Encounterism: The Neglected Joys of Being in Person

Performance artist Field (Performance in an Age of Precarity) offers a spirited ode to in-person interactions. Blending science, history, and personal anecdotes, Field serves up loosely connected considerations of how such activities as going to the movies, clubbing, sharing meals, and walking pets provide opportunities for meaningful engagement with others. He laments that changing social norms have transformed public spaces from sites of social interaction into “transit routes,” recounting the discomfort he felt conducting interviews with strangers for an art project in Bedford, England, and noting that in the Middle Ages, the same thoroughfare would have been filled with throngs of people trading and socializing. However, opportunities for such encounters still abound. Going to a hairdresser, Field contends, is one such occasion: “Allowing your whole body to be under their control demands a kind of trust that in today’s world feels almost radical.” Elsewhere, Field describes a study that found moviegoers release chemicals detectable by smell during funny and suspenseful moments, creating a communal experience irreplicable at home. Field’s enthusiasm succeeds in “render[ing] the ordinary briefly strange” and makes for an enjoyable paean to small connections. This is a blast. (July)