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85973420 SALC60011 Arts Management, Policy and Practice

Critical review of Learning to Love You More


Learning to Love You More (LTLYM) is a public participatory art project created in 2002 by artists
Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July. With the website (learningtoloveyoumore.com) designed by Yuri
Ono as a platform, Fletcher and July provide assignments with specific instructions and invite people to
submit their own work. Contributions are displayed on the website, and a compilation of selected
works were published in the book Learning to Love You More in 2007. By the time the project was
completed in 2009, there were 70 assignments in total and more than 8,000 contributions from different
parts of the world.

(Cover of the book Learning to Love You More)


While participatory art has been practiced and experimented with by a vast number of artists, there are
two key features making LTLYM especially distinctive:
The specific instructions for each assignment are actually bonded with a carefully considered approach
to help the participants reach their personal feelings and experiences. A few examples include
Assignment #39 Take a picture of your parents kissing, Assignment #14 Write your life story in less
than a day and Assignment #45 Reread your favourite book from fifth grade. To further explain the
significance of this approach, Charles Leadbeaters two avant gardes theory could be illustrative. In

85973420 SALC60011 Arts Management, Policy and Practice

The Art of With, he describes the iconoclastic avant garde art as a redoubt against commodified
culture. Starting from the idea of separation and specialism, this particular kind of modern art should
be able to have a outsider perspective from the society and shock viewers out of complacently
received ways of viewing the world (Leadbeater 2009, p.4). He argues that the technology of the web
has made it possible for people to collaborate with the others on a free and lateral level. This possibility
has shifted the avant garde definition from the 20th century shock and separate towards the new
participatory combine and connect. The two avant gardes can seem at odds, as the participatory
avant garde is challenging the standing above position of the iconoclastic one. However, introducing
the iconoclastic perspective to the collaborative audience might create new possibilities. In this case,
July is famous for her quirky perspective, observing small details of life, digging up the emotions
embodied in them and presenting them in an unexpected and even iconoclastic way (the 20th century
avant garde). She applies technique in her specific instructions for the participants to experiment and
collaborate (the new avant garde). As a result, the participants are often surprised by their personal
findings about their everyday lives. The instructions in the 70 assignments become a toolbox of ways to
inspire people. The audience can choose the ones they feel more inspired by and concentrate on their
own exploration. Fletcher and July suggests that it can be a relief to follow instructions: Sometimes it
seems like the moment we let go of trying to be original, we actually feel something new.
Another feature that helps to nurture the project is the sense of community LTLYM created in the
process. The authorship is shared, which means the artists maintain the curatorship of the whole project
but the participants are free to curate their own exhibitions of assignments. Furthermore, the artists
have adapted some of the participants own work into assignments for other people to interact with. For
example, participant Laura Larks submission for Assignment #14 Write your life story in less than a
day led to Assignment #22 Recreate a scene from Laura Larks life story, which attracted 18
participant submissions in that summer. According to Fletcher, her ethos derives from the question
"How can you make it so that the audience is also the participant, and can feel a sense of having made
friends with you and the other participants?" (Russel, 2009) This ideology is closely related to the
concept of Relational Art introduced by French art critic Nicolas Bourriaud. Bourriaud argues that this
kind of artistic practice should enable the audience to be envisaged as a community, along with their
relational and social contexts, rather than leaving them within independent and private spaces (2002). It
should make it possible for the audience to live through the artwork, instead of walk through only
as a spectator. Therefore, participants can explore the personal territories of their own life and think
about the things they normally might not think about. When it comes to the community of LTLYM,
based on the assignments, participants sometimes do the same thing but end up having different
outcomes. People stop thinking about what the assignment was and start looking hungrily for the
associated personal revelation. As July explains, You also begin to notice a pattern, things that
everyone has in common and that's sort of comforting (Russel, 2009). It is the exchange of fragments
from different peoples lives that connects them together. Drawing from the participants feedback on
Goodreads.com, it is possible to conclude that they are often amused by the humour in the works,
inspired by other peoples interpretations, and more commonly touched by the emotions triggered and
aroused by the work. The artist in this community functions as a catalyst, which amplifies the personal
experience every audience member draws from the process.
Overall, as a practice of participatory art, LTLYM has explored some new possibilities in interaction

85973420 SALC60011 Arts Management, Policy and Practice

with its audience. Providing specific instruction with a hidden iconoclastic approach helps the
participants to explore personal experiences. Building a friendly community among the audience
members leads them to further explore interpersonal connection, which can confirm and intensify the
emotions revealed in the process.
(Word count: 918)

Bibliography:
Bryan-Wilson, J. (2004) Some Kind of Grace: An Interview with Miranda July, Camera
Obscura,19 (1 55): pp.181-197;
Bourriaud, N. (2002) Relational Aesthetics. Paris: Presses du rel,
Echhardt, J. (2006) Laura Lark | 10 Really Short Videos, [online journal] Available
at: http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v5n2/gallery/lark_l/videos.htm [accessed 16 December 2012]
Fletcher, H. et al. (2007) Learning to Love You More. Munich ; London : Prestel 2007
Goodreads, (2012). Goodreads | Learning to Love You More by Miranda July Reviews, Discssions,
Bookclubs, Lists. [online] Available
at:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/980691.Learning_to_Love_You_More [accessed 16

December 2012]
KELSEYSNOOK (2012) Learning to love you more Good Participation (Work in Progress!)
[online] available at: http://goodparticipation.com/2010/07/learning-to-love-you-more/ [accessed 16
December 16, 2012]
Leadbeater, C. (2009) The Art of With. Manchester: Cornerhouse
Russel, R. (2009) Learning to Love You More: spread a little love Telegraph [online] Available
at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/4238338/Learning-to-Love-You-More-spread-a-little-love.ht
ml [accessed 16 December 2012]

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