François Matarasso

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  • Reading optimism

    A Restless Art has been available as a free PDF, as well as in print, since January 2019, for reasons explained on the download page. A couple of days ago I noticed that there’d been about 20 downloads on a single day. That surprised me, so I checked back and worked out that there have…

  • A Selfless Age? From ‘Winter Fires’ to ‘1001 Stories’

    Gwen Sewell and Rosie Wheatland, iPad painting by Mik Godley from Winter Fires (2012) I think about unravelling it, but I don’t, I change my mind.  I think about taking stock of my life, but I don’t, I change my mind.  I think about thinking about it, but I don’t.  I keep on wearing it…

  • What is a ‘selfless’ art?

    To be honest, I don’t yet know. For now, it’s a signpost, pointing in the direction that seems most promising. Whether it becomes a book, something else or perhaps a dead end will become clear only with time, but a title is important because it defines the possibilities and constraints of what I’m doing. Past titles…

  • ‘HerStory’ – A co-created opera for World Parkinson’s Day

    In May 2021, as part of our research into opera co-creation, I arranged a meeting between some of the Traction artists and HerStory, an opera project with people living with Parkinson’s disease. We met the composer, Amy Mallet, and project director, Nicola Wydenbach, and shared a fascinating conversation about their experience of developing the project, before…

  • The power of attention

    When Elon Musk bought Twitter, in October last year, I deleted my account. I’m wary of social media, which feeds human frailties to gain power and can cause grave harm. My first line of defence in the attention economy is not to pay attention. Choosing which ideas and people I invite into my mind makes…

  • Time to go inward

    It’s time to go inward man I hope I have the nerve To take an inventory of the causes that I serve Rodney Crowell A Restless Art was published four years ago, in January 2019. It seems like another age. Since the pandemic arrived in 2020, the world has staggered like a drunk from one crisis…