Boredom, ‘The Besetting Sin’ Of The Arts

“Consider that what all of these – performance, writing, teaching, etc. – have in common is the structure of detachment. Pupils sit and listen to a teacher. Audiences pay to watch and scrutinize, but they must keep quiet and sit in the dark. Visitors to the gallery can look, and think, but not touch. These events are structured by detachment. That’s where they begin. And so, from the very start, they are always on the verge of boredom.”