When Sharing Becomes the Creative Actby Carolyn Yoo
“Last month I read the fantastic essay “I Don’t Want to Show You My Work” by designer James Junk. He laments how posting the creative process online now feels like a precedent, not a byproduct of creating. What this means in practice is that the “process” is made to look coherent and picture perfect, thereby obfuscating the reality of the creative process.”
“If documentation that looks ugly or chaotic is eschewed for steps that look more palatable on screen, then we lose the ability to properly evaluate what documentation is useful for our process. We cater instead to the easily digestible, even when our work asks us otherwise.”
“Both of these models of existing online emphasize discovery without pushing. I am not meeting you in your social media feed or in your inbox. You can choose to visit me when you’d like. There are no promises that I’ve cleaned the house or have anything new to share, but you are always welcome to walk around, explore, and leave as you see fit.
What this means for me, the artist, is that I get to practice shaping and exploring works in progress without feeling too vulnerable. It prepares me to create work that will be pushed and performed, with the ability to point to traces of public documentation that have informed its process.”