Photograph of writer and performer, Gloria Sanders.

What is art? What is art for? Life. People. Living.

Head’s been a-buzzing with thoughts on what is art? Performance art? Live art? Theatre? Poetry, performance poetry. What about artists who don’t make art all the time. That’s allowed, right? Yes, of course. Not everything is art.

One phase seems to have drawn to a close. My last show in London for a while was on Thursday, for I Love You But… We Only Have Four Minutes to Save the Earth. Was what I made and performed, art? I think so.

Talking to Pippa Koscerek. Was set to thinking about intention, questioning. I make a bowl to act as a receptacle for soup or I make a bowl because I am asking questions about the ratios within a form. I make a pop song to create a top ten hit, or I make a pop song because I am looking to see if my questions about life can be effectively couched and conveyed in a pop format.

The ideas below are edited versions of tweets from the last 48 hours. The items about content, desire and control was to do with I Love You But, in conversation with Tonny A which seemed, to me, to be about artists struggling or working to express something vital.

If there are no new stories (arguably), why make anything? There is nothing new to say. The personal is important. A kid asked recently, “What bomb?”. “The Bomb,” the shocked silent faces of older adults replied. We need to keep saying the same things over and over again because it’s important that we keep living.

The piece I saw tonight was pure vital love life-force fundamental real of dreams dream-making #GloriaSanders @HIDEtheatreSEEK #TheClock

Listen to Gloria reading one of her poems, The Contortionist, here, originally published in inc. Magazine #4 it was recorded for Annexe Magazine as part of the series Two Poems, in which poets perform a piece of their own and a work by another writer that has influenced them in some way. Gloria also reads, I Have Wasted The Day by Felix Dennis here.

Content is a funny thing. I am usually more interested in why the work exists in first place i.e. who is this before me?

Good answers are: It’s clearer/better/heightened version of me, the world, you, me with you in the world. The big, wonderful world here, now and ahead.

I am interested in what’s at stake; desire vs control. How much to let go of, how much to keep. Craft and knowledge giving a person wings.

“Kiss and caress and love while you can. Taste and devour and love while you can.” – Brautigan