The cynic in me believes the renewed commercial interest in performance we’re seeing in Australia is motivated by performance's spectacular qualities and its perceived mutability to the cult of populism that dominates our industry. We live in an experience economy. Institutional and commercial art audiences want to be entertained, and institutions and commercial art businesses want to cultivate the dually high social media engagement and levels of audience attendance that are synonymous with this medium.
The proliferation of performing bodies on social media = bigger audiences = more sales + higher visitation. It's a winning formula. However, I'm optimistic that this current wave of commercial interest might be part of an industry-wide shift, in which performance might also receive the critical attention i deserves
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