You’ve probably noticed it too: there’s a near-constant stream of reading events these days. And while the format itself is nothing new, there is a specific trend happening within the art world. They’re organised by art world people, read at by art world people. They’re attended by the same art world scene you’d usually see at exhibition openings, but, curiously, would be much less likely to find at more ‘literature world’ events such as book launches by publishing houses or poetry readings. They’re mostly hosted in project spaces, bars, apartments, and art-leaning bookshops, but are increasingly programmed by commercial galleries and institutions too. A friend recently eye-rolled to me that it’s becoming impossible to go to an opening without getting stuck sitting through a reading at some point.

To be transparent: I am someone who organises, attends, and has been invited to read at such readings. I’m curious about the hype, but more so about the disparity between their high attendance and the ambivalent reactions to them. When I ask people how they feel about these events, responses are often hesitant. They include confessions of dissociation and boredom, an inability to ‘take in’ the text, a smirk about how we all know it’s not really about the reading anyway—it’s the outfit, the cheap or free alcohol, seeing friends, having something to do that costs little or no entry fee. Still, people do seem to want to enjoy them, because it’s so often a friend or close acquaintance who’s reading. It’s almost a given that the readers will be asked by friends afterwards if they can send the text over later, and the readers will likely do so. It’s as though everyone more or less agrees that these events are not the best format for presenting and receiving text. Still, the apparent gap between form and function doesn’t seem to matter: these things are regularly full. Bodies sardined into small spaces, crouching on floors or leaning against windowsills, spilling into hallways, palms clasped around warming beer bottles, rosy faces wearing their best listening expressions, ostensibly just keen to be there.

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