for this week we were summoned to the dark recesses of the architecture building, on a particularly miserable day - thankfully the bright enthusiasm of Alexandra Kokoli invigorated us in what proved to be a very enjoyable seminar. the question posed to us at the very beginning of the session was "what distinguishes the way artists write from the way others write?". not an easy question, but here goes; first of all, artists have a unique way of thinking which allows them to communicate their intended message far better than any words ever can - though that does not stop most form trying (including myself). because artists are first and foremost visual communicators, you may think that creating a supporting text could be construed as an admission of failure on the artist's part, but it is simply not that clear cut. for me it is about explaining my work, it is about giving the work i produced a credence which would not be possible otherwise. so due to my insecurities about my own work i produce a body of text which i feel vindicates my work and practice - so that it may be called art. when engaged in the process of writing about your own work you are in a sense completing the piece in question. in doing so you are creating a final summary of whatever you have produced - perhaps this is partly influenced by the cognitive need to achieve ownership over you're work. we have all read critiques of other peoples' art in which the commentator or 'expert' in question has drawn meanings from it which were simply not intended, in a way the writings of an artist are an attempt to prevent your work from being stolen from you by these critics who are giving a ready made opinion to those who simply cannot form their own. because of this, artists can be highly "militant" in their discourse 0f other artists work, often berating the work of their contemporaries. interestingly something ms Kokoli mentioned during the seminar was that in a way when Artists write about other artists they are in fact writing aboiut themselves and their own practices - indirectly referencing their own methodology. so what makes the way artists write especially different to the way that a biologist would write? well the focus in no longer on imperical fact, instead the emphasis is on opinions, and there can be no absolutes in opinions - there are no incorrect opinions and there are no correct opinions - instead there are contextual viewpoints which offer a readily 'comsumable' opinion of a works meaning.
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