put headphones in a dead fish?”

A lot of parents might respond with something along the lines of “it’s just a silly video” and the discussion ends. Instead, I walked him through it.

Me: “That’s a good question. Let’s think about it. What do headphones do?”
Son: “Make you listen to music.”
M: “And what would you hear if you plugged it into a dead fish?”
S: “Nothing.”
M: “Why?”
*A conversation discussing how the plug gets sound lol*
M: “Okay, so now we have established he can’t hear anything. What else would he experience in the room?”
S: “The smell of a dead fish.”
M: “Which is…?”
S: “Stinky!”
M: “Okay so we’ve got no sound and a stinky fish.”
S: “So… if he knows that there will be no sound and it’ll be stinky, why would he still plug in his headphones?”

Dear reader. The excitement that burst from me from this question. He got it. He got the whole, very, fucking, point. Why would someone do that? We could revisit the video, talk about the other symbolism, maybe draw on the lyrics, and come up with the bigger picture, but my son was satisfied: he understood the absurdity, and the intention around that particular scene.
While I haven’t talked to everyone in the world, I haven’t seen many people violently telling Jakob Dylan he’s a hack because of his dead fish antics. What does he have that the butter artist does not?

Context. 

Their butter slapping performance was clipped and set free on social media with no context, reached none of the right audiences, and on a platform that wasn’t meant for it (I could argue this might very well change but I digress). 
The artist is Tallulah Haddon, a queer British Jewish actor and performer. Their butter slapping was performance art inspired by a candle maker during the Holocaust. Performance art is often jeered when taken out of context because it so heavily depends on it. 

Think of it this way: 
You walk into a planetarium and stand towards the edge of the room right by the exit. After the show, you’re disappointed and mildly pissed because it wasn’t very good. Why? You were standing, not lying in the specially made seats, so your view of the stars wasn’t great. Perhaps your legs were tired from standing, your head from craning. Maybe you were frequently disturbed by people entering and exiting by the door you were hovering.

Context matters! How we view art, the world, and others is heavily dependent on context. So, how can we go forward approaching our experiences with art?

I shouldn’t have to say this but I will: I am not telling you what art to like. We all have personal preferences. You can and absolutely should be critical of art! You should be critical of the context! Do not blindly accept what people tell you (including me!). But there is a big difference between “I like all art” and “I think this artist shouldn't be allowed to ever breathe again” (seriously, what’s wrong with those people?). You also don’t actually have the right to tell someone what’s art or who’s an artist. Does that bother you? Why? Did you know YOU (yes YOU) could make art? Are you worried it won’t be good? Are you worried people will hate it? Why? What do you think it takes to be an artist? These are great questions to start asking yourself next time you’re offended by someone creating something and calling themselves an artist. If your first thought is, well I can do that, then do it. Do it. 
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And then show me, so I can appreciate it.