1. (…) The strategies of reasoning and argumentation, the rhetorical twists which are summoned in public talking and writing about art are particularly worthwhile object of study. In many cases these are degenerate forms of argumentative speech. Texts on art rarely explain what they profess to explain; they simply simulate the explainability of their theories.From this point of view, I should add that the differences between review, catalogue text, laudatio and artist profile are nominal.However varied the forms of writing which circulate in the art world,they are unified in their claim to truth, in their allegation of stringency and factuality. Even a Kunstverein press release doesn't want to be read as some dubious rhapsody, but as a reliable source of information and coherent aid to understanding, in other words, as criticism in the best sense of the word.
Christian Demand, Inflated phrases
2. The actors who set out to play the life of today ask themselves: How can you act that?What stories are left to tell? Of course any newspaper article about”theatre today” has to operate with the crassest of generalisations,but the big picture shows us a clear pattern. Stories of determined actions are told in television and the cinema (and these days in computer games too) while theatre tells of being attended to,being excluded, waiting. Whereas television and cinema like to go”round the outside” and follow the great global escapology performance with boyish admiration, the theatre sneaks into the silent interior of the trap for quiet contemplation. The former celebrate the destruction of freedom as a global festival of suspense, the theatre shows it as endgame.
Peter Kűmmel, Escapology and the endgame
