Going well, but is it art?

TATHOS (voice on crackly phone line): Hello?

TOMGOS (sleepy): Wha... He.. Hello?! Why are you calling me in the middle of the night?

TATHOS: Sorry, I was woken up by an amazing wet dream, and then I couldn't get back to sleep, I was thinking...

TOMGOS: Dear god... But why are you phoning?

TATHOS: I was thinking... Is it art?

TOMGOS: If you mean your dream, I'm hanging up now... Why ARE you phoning? I am you, you are me, why do you need to use a phone?!

TATHOS: I don't know, it felt like I... Maybe it's easier [voice becomes normal] if I don't

TOMGOS: That's easier... So I'm awake now.. Is WHAT art?

TATHOS: Our piece for the CSM interim show... I love the way people are interacting with it, but is it art?

TOMGOS: Everything is art... Nothing is art... Why are you worried about it now?

TATHOS: Not worried... Just trying to reflect and learn!

TOMGOS: I guess... So why wouldn't it be art?

TATHOS: Shit... I guess it could just be a social experiment? Or a novel poll? Or a stunt?

TOMGOS: Ok, so why could it be art?

TATHOS: Shit... Ok... I guess it fits with our idea of art as being the event/feeling/act itself - the postcards are the frame, the art is in people's interactions...

TOMGOS: The completed postcards are the art?

TATHOS: No, more the act of completing them... Or maybe, the act of public sharing...

TOMGOS: Participative performance art?

TATHOS: Hmmm, that doesn't sound right.... Art is about making people think not perform...

TOMGOS: I guess they think as they fill them in?

TATHOS: Maybe, but not something they haven't thought before...

TOMGOS: ... or they wouldn't be able to write it down?

TATHOS: Exactly...

TOMGOS: They read them too...

TATHOS: Yes! They read them, then they contribute... Or they contribute and then they read them... I guess they pin their card next to other peoples... They maybe choose where...

TOMGOS: People have shared some really personal things

TATHOS: Fuck, maybe that's the art?! The group experience of sharing?

TOMGOS: Lucy said "it made me emotional, laugh, surprised and feel a sense of belonging with people I have never met or seen"... Is that what you mean?

TATHOS: Wow! Man! She said that? She's hit something good there... Yeah, that's what I mean... The art is that feeling, the postcards and the board are just the place to make the art happen, and the record of it happening

TOMGOS: Self-documenting?

TATHOS: That sounds sort of wanky, but maybe... I don't think that's the important thing... The postcards are more like the ashes of the fire of the art... We need to honour them and the fire they once were...

TOMGOS: You weren't smoking before bed were you?

TATHOS: Not that shit again, you are obsessed! You do that when you are afraid of sounding like an artist!

TOMGOS: Huh... Ok, sorry... We do need to do something with those cards. We should see how many we gave away and how many we got back...

TATHOS: I hate to say it, but that could be interesting - art can be numbers I guess...

TOMGOS: Wow, just like that?

TATHOS: I'm not obstructive! But we do need to do more... Maybe we need to keep that feeling alive of sharing...

TOMGOS: A book?

TATHOS: Maybe... 

TOMGOS: So it IS art? Lucy also said "There was no forcing. Weirdly it being public you left feeling a bit stronger after sharing, like exposure therapy. And at the same time still private, the piece protects your identity while giving you that nudge of not being alone."

TATHOS: Nice... Yes... Clearly she's the artist here? There's a lot of thinking here about not being alone, about it being a shared but private experience... People said that to me at the show too..

TOMGOS: Thanks for doing that for me, I'm sorry I couldn't be there

TATHOS: You know I'll keep us both safe... And you keep us safe too, when it comes to money and not eating weird shit you find on the floor...

TOMGOS: Yeesh... Sure... So it is art... Can we go to bed now?

TATHOS: It is art, but it's intangible... We need to do something to make a fitting record of it... To make a nice urn for the ashes of the art...

TOMGOS: Noted, but can we do that in the morning?

TATHOS: Yes... So is it a stunt? Or a poll?

TOMGOS: Also morning questions...

TATHOS: No! Now questions... A stunt is a shallow act intended to be sensationalist, it's not that... A poll is about gathering data... Not that either... A survey, no, there's no goal... Well, the goal is the sharing... A social experiment is about the outcome, this was about the act... I think that's the art - not the postcards, not the board, not the writing, not the pinning... the moment of being there is the art... the moment of adding your thoughts and feelings and private fears to all the other thoughts and feelings and private fears... THAT is the art! Who do you think?

TOMGOS: ....

TATHOS: Tomgos? Are you asleep?

TOMGOS: ....

TATHOS: For fucks sake... Right... What was I dreaming again...