Girl Talk and Hold Music: On the Sculptural Poetics of Chat

In its persistent indirections, its tendency to both shape and ornament social space, gossip (chatting, girl talk) can be sculptural. Sometimes, coalescing around a particular figure, a Harvey Weinstein or a David France, the power of this chatter becomes partially institutionally “visible,” although often it recedes from display. Works by Carolyn Lazard, Wu Tsang, Jessica Vaughn, and Hannah Black make use of the sculptural power of chat, and its specific evasion of a certain mode of political speech.

Amalle Dublon’s research and writing have focused on gender, performance, and sound. She received a PhD from the Program in Literature at Duke University, with a certificate in Feminist Studies. She has published essays on the work of Crystal Z. Campbell, Ellen Cantor, Lorraine O’Grady, Pauline Oliveros, Fernando Ortega, Ultra-red, and TLC, among other topics, and is currently working on a 2018 exhibition at Artists Space in New York.