Vol 4 No 4 | Fall 2023

From its inception, Bait/Switch has had two main goals. The first goal is to explore the spaces between. When we feed a photo collage into a human art machine and see what poem comes out the other side, we’re looking to analyze the internal processes that transform one person’s piece into someone else’s. This exploration is particularly juicy as we do our best to cross particularly differing mediums. How does an electronic musician interpret a quilt? Put simply, we’re studying inspiration.

The second goal is to foster an artistic community. Just by participating at all, our contributors automatically plant the seed of a relationship with two other artists: the one whose piece they responded to and the one who responded to their own. As the chains of work get longer, we see how each person’s addition changes the story of the greater whole and what it means to have all of these creators piggybacking off of each other. Put simply, we’re driving collaboration.

We’ve colloquially dubbed the synthesis of these goals “Collabspiration.” Clumsy, yes, but accurate.

We want our expanding community of contributors to experience each other’s work, guide and support each other, and reap the benefits that come from not working alone. Creative people of every discipline enjoy the perks of being part of a group, whether they’re sharing advice, opening up opportunities, or even just holding each other accountable for getting stuff done. Sure, you can opt to be a lone wolf skulking around the woods by yourself, but there’s power in numbers. And you deserve a pack to call your own.

To this end, Lu and I are actively exploring ways to put our community more in touch. The greatest resource by far that Bait/Switch has to draw from is this small army of storytellers, artisans, gurus, charlatans, and prestidigitators. In our aim to support all of these creative weirdos, we’re determined to provide a more concrete, accessible venue for them to pick each other’s brains and become all the stronger for it. Some methods of doing this are already being bandied about, but Lu and I are absolutely open to hearing what the people want. While we’re fleshing out our own ideas, we’d love to get outside input.

So what do you think? What should interaction among this community look like?

I recently returned from an unbelievable trip to the UK. Along with a dear friend who was an excellent travel companion, we visited many incredible places. Some of these experiences, like visiting Stonehenge and going to the Tate Modern, have been on my bucket list for years. Other things, like swimming in the healing waters of Bath or picking apples on the Isle of Avalon, weren’t even on my radar as things I could hope to do. That’s the cool thing about life – if we’re lucky, once in a while it defies even our loftiest expectations.

One thing I never expected to do in this lifetime was to see a play at the Globe Theater. We saw As You Like It, a production which featured a fabulous queer cast, and it was fantastic. At the end of the show, I got unexpectedly emotionally overwhelmed. The theater is a reproduction of Shakespeare’s original venue, but the words of the play were the same. Even more compelling, though, was the thought that even though the people inside this amphitheater were different from the people who first saw this play, the applause was the same. The applause, and the feeling of being in that space while applause was happening, was intoxicating.

It always feels especially moving to witness art that has moved so many people. It’s as if the art picks up the weight of all those feelings over time. Bearing witness to these notable and famous creative expressions make me feel connected to everyone else who has ever felt moved by the experience of witnessing the same thing. It also reinforces a connection with my own creative practice, as well as with everyone I know who makes art. In the creative expressions of others, we can see ourselves in different ways, and thereby come to a greater understanding of the world around us.

In this issue, we have eighteen amazing works which similarly offer an opportunity for reflection. Some of these works seem to pose a call to action for radically loving ourselves and our life path. Some call for finding our true identities, and for being present in our daily life. Some call for connecting with the natural world, and with the divinity that exists within each of us. All are wonderful creative expressions that demand attention.

Enjoy whatever the season brings you. Make cool stuff, show up for your people, and be good to each other.

Map of Works in This Issue

Bait/Switch is an interdisciplinary exquisite corpse project. Every work is a creative response to a piece made by another artist. The project is divided into three branches: cyan, magenta and yellow. This map/diagram shows how the works in this issue fit together, and what came before. You can see the entire corpus on our maps page.