Contributor profile: Chris Reid

Chris Reid

photo courtesy of the author

Chris Reid

Bio

As an undergraduate in South Australia, I studied Political Science and History and have made a 30-year career in educational administration — “herding cats”. More recently I completed a masters degree in art history and had a brief taste of teaching in that field. After 5.00pm, I’ve always been an arts addict. I write about both art and music but I’m neither an artist nor a musician. My life is split between three worlds — art, music and education. Every interstate or overseas trip is a cultural (as well as socio-political) excursion.

Exposé

I began writing about art in 1992 for Adelaide-based visual art magazine Broadsheet, published by the Contemporary Art Centre of SA, and regularly wrote exhibition reviews and artists’ profiles for Broadsheet for many years. From the outset, I always tried to write from the position of the engaged viewer, rather than the expert, and to re-present the spectacle to the reader. I also regularly write catalogue essays for artists and in the 1990s contributed to other art magazines such as Art Monthly Australia.

I was first invited to write for Real Time in 1995—a piece on an Adelaide contemporary music ensemble—and, for Real Time, I have written much more about music than art. In covering musical performances or in writing CD reviews, I try to write as an engaged listener.

Since the art and music I cover is typically new and often groundbreaking, I try to convey the concept to readers in a way that allows them to get a feel for the work, form their own view and take from it whatever inspiration they can. I try to leave my tastes and assumptions at home and act as an informative conduit rather than an evaluative judge. In a globalising and rapidly changing art/music world, it’s important to write sympathetically as well as analytically. I immerse myself in the work to find its poetics, its maker’s spirit, and often feel I’m entering a new world of ideas each time. I feel privileged to be able to write about the work that I do, given the effort that artists, curators, composers and musicians put into it and the impact it can have on audiences. The work might only be seen or heard by a few people, so the text that describes it must document it well to ensure that it fulfils its potential and endures.

And writing keeps me sane.