Glenn Gould on the role of the artist... or the lack thereof
While the DVD of 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould is out of print and thus prohibitively expensive, I bought the VHS tape recently since I missed it, and also noticed that the whole thing seems to be up on YouTube. Since yesterday was 75 anniversary of his birth & October 4th is the 25th anniversary since his death, I thought I might post this clip. The actor is Colm Feore; he is acting a dialogue that Gould wrote, exploring the nature of performance, the role of the artist, and why Gould gave up live concert performance. I thought it might be fun for us to talk about the power dynamics described here, and Gould's moral objection to performing, with respect to power/writing/authorship etc. more generally. (is there a connection between a public artist and the role of the public intellectual that we discussed earlier, for instance?)
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