Playing in the dirt

How does working in clay employ a performative element? I think from the artist's perspective, throwing clay pots includes a luxurious component that involves the moments when the wedge actually assumes shape and becomes the basis of its new entity. There is a fulcrum for this experience. At a certain point the piece is placed squarely into its final form and all the rest of the movements are merely elements of finish, decorations, riffs on the central theme.

Size plays into where the 'selfness' of the will be realized. A small piece is truly more self-contained, has less room for those variations. A large piece can acquire a large amount of embellishment without changing at the core. But that revelatory moment of new being is in fact a performance.

Outsourcing snark centers

In reference to Scott Brown's article "Attack of the Clones" in the July issue of Wired Magazine, I wonder if it is possible to outsource cultural commentary. He posits the notion of outsourcing social commentary. How much does the bang-bang of interaction in our cultural worlds change what we feel and think. Can someone who is web 2.0 connected keep up virtually?

As a writer who does a good bit of reading, I feel that my connection to life is often fascilitated on-line, but I can't imagine jetting into town and really fitting right in.

Shoplifting

What happens when you see something you wish you had not seen? The role of theater and literature is often to examine those things we would rather leave under the big, dank rock. As a writer is it possible to write authentically if the experience is not your own? If you internalize it, rather like a method actor event, how does your own story change the pitch (think music, also think cricket as a spectator, yet it is 'so real').

And then there is the issue of validity: did I see it? Did it happen. I think I'm so rational, but when I reexamine the event it turns out my own memories betray me. Can I rely on my own data once I work through this ugly truth. What role does our subconscious play on how we portray drama?

The role of action in a plot set: am I supposed to do anything about it? The event is making my heart twist, but do I actually need to act. If my action causes future problems...blah, blah. I can see all of this in the surface of the dirt...ok clay. Is rendering in the plastic arts any different than in a performative space?

Is it worse when it happens in a family context...what role does context play? Context can make an event personal, but does that add to the experience? And then there is the role of viewer, audience participation as an anthropological take; does the audience change the experience? And post-production cocktail; viewing a dicey event, with commentary by viewers--it certainly spices up the theater in total. How does live theater differ from the stuff elsewhere?