The voice of the artist(s) – Another vocabulary

The voice of the artist(s) sets out from the premise that the artist's voice is a primary source of knowledge.  Moving beyond biography or critique, it explores artistic creation through the words, reflections, and insights of artists themselves. Based on an ongoing web-based, multimedia project www.thevoiceoftheartist.net, this accompanying book takes the alphabet and weaves it into a polyphonic record in which artists articulate the beauty and tensions of contemporary life. It invites readers not only to look but also listen to the joy, doubt, conflict, and clarity that accompany the creative process. The core of the book comprises contributions from artists working in photography, film, dance, and performance. Each contributor was invited to respond visually to a chosen concept or word—from "Attention," "Burden," and "Collection," to "Witch," "You," and "Zifzafa." The outcomes reveal that artistic creation is not only a poetic or aesthetic art, but one that also produces a mode of inquiry and new knowledge. They are a gentle reminder that listening to artists can offer new ways of seeing, new sources of inspiration, and new reinterpretations from which we can all learn to imagine different possible futures.