Fruit Stand

A recent article about Nick Cave describes how the artist was motivated by the beating of Rodney King at the hands of the Los Angeles Police Department in 1992 to make his trademark sound suits, and how after the killing of George Floyd, he has been questioning his own practice and asking himself how he can do more. His new project Amends asks white people to look in the mirror and ask that same question. 

I had dinner with Nick approximately ten years ago in Seattle. If he would’ve asked me then if I cared about social justice, I would’ve answered “hell yeah,” even though my advocacy for racial equity and inclusivity at the time, and perhaps even now, could be described as more dutiful than urgent. 

Maya’s evocation of urgency and connecting it to pleasure crystalized something for me, namely: how pursuing the latter has a way of inhibiting the former. If one goes around asking, “Do I dare to eat a peach?,” perhaps they’re less likely to be concerned about people who never have such choices. Or even if they do care, they do so at normal speed. Dutifully. 

Many people in and around the arts enjoy drinks, dinner, conversation, and whatnot before and after shows with great enthusiasm. I used to rationalize these as small rituals that prepare people beforehand to experience art and process it afterwards; after 25 years working as an arts administrator, I’m not sure that art isn’t just an excuse for such pleasure-seeking, which is fine — except I question if dogged pursuits of pleasure are usually accompanied by equally fierce commitments to fighting for others to be at the table. This is what I’ve been asking when I look in the mirror. 

I think Maya recognizes this conundrum and is proposing a new set of conditions, which have been crucial all along, for experiencing pleasure through art and performance devoted to a diversity of perspectives — not just through the art or ideas being presented, but in every other way too. By who is producing and curating the experience. By who is in the audience. By who is on the board. It’s our duty — it’s my duty — to work towards Maya’s vision of the “feast” with conviction and a sense of urgency. 

July 13, 2020