Marginalia is a new art thing I’ve been doing. The name comes from the literary term, “marginalia,” which refers to things like commentary, notes, allusions, references, and ideas scribbled in the margins of a book.
Marginalia can range from readers underlining or highlighting a text, to an editor’s footnotes, to other books or articles written by other people interpreting and responding to the original work.
Marginalia can be helpful, useful, interesting, illuminating, or something you tune out.
A few years ago, I started making what I call Marginalia for cultural events.
I create interactions, installations and interventions that respond to the performance, presentation, or exhibition. The interactions, installations and interventions take place in the margins of the event — in the lobby, before or after the show, during intermission, even perhaps off-site or simultaneously as the main event is presented.
Marginalia can:
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offer audiences additional points of entry into the original work
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appeal to different senses and sensibilities
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give people some language, theory, ideas or interpretation to use or react to in their personal response or interpretation of the work
