Dignity in the stuck and underwhelmed with progress + Being okay with inactivity that turns into the gestational period of being the work in progress. This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit 400degreezpole.substack.com

Prologue

Wasp’s Nest — A Virtual Symposium Event that is a sexy window for some brilliant key holders is happening on Sun, April 7th, 2024. This part A, a two-part installment, is framing the panes of practice. I ‘chop-it-up’ with Kennie, who is one of those brilliant keyholders. We track her current idle state and the revelations she’s discovered. There’s also a sick read for the state of our reality there too.

Tickets are now available to attend the inaugural Wasp’s Nest Symposium event. Put your presence where your philosophy is: https://performancetempel.com/rear-end/

Chat Notes

In the first segment (0:00-30:31) Ashley introduces Akeyna, called Kennie, as a brilliant artist in an idle era of her artistic practice. The conversation takes off as Kennie lays out a read of the creative economy as deprived of options for substantial recognition outside of influence and/or conforming to an audience’s demand. She talks about wanting to have agency over her creative output and production, where she feels she’s sacrificing her material survival in order to share at some rate of consistency to be validated with trust online. Ashley expresses her opinion about external validation and its need for everyone. Ashley also poses the question, “Is practice only deserved by those who are privileged with leisure time?”. Kennie also brings up the competitiveness that is forced upon creatives and artists to vie for audience attention. She takes it a step further than the external validation to be seen, but also the regard she has for her work, knowing that it’s worth it and that it deserves attention. This is where her internal struggles kick up dust. She talks about how her practice has stopped progressing in terms of her dynamics and technical ability, but how she still practices her artistry. Ashley gives Kennie her flowers for not forcing the funk, accepting the idle time, and embracing the authenticity of being exactly where she is. Ending the segment, Ashley calls attention to the boringness and receptiveness of an idle state of practice and how she feels like that is a lost art.