“Aboutness” Lecture

This lecture felt like a huge relief. It dismantled the pressure that an artwork must always be “about” something. TJ Clark said: “Aboutness is slippery.” It’s not a topic. It’s a relationship—something we try to grasp but never quite catch.

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I often ask myself, “Am I being too unclear?” or “Is this too indirect?” But this talk made me realize: Indirectness is my method. I’m not trying to “make a point”—I’m creating a space of proximity. My installations aren’t “about memory”—they’re more like states of misrecognition.

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Another point that really struck me: It’s the audience who defines what a work is ‘about.’ That idea gave me peace. I don’t need every viewer to understand. I just need to create a space worth misreading.