Post-Art Clarity

If it was a singular word, ‘Holding Space’ may well have been in the running to be 2024’s Word of the Year, after the bizarre way in which it cropped up in interviews with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo during the press junket for the Wicked film. The phrase was memed to within an inch of its life, before being mocked mercilessly (mostly by the same group of people that routinely call others ‘Woke’ and ‘snowflakes’ in derogatory sneers) and in the popular imaginary, the phrase has been abandoned like roadkill. Of course, this was not the birth story of the phrase ‘holding space’, which by definition is an allocation and allowance of mental, emotional, sometimes physical space given to someone who might need someone to talk to, or to listen. In practice, this will range from basic forms of care to more significant levels of support, which in these times of hustle, isolation, and alienation, feel like a luxury.  Installation view: Holding Space, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna. 13 Mar...