Experimental Arts
Two Fridays ago, one of the optional workshops for MLK day was a performance of a piece written by Todd Hearon entitled “Crows in Eden.” The performance received a lot of attention for its weird and experimental aspects. It was a dark piece with a lot of violent language and unsettling imagery. There was poetry reading, singing and screaming, and a chilling, ambient soundscape backdrop, crafted by Jon Sakata and Scott Hermenau. From an artistic standpoint, it was a beautiful work of art that really asked those in attendance to truly think deeply about the subject matter.
For me, the workshop was profoundly moving. However, as I watched the performance, I remember hearing something to my left, so I turned my head to see my friend snoring, sound asleep in his chair. To my right, I noticed two other boys sleeping next to each other. After the performance, I heard a variety of dismissive comments made about the show, things like “it was too weird” or “it was creepy” or “I don’t get it.” Students identified the performance as something that was out of their comfort zone, and so they rejected it, dismissing it as having no value and refusing to attempt to appreciate the art for what it was.
In actuality, Exeter has a lot of room for improvement in this area because we continue to reject and dismiss art that is “weird” or different from art that we encounter on a regular basis.
Here at Exeter, we like to think that we have a good appreciation of the arts. Dance recitals, open mics and a cappella concerts are generally well attended and enjoyed by students, and many Exonians participate in the arts in one way or another. In actuality, Exeter has a lot of room for improvement in this area because we continue to reject and dismiss art that is “weird” or different from art that we encounter on a regular basis.
Events like talent shows or EAR concerts, as I said earlier, are generally pretty well appreciated because they are easy to understand and similar to the art that the average high school student is familiar with. I am not criticizing events like these—I myself am a co-head of EAR and always enjoy the concerts—but rather simply stating my observations. Artistic endeavors on campus that stray from the norm, however, continue to go unrecognized or unappreciated. For example, the club Democracy of Sound—whose objective is to expand people’s definition of art and music—tends to be criticized and even made fun of for its abnormality, no matter how much effort they put into their spectacular events. And when a faculty member like Hearon tries to contribute his message to our MLK day events through an experimental piece of art, it is dismissed as “creepy” or “weird.”
It is true that our appreciation for the arts is better than it would be at many other high schools worldwide. However, we are Exonians, and we should not simply be content with mediocrity. As a school, we need to drastically reconsider the way in which we look at art and improve our ability to appreciate higher levels of art, even if they might make us uncomfortable at first. The way that we can do this is by broadening our horizons and expanding our definition of what art is and what art can be rather than simply rejecting any art that somehow diverges from what we are familiar with. Until we achieve this goal and become truly progressive in our conceptions about art, we must not be content with simply being better than some other schools; we must constantly try to improve ourselves, just as we are determined to do as Exonians in so many other areas.