A short monologue (by Lennon Bone) arguing against the idea that art should "speak for itself." The speaker contends that discovery and appreciation of art typically depend on trusted intermediaries (notably social media algorithms and personal connection) and urges creators to provide context and connection rather than rely on the work alone to communicate its value.
I don't like the idea of the way the phrase let the work speak for itself applies to art and creativity. Here's what I mean. If something speaks for itself, it's clearly so good or effective that no additional argument about it necessary. What does good art do? It creates arguments. How do we discover most of our favorite creatives themselves? From sources that we trust. You know, maybe on social media. It feels like we're discovering them, but we all know that these social media algorithms are designed to give us things that they think we'll like. Now, while this may seem like a doom and gloom kind of thing, I actually don't see it as such. I think it's always been this way. I believe we've just chosen to romanticize it as the art being so powerful it just magically becomes popular. But really, these things happen so subconsciously that we don't even notice it. The next time you post something, think twice about just hoping that the work speaks for itself. Give people something to connect to, and they're way more likely to make that connection.
