The bureaucracy (what Slavoj Žižek names “false transparency”) that has creeped into every Kafka crevice & circle of the art institution — artist-led, educational, funding — especially evidenced in the sweeping efficiency of rejection feedback for public funding or open submission, has become so bullet-pointed that all meaning is lost in the dotted i’s & crossed t’s. There is always going to be more artists disappointed than artists swinging from the chandeliers. But giving generic reasons for not being successful in your application or submission, no matter how succinct or long-form the feedback is, will never alleviate the disappointment. Especially when such rejection feedback is issued weeks later, when the artist has moved on. This only helps to relive not relieve the disappointment. Artists get over things quickly. They have to. YES or NO will do. Anything else is bureaucratic lip-service, a cover story, a tick-the-box exercise that just pisses artists off. Art doesn’t owe anyone anything.🏴

📸Thomas Demand, Büro (Office), 1996