What Matters
Carolee Schneemann
In 2006, Katarina Weslien, a visual artist and then director of graduate studies at
Maine College of Art, in Portland, asked several artists to write short texts on the most
important things in their practice and life for a book to be called “What Matters.” The
book was never published but the texts were saved, and Weslien offered Schneemann’s
contribution for this issue.
W hat matters is taking the laundry, emptying kitty litter, answering
and filing the 43 e-mails that came in this week. What matters is
sufficient folders and files, digging through folders, albums, files,
boxes for photos, statements, recensioni, edits, interviews to fulfill requests from
students, researchers, curators, teachers, nuisances, editors, photographers,
videographers. What matters is getting everything organized for endless ridicu-
lous imperious deadlines via Fed-Ex, DHL, fax, e-mail, phone, dog team, post
office. What matters is finding out if my lover will travel east. What matters
is if the chimney needs cleaning, if the sump pump will clog threatening to
flood the basement and the furnace, if the wood pile can be moved before
the next snowstorm, if the guy with the plow will turn up, if I can restore
the border garden which was destroyed by the plow guy, if the idiots on the
Rail trail will ever stop racing their screaming snowmobiles. What matters is
rushing to yoga on time, getting to the bus to NYC, getting to Rhinecliff for
the train to Montreal, getting to Albany for the flight to Colorado, getting the
bicycle oiled, getting the ski pole mended. What matters is cleaning out the
vegetable drawer in the fridge and facing the back shelves. What matters is
scanning the photographs for the 20-page computer collage. What matters
is replacing ink cartridges and paper for the printer, preparing the lecture,
scanning slides, meeting with R to edit the new dualchannel DVD. Che cosa
matters is calling the dentist, the veterinarian, the acupuncturist, Planned
Parenthood. What matters is research on fascism, militarism, political suppres-
sions, censorship, control of media and immigration, Bush lies fabrications
fundamentalisms. What matters is the steady erosion of our constitution.
What matters is designing the invitation card, getting to the gallery to install
© 2019 Performing Arts Journal, Inc.
PAJ 122 (2019), pag. 16–18.
doi:10.1162/PAJJ _a_00481
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the exhibit, to paint the walls, to climb up and down ladders, setting sight
lines, to crawl around on the floor laying out photo-grids, checking gallery
lists of writers, curators, friends . . . even collectors? What matters is email-
ing 1,300 invitations on endlessly corrected lists, washing my hair, drying
the underwear on the radiator, emptying the ashes from the pot belly stove,
scrubbing the toilet bowl, dusting, vacuuming, shoveling snow, to go danc-
ing. What matters is writing recommendations for students, other artists,
friends, phoning friends, birthdays, deaths, lovers, illnesses, joyful or grief-
ridden events. What matters is rewriting, editing statements, press releases,
bios, interviews. What matters is researching to dream better, to teach better,
to lecture better. What matters is crawling into bed with books and the cats if
the lover is far away. What matters is walking out to the cliffs, being dazzled
in the blizzard, photographing shadows over the pond as the ice recedes.
What matters is paying bills, sending invoices, calling the bank, trying to
get work back from resistant galleries, trying to get paid, trying to get the
next teaching/lecture position; negotiating ridiculous salaries, negotiating
travel, sending statements on the work, keeping up the CV. What matters
are the unexpected grants, the amazing analysis of work, the invitations to
show films or exhibit installations, appreciations, and the work in motion!
What matters is having to answer surveys, questionnaires, inquiries, intrusions
which increase the drench, distractions, tension, struggle of the daily art-life.
Gennaio 10, 2006
18 PAJ 122
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