Q&A: Dan Fox: Why Pretentiousness Matters

Next week at Spike Island, writer and Frieze magazine editor Dan Fox asks: What is pretentiousness? Why are we afraid of it? And more controversially: why is it vital to a thriving culture?
Dan argues that it has always been an essential lubricant in the development of the arts, from the most wildly successful pop music and fashion through to the most recondite avenues of literature and the visual arts.

Well, why does pretentiousness matter?
Pretentiousness matters because it’s about more than the irritating human foibles of snobbery or narcissism that it’s commonly assumed to relate to. Look at the idea closely and it reveals a great deal about our attitudes to culture, and to each other. The accusation of pretension is a way for people way to express anxieties about class, or distaste for other people’s lifestyles, or assert how ‘authentic’ they are. To call someone else ‘pretentious’ flatters your own idea of how ‘real’ you are, because you think that the other person is claiming to be something they are not.
But being ‘pretentious’ also has positive value: it describes people who take creative chances, for instance, or who follow an ambition to go and do something in the world that their background might not suggest they could do. Without people risking ‘being pretentious’ the world probably wouldn’t have half the most beloved works of literature, film, music and so on, that it does. It would certainly be a lot more boring if we all stayed in our place.

Are we Brits more suspicious of intellect/’pretentiousness’/anything that entails some kind of mental challenge, than, say, the rest of Europe?  
We have an idea of ourselves as a nation of modest and self-deprecating people, pragmatic in contrast to all those people across the Channel with their hifalutin’ philosophers and fancy foods. But that’s parochial too. (Think about how often you hear the word ‘pretentious’ in the same breath as ‘foreign films’; as if to suggest that anyone who doesn’t speak English must somehow be arty and fraudulent, along with those who enjoy watching such films. It’s a ridiculous way to refer to millions of people the world over.) 
But British anti-intellectualism is mostly tied into questions of class; of not wanting to be seen to be putting on airs and graces by taking an interest in ideas or forms of expression that might be complex or unusual, or associated with middle and upper classes. It’s about not wanting to be accused of thinking yourself to be intellectually ‘better’ than people around you. 
To call someone ‘pretentious’ is a form of class policing, of telling a person that they should stay in their place and quit ‘pretending’ to be something they are not. Pretentiousness is assumed to be an upwardly mobile trait – moving up the class ladder – but I think anti-intellectualism also signals downwardly mobile pretension: hiding your intellect behind claims of plain-speaking ‘ordinariness’. Yet we’re a contrary bunch: we are proud of the creatively innovative, risk-taking musicians and designers the country has produced, of our famous eccentrics, and celebrated authors, not to mention successful actors – those who ‘pretend’ professionally. 

In which of the arts is this tension between ‘pretentiousness’ and, well, ‘normal’ artistic expression most pronounced? 
Claiming there’s such a thing as ‘normal’ expression is to assume we all share the same values and life experiences. People are different, and so the things they create are diverse. I guess, as an art critic writing about modern and contemporary art, I hear the accusation of pretentiousness all the time. 
There are many reasons for this. One is that we’re educated at school that an art work should look like the thing it depicts in the world, but much visual art of the past 100 years contradicts that idea, and generally speaking, we’re not taught how to engage with, say, abstract painting or conceptual art at school. We learn to regard it with suspicion rather than curiosity. 
Then there’s economics. Large sums of money are paid for what can sometimes appear to be ephemeral objects. The amount of labour that goes into making an art work doesn’t always appear to tally with the reverence it’s accorded, or its price. Artworks are shown in galleries or museums whose architecture might conjure intimidating atmospheres of authority or sophistication. When there’s a shortfall between how an art work looks, and the way it’s talked about, people tend to feel there’s a trick being played on them, that it’s pretending to be something it’s not. 
The British media perpetuates that idea, and focuses on the small number of people throwing silly money around the art world, because it makes for good copy. I think the truth of the matter is far more tangled and strange than the usual caricature of a cabal of intellectuals and art dealers conspiring to dupe The Great British Public.

Perceived pretentiousness is a lot about language, isn’t it – the language we use to describe the arts…? Are artists/musicians/critics sometimes not helping themselves with the language they use, or should the rest of us make a bit more of an effort to decipher them?
In my experience when the language around the arts seems impenetrable it’s usually the result of bad writing rather than anything else. I think writing about art should aim for clarity, and be mindful of the pleasures of language, but unfortunately the art world is dogged by a lot of dry and muddled writing. 
Language is such a rich and beautiful thing, why not make use of it in interesting ways? I like the example of Ray Hudson, the football commentator, who once, during a match, over-excitedly compared a goal by Ronaldinho to Bernini’s sculpture The Ecstasy of St Teresa. It’s absurd, but that absurdity is also fun – there’s such joy to be had in language and it’s a little puritan to castigate people for wanting to play with it, or explore its more obscure corners. Great literature never got written by people fretting about accusations of pretentiousness. 

Give us a couple of examples of perceived ‘pretentiousness’ that were actually breaking important new ground.
Imagine a concept rock album about a fictional Edwardian military band, featuring musical styles ranging from vaudeville to Indian classical music, with cover art depicting famous historical figures such as Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde and Marilyn Monroe. Sound pretentious? It’s Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of the biggest-selling records of all time by the biggest band the UK has ever produced. 
The late, great David Bowie is another example. He was a working-class lad from south London, art school-educated and an incredibly driven autodidact. He drew on avant-garde literature, Japanese theatre, mime, science fiction and Pop Art to forge one of the most original and bes-loved careers in pop history. What would’ve happened if Bowie had just spent the rest of his life in Bromley, and not dared to pursue his ideas for fear of being accused of pretension? The overwhelming volume of tributes to him following his death says a lot about our capacity to appreciate creative pretension. 

Do you have your own dividing line between good ‘pretentious’ (i.e. challenging and pioneering) and bad ‘pretentious’ (e.g. just wilfully obscure and elitist for its own sake)?
I don’t believe that any artist makes something in bad faith, to be ‘wilfully obscure and elitist’. That’s the conspiracy theory view of the arts, which I think is false. Artists might be interested in obscure things, or make art that only a small handful of people appreciate, but there’s nothing inherently bad about having specialist interests. Ninety-nine per cent of artists are just interested in making their work, however odd it may look to their audiences. There’s art that overreaches itself and fails, and art that takes a risk and succeeds. There’s art that interests a few people, and art that is loved by thousands. There is value to be found at all levels.

Dan Fox will talk on Pretentiousness: Why It Matters at Spike Island on Thursday, Feb 11. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.spikeisland.org.uk/events/talks/talk-dan-fox-pretentiousness