A Pulitzer Prize finalist and MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient, Taylor Mac celebrates diversity and challenges societal norms. Mac gained international acclaim with groundbreaking works like A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, a 24-hour-long performance that reimagining American history through music.
As a queer artist and advocate, Mac inspires with creativity, authenticity, and fearless exploration. See Mac this month at the High Performance Rodeo.
COMPARISON IS VIOLENCE
“Comparison sets you up in a paradigm of competing and shrinks the person who is comparing. When you say a person is like another person, it limits your ability to dig into details and describe an individual.
“It’s almost more violence towards yourself than towards the things you’re comparing. We need to practice expanding our abilities, not shrinking them.
“We wanted to offer something different. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, legendary documentary filmmakers, brought their unique perspectives to transform a 24-hour experience into a 1-hour and 40-minute film. It sits in the legacy of two men who survived the AIDS epidemic, documenting someone from a younger generation seeking community.
“I had an incredible producing team, Pomegranate Arts. Linda Brumbach, one of the producers, worked diligently to make the film happen. We had to do everything ourselves, paying for cameras and funding shoots as we went. It was a labor of love that required someone who wouldn’t give up.”
TAKING RISKS
“There have been moments when I was verbally attacked, threatened. Making the 24-hour show felt nerve-wracking. My drag mother used to say, ‘Nothing’s worth doing unless it makes you nervous.’
“I don’t think change happens without taking risks. Being unsettled with the current political system motivates me. Not doing something would be the bigger risk.
“It hasn’t been easy. Queer work is often defined as a niche, which makes people reluctant to support it.
“The challenge has been convincing people that work from a minority group is for everyone. Queer struggles are human struggles.”
ARTISTIC TRANSFORMATION
“Initially, I made solo work about things I didn’t want audiences to know about myself. I would explore intimate, sometimes uncomfortable topics. Now, I focus more on what I want people to know. My work has become more communal, inviting more people to participate. I started making work not just to comment on the world, but to create the world I want to see.”
PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER
“That song is a prayer. In the lyrics, Patty Smith said, ‘In my dreaming, I was dreaming.’ She was dreaming like Martin Luther King — a dream for a better world where people have power. If we can dream it, we can do it. That’s why I love ending shows with it — it’s a rallying cry.
“We need to show up, do activism. In the ‘80s, at the playground, bullies punched kids — often me — who didn’t have power, and others rallied around the bullies. They wanted to feel safe with power or feel stronger by watching someone weaker. That’s happening in adult life now.
“Our stories and mythology teach us to support the weak. Religions like Christianity say the same, yet most people go against it. We must reject ‘survival of the fittest’ as a moral code.”
PERFORMING IN THE DIGITAL AGE
“Technology often isolates us. Looking up at a screen instead of another person is isolating. I don’t use much technology in my performances because I value the human experience.
“That said, I don’t want to dismiss fun or possibilities. I consider it, but I lean toward the human connection.
“Maybe one day we’ll all be transhuman and upload our brains to the cloud. But to me, that’s what death is — floating as energy in the universe. I’m not trying to rush that. I’d rather stay in my human form and enjoy my sensual body while I have it.”
This Q&A was created as part of a collaboration with the Werklund Centre (formerly Art Commons).
On January 18, Taylor Mac will visit Calgary for a behind-the-scenes discussion of “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music” with Denise Clarke, as part of the 39th Annual High Performance Rodeo.
To see more of Taylor Mac’s work, visit taylormac.org or Instagram@taylormacnyc
