“Care to explain?”
“Explain what?”
“What this is.”
“… This?”
“Yes.”
“What is this?”
“That’s what I asked you.”
“Why, it’s an experiment.”
“Uh huh.”
“…”
“… And?”
“Hm?”
“Is that all you have to say?”
“Yuh.”
“No statement? No other context?”
“It stands for itself.”
“Sorry?”
“It just… is what it is. It speaks for itself is what I meant.”
“Does it, now?”
“Yu—”
“Well, I don’t see very much to interpret.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ugh. Hey… Hey Charlie? Can you come over for a moment?”
“Sure, miss.”
“What do you make of this?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“… Well… It’s a ball… with a smaller ball on top…”
“Not what it looks like. What do you think it portrays?”
“… I’m not sure. What is it supposed to be, Joe?”
“Why, I think you described it very accurately.”
“Only what it looks like, Mr. Johnson. But what is the meaning of the piece?”
“Well, I don’t think it needs one—”
“Yes it does—”
“It’s up for interpretation—”
“No it cannot.”
“Why not?”
“Did you read the assignment, Mr. Johnson? You can’t just make up whatever it means. There needs to be something to grab on to.”
“But it’s minimalism—”
“It’s lazy. It’s confusing.”
“If you want meaning—”
“I don’t see any preciseness to—”
“… the meaning is simplic—”
“… this. It’s not even round, the—”
“It is round—”
“top ball—no it’s not perfectly round. The top ball isn’t even—”
“It is.”
“… placed precisely anywhere! You just stuck it wherever you wanted.”
“Uhh… Joe, I think it sank on its weight a little. So it’s not so round right now—”
“Okay, that’s enough with you, Mr. Charlie. You can go back to whatever you were doing.”
“Yes, miss.”
“It’s placed at a slight angle so it isn’t symmetrical.”
“Okay, then. Why isn’t it symmetrical?”
“Because that would be boring.”
“That would help your piece a lot.”
“But, this is more dynamic.”
“You wanted minimalism, Joe?”
“Yes.”
“Then it shouldn’t be dynamic.”
“Huh?”
“You want boring.”
“No I don’t.”
“That’s what minimalism is.”
“No it isn—”
“Beside the point! You need something to interpret.”
“It’s open to interpre—”
“Minimalism has nothing to interpret— You need a specific meaning, not something wishy-washy.”
“I don’t think you know what minim—”
“Look, if you want to make something abstract, you can do it in Mrs. Willis’ class, where she lets her students do whatever they want. Not in mine. That’s not what my class is about. There will be order in here, Mr. Johnson.”
“But—”
“You need to have context! Otherwise, it reads as laziness.”
“But I like how it loo—”
“You will follow convention, because that’s what we’re here to learn about.”
“… You want your class to be boring?”
“You can’t break the rules without knowing them, Mr. Johnson, and I will tell you; your piece does not know how to break the rules in any eloquent manner.”
“That’s the least of my concerns.”
“Well, sir, that’s the top of my priorities. And if you want to experiment, this is not the place to do so!”