"The difference between a theatre with and without an audience is enormous. There is a palpable, critical energy created by the presence of the audience"
About this Quote
Goldsworthy is pointing at a truth that sounds obvious until you remember how much contemporary art culture tries to make it optional: the audience isn’t just a consumer of the work, it’s part of the work’s physics. By choosing theatre rather than gallery, he leans into a form where absence is instantly legible. An empty stage isn’t neutral; it’s a failed circuit. “Palpable, critical energy” frames spectatorship as force, not opinion - something you can feel in the room, something that changes timing, risk, even meaning.
The intent here is quietly combative. Goldsworthy’s practice is famous for impermanence: stones balanced, leaves stitched, ice and tide doing the final edits. In that world, presence matters. If a piece dissolves before you arrive, you don’t simply miss the object; you miss the exchange. The subtext pushes back against the fantasy of frictionless, endlessly replayable culture. Documentation can be beautiful, but it’s a receipt, not the meal.
“Critical” also does double duty. He’s not only describing heightened attention; he’s describing judgment, the charged awareness that someone is watching and deciding. That pressure can sharpen performance, but it can also expose it. In an era of livestreams, immersive installations, and algorithmic “engagement,” Goldsworthy is defending an older, more vulnerable ecology: bodies sharing time, collectively co-authoring what counts as real. The audience doesn’t just witness the art; it completes the conditions under which the art can happen at all.
The intent here is quietly combative. Goldsworthy’s practice is famous for impermanence: stones balanced, leaves stitched, ice and tide doing the final edits. In that world, presence matters. If a piece dissolves before you arrive, you don’t simply miss the object; you miss the exchange. The subtext pushes back against the fantasy of frictionless, endlessly replayable culture. Documentation can be beautiful, but it’s a receipt, not the meal.
“Critical” also does double duty. He’s not only describing heightened attention; he’s describing judgment, the charged awareness that someone is watching and deciding. That pressure can sharpen performance, but it can also expose it. In an era of livestreams, immersive installations, and algorithmic “engagement,” Goldsworthy is defending an older, more vulnerable ecology: bodies sharing time, collectively co-authoring what counts as real. The audience doesn’t just witness the art; it completes the conditions under which the art can happen at all.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
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