Are you human or are you audience?
Hi friends. This week we're coming to you once again with both written and video versions of this piece. Scroll down to read, or press play below. ❤️
The idea of an audience is a funny thing.
Once upon a time an audience was a formal concept. One entered a room as a person, took your seat or found your place, and you joined the audience — a group with its own distinct structure and identity. Up there is the performer. Down here is the audience.
But is the formal concept of an audience obsolete?
The boundaries that existed in the past between audience and performer are eroding. Participation culture — in which how we respond to the thing can be even more important than the thing — has collapsed the model of the passive audience.
The people formerly known as the audience are becoming participants, collaborators, collectors, and co-creators. Fandoms extend fictional universes beyond original creators. Remixes treat existing work as raw material. Platforms blur professional/amateur distinctions. React videos recast the lead.
Now that conversation means co-creation rather than broadcast, traditional notions of creative work itself and how we relate to it are transforming.
Today’s collectors aren’t passive consumers — they’re active stakeholders in creative ecosystems. They curate, contextualize, and complete the creative circuit.
If we look at the institutions and spaces struggling to adapt, they’re the ones that depend on the creator and audience experiences being binary, despite that no longer reflecting how culture works.
We ourselves are still grappling with what this means. We often default towards the more traditionalist path, but feel the pull towards the one where we open up. Sometimes you have to let go of what was to discover what is.
New releases
Ceramicism, "Light Board"
Digital serenity meets physical fidelity in Ceramicism’s exquisite wall piece that shifts between 11 different kaleidoscopic presets. Love the exposed construction, lo-fi digitalness, everything about it. Exceptional work.
These Days Mag, "2025 Chicago Artists to Watch"
A well-designed, free digital zine about up and coming artists in Chicago. Learn who's next, where they came from, and where they're going. Supporting new artists and work with your time and energy always has to be a hell yes.
Melisa Seah, "Geotype"
Okay, you can officially put us in the font-positive camp now. Yesterday we found ourselves immersed in the chill video contained on this project's release page in which designer Melisa Seah casually walks us through her latest font creation and its various weights while watching TV with some friends. A world where we get to virtually hang with people who make stuff we like and get to support them? Count us in for this drop and version of the internet.
Benn Gabriner, "So Screwed Dish Tray"
The first 50 times we looked at this adorable thing our eyes were drawn to the gator in the water. But now we find ourselves transfixed at the face of the person sitting in the tree. Somehow they feel like all of us. Hang in there buddy!
Releases rising 🔥
Cult favorites constantly getting collectors. Be among those in the know...
Moment of zen
We close with a video tour of the studio of NYC-based artists Jamie Kim and Paul Waters. Enjoy a moment of immersion in the work of others before going about your practice and day.
Peace and love y'all,
Yancey and the Metalabel squad
