What is authenticity and who decides when something is authentic?
You know when you meet someone and you’re not sure what they are really thinking? Which metaphorical hat are they wearing? Are they wearing the hat of the institution they work for? Does it suit them? Is it slipping to one side? Are they saying these things because they really mean them or are they words crafted just for you? They might want to come across as intelligent, committed, professional, relevant, when actually they are not sure what is going on.
We are constantly performing various roles throughout the day, weaving in and out of characters for survival and/or for fun. We don different hats because we have to, or perhaps at times because we want to. I mention this complicated headwear ritual because I think it is these interchanging characters we perform that can complicate notions of authenticity.
I am interested in the niche genre of the Corporate Anthem. This is where staff are encouraged to create, sing and perform songs about the companies they work for. Used as a form of teambuilding, these collectively produced ditties are supposed to increase employee commitment and loyalty to the company they work for. When I listen to these tunes I can’t help thinking the employees are taking the piss. In my mind they are pretending to love the company to keep their jobs; they don’t actually believe in how great their employer is, be it IBM, KPMG or whatever. It scares me that I would demonstrate this kind of love and respect for an employer who is probably exploiting me and my co-workers at any given opportunity. But maybe as employees we do sometimes truly love the work we do, or at least aspects of it. Maybe at times we do find ourselves singing from the heart. At other times we might tolerate the situations we find ourselves, as a coping strategy or because it is too risky to let the mask slip.
A page of IBM’s corporate anthem – Ever Onward (from the 1958 songbook)
In a context of fragmented, alienated, precarious labour conditions, many people have tried to find meaning in work. It is not enough to do the minimum to get the job done, we are expected to bring our ‘authentic’ selves to work (meditation can help you get a promotion, according to mindfulnet.org). Leisure time (that unprofessional space where we don’t have to pretend) becomes inseparable from work time. We have learnt to love work as if we own it.
What does authenticity imply within the service industry of socially engaged art where most people are either self-employed, on short term contracts or volunteering? To be authentic might imply something (or someone) is genuine, reliable, accurate, original. The work of socially engaged art is often associated with developing relationships based on a sense of commitment. The practice seems based on a notion of authenticity, a prerequisite for trustworthy relationships to develop. But, I would argue, inauthentic hat or mask wearing is important, necessary and, at times, fun, especially when one is performing enthusiastic, committed engagement to get the job done.
About the contributor: Dr Sophie Hope inspects the uncertain relationships between art and society through her practice-based research. This involves establishing how to declare politics through practice, thinking what it means to be paid to be critical in evaluation and devising tactics to question notions of participation. Sophie teaches and facilitates workshops dealing with issues of public art, the politics of economics of socially engaged art and curating as critical practice and has recently completed her PHD: ‘Participating in the Wrong Way? Practice Based Research into Cultural Democracy and the Commissioning of Art to Effect Change’ at Birkbeck, University of London, where she currently works as a lecturer in Arts Policy and Management. sophiehope.org.uk