Fan Fiction, Art Writing (The Secret Ingredient - 29/01/14)

The Secret Ingredient

This week we dig into writing and artists. We first introduce a hand-written letter to co-host Alissa from artist Pablo Helguera and discuss how the handwritten letter can tug at one’s heartstrings and trigger our imagination. We examine the work of Helen Reed, artist and editor of Art Criticism and Other Short Stories, in which Reed as gathered artists and writers together to write fan fiction on other artworks and their makers. The work is a playful approach to critical writing about art work, as many writings (particularly in the Canadian context) do not engage with the works content in a critical way. We see examples of fan fiction about Bas Jan Ader and Canadian artist Kent Monkman’s elegant alter-ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle. We finish by looking at Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan’s work in Bedtime Stories for the Edge of the World, reworking traditional bedtime stories to be more queer and feminist. Artists are finding narratives and reintroducing them to us for an embodied response. How can short stories and letters approach art in a new way? Dempsey, Shawna, and Lorri Millan. Bedtime Stories for the Edge of the World. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Arbeiter Ring Publishing, 2013. 144. Reed, Helen. Art Criticism and Other Short Stories. Portland: Self Published, 2011.