One of the glories and terrors of working in public is that you do see if your output means anything to anyone.
Interpretation
Public work has the power to impact others, revealing both its value and the pressure of its reception.
In this quote, Jenny Holzer highlights the dual nature of creating art or work that is presented to the public. It serves as both a source of pride and anxiety, as the creator becomes acutely aware of the influence their work can have on others, which can be both a glorious affirmation of purpose and a terrifying vulnerability to criticism or indifference.
In practice
This quote can be used to inspire artists during an exhibition opening.
BY YOUR RESPONSE TO DANGER IT IS_x000D_ EASY TO TELL HOW YOU HAVE LIVED _x000D_ AND WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO YOU._x000D_ YOU SHOW WHETHER YOU WANT TO STAY ALIVE,_x000D_ WHETHER YOU THINK YOU DESERVE TO,_x000D_ AND WHETHER YOU BELIEVE_x000D_ IT'S ANY GOOD TO ACT.
Movies become living organisms that graduate from a filmmaker's sphere of influence and pretty much look back and tell you how they need to be said goodbye to. A movie often turns around and looks at you and says, "Here is who I am, and that's maybe now how you see me, but that's who I've become." And you've got to be open enough to go with that.
The object of art is to give life shape.
A strong experience in the present awakens in the creative writer a memory of an earlier experience (usually belonging to his childhood) from which there now proceeds a wish which finds its fulfilment in the creative work.
Way before we were scratching pictures on caves or beating rhythms on hollow trees we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid self-propulsion over wild terrain.
I sense Light as the giver of all presences, and material as spent Light. What is made by Light casts a shadow, and the shadow belongs to Light.
The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
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