i wanted to talk more about the revolutionary concept of energy YES! quality NO!
bcos at first reading it’s not immediately clear what that means
intro
this was first introduced to me by the wonderful Heavy Lifting and its an incredibly useful concept.
energy
the first part is easy enough - a big YES to energy - which could be any kind of energy - what is transmitted through the work or performance - a cool, calm energy - a loud shouty one - thoughtful, pensive - anger and fear - elation and joy. Its about how the energy comes across and how you engage with it in that moment.
quality
this is the more tricky part - its not immediately clear what this means.
It does not mean that everything has to be ‘rubbish’ !!
This is important. You can be proud of your work, you can craft it carefully. that is fine
what it means is that we are not defining some arbitrary universal notion of ‘quality’ or ‘standards’ because its misleading, highly subjective and completely the wrong thing to aim for.
you can make something that is beautiful, awesome, delicate, finessed, detailed - that is fine - that is part of your energy
BUT
if you sacrifice energy for an idea of ‘quality’, if you try to live up to some ‘standard’ or meet some bar, you will become unstuck and the energy will suffer.
crit
its also worth pointing out that this comes from the art crit world but I think it equally applies to the process of producing work
links
https://thewhitepube.co.uk/art-reviews/thomas-hirschhorn/
https://www.thomashirschhorn.com/energy-yes-quality-no/
does that clear things up?
I’ve found this such a useful lens to work through, if you think you can improve this explanation, please say so!