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28 TheaTre Thinker 30 exhibiTionism 32 afTer a fashion 50 arTs lisTingsTHE ARTSWilliam Heath (aka Billy Beasty)in An eAstside home, A ConsummAte CollAborAtor liveswith the detritus of speCtACulAr gesturesWilliam Heath is an event-based producer of installations and stage sets. A constant collaborator, teacher, and friend of nonprofitart and queer institutions alike, Heath is also a curator, as well as a budding children’s book illustrator. Oh, and he cofoundedand operates a “3-way artist/curator/designer talent agency,” Busy Town LLC, the title of which is cribbed fromRichard Scarry’s famous books. To know him is to recognize the dexterity with which he manages to move among such variedroles. Only three years into his time in Austin, Heath has had a strong hand in creating some of the most memorable visualsof the fests and parades that litter Austin’s calendar: Psych Fest, QueerBomb, GayBiGayGay. And yet, although it may seemthat Heath has his thumb in every pie, his own work is quiet, domestic, vulnerable, and lovely: “Always,” Heath says, “insearch of community and comfort.” The hybrid’s the thing …William Heath: In talking about hybrid practices, I have totalk about both of the personae I use. William Heath is acurator, and Billy Beasty, the second-in-command persona, isan artist. Billy is more sexually provocative, and William is …not. Billy is who I wish I could be sometimes [laughs].Austin Chronicle: When did the personae arrive?WH: They arrived as I moved to town three yearsago. Angeliska Polacheck [of Gadjo Diskofame] told me I needed a persona. So I initiallyinvented a character called the GlitterBeast– who was a really aggressive character. Forexample, GlitterBeast had a 9/11 danceparty. It was too much – people shut it downand weren’t feeling it. But it was probably oneof the most beautiful installations I made. Ihad Faith Gay DJ that event, and I was workingwith Sym Prole [of Liberty or Death Industries],who has also been a constant collaborator.AC: How would you define your own studio space?WH: My studio space is my living space, my bedroom, myhouse. My own work is typically about romantic longing. Partby andystudiovisitsof my drive to work with other people is to get away from myown limitations around this subject matter; it’s a method ofgetting away from that narcissistic space.AC: What do you get from having your studio space as yourhome space?WH: Well, it makes sense with my practice. I liketo make objects that fit in the space of everydaylife – objects that sit oddly in the home. Forexample, this [pointing at a centerpiece onhis dining room table] takes the place of anobject in the home such as a bowl of fruit,which signifies that a space is decorated.For my own centerpiece, I’m bringing objectstogether from past shows, residue from otherprojects, and putting it all together. In this way,I carry a whole history of installation work.AC: I saw you out at Austin’s Twelfth Night parade.What did you do for that?WH: Well, outside is a big paper moon, which I got offCraigslist. It was from a wedding. For some reason I oftenend up with leftovers from weddings.campbellA n d y C A m p b e l l@AusChronArtsWilliam heath,at home inhis studioAC: There’s so much excess and debris from weddings.WH: Yes, a lot of temporary objects. That paper moon wasfrom a wedding, which then went to the Hotel San Jose for aNew Year’s Eve party, which then was a DJ Booth cover forthe Shame dance party … it’s been making the rounds. It’shaving a life right now.AC: When do you know it’s time to retire an object like the bigpaper moon?WH: I think something like the moon has a shelf-life thatkeeps halving itself. So, soon. I have no attachment to thephysicality of it – take it apart, put wheels on it, cut it up. Ilike having these objects because they’re often an access tocollaboration, and it fuels conversations with other artists. nMalaise and MethodologyAnn CvetkoviCh CrAfts A rAdiCAl ApproACh toConsidering depressionby Cindy WidnerIn the epilogue to her new book, Depression:A Public Feeling, Ann Cvetkovich calls on LyndaBarry, whose wonder of a graphic memoir/writers’manual, What It Is, lays down the will-sappingquestions that have hamstrung everyonewho has ever tried to create something: “Isthis good?” and “Does this suck?”Barry’s book includes illustrated versionsof those questions – twin demons, one goadinggrandiose confidence, the other slammingit down – to which Cvetkovich adds a coupleof mental self-taunts specific to her project:“This isn’t scholarship,” and “You’re a fullprofessor; you can do what you want!”Cvetkovich is indeed the (tenured) Ellen C.Garwood Centennial Professor of English andProfessor of Women’s and Gender Studies atthe University of Texas at Austin, to be exact– so presumably she’s not putting her job onthe line. Nevertheless, she has taken somehuge risks withDepression. Ratherthan building a traditionalacademic argumentwith researchand theory, the bookcombines stylisticallydistinct and potentiallydisparate parts thatadd up to a highlyreadable, relatable, radical treatise that providesmany points of entry and fresh thinkingon one of the most overexamined subjects ofthe past few decades.Cvetkovich’s biggest leap might be startingher book with a chapter called “The DepressionJournals,” a first-person memoir of her ownstruggles, in an act of risky vulnerabilityregardless of any potentially critical academicresponse. The full critical/scholarly receptionwill take some time, Cvetkovich explained overthe phone by way of Marfa, where she was visitingbefore the start of the semester, but “initialreactions have been very enthusiastic,especially from students – including someonewho said it should be required reading forgrad students.” (Full disclosure: I’m a formerstudent of Cvetkovich’s.)“I kind of jokingly called the book a queeracademic self-help book,” she said, “as away of mocking its very specialized demographicniche – but also because there’s aself-help book, and a memoir, for every kindof predicament.”“Then again, I’m not actually treating people,and I don’t have the responsibility tomake them feel better,” she added. “So I’mfreed up to write about what I think and/orwhat works for me, and if other people find ituseful, that’s great.”Noting that “a ton of artists” – from musicianKathleen Hanna to visual artist UlrikeMüller and writer Eileen Myles – attended herNYU reading and citing her inclusion in KUT’songoing Views & Brews series, Cvetkovichsaid that “it looks like there will be interestoutside the academy, too.”That possibility is not surprising, given that,while Depression looks at the issue from severalperspectives, its ultimate vision of a“utopia of ordinary habit” focuses on belovedbastions of radical feminists and queer communities:twisted lounge act Kiki and Herb,performer and gem-sweater enthusiast LeslieHall, crochet sculptor Allyson Hall, radicalcrafting, and nontraditional spirituality. Inaddition, the inclusion of creative and academicfigures with even larger pockets of devotees(Barry, Cornel West, David FosterWallace) is likely to pique even more interest.“My intention is to show that depression canlook many different ways, and that it’s going oninside many different kinds of people,”Cvetkovich explains. “I want to broaden theways we think about depression, so that it isnot just a medical category and so the expertson depression aren’t just doctors – but alsohumanities scholars, artists, ordinary people.” nKUT will host the discussion “Mental Illness andCreativity,” with Cvetkovich, Dr. Carrie Barron (The CreativityCure), psychology teacher KayLynn Fenn, and musicianand author Thor Harris (Swans, Shearwater) on Tuesday,Jan. 22, 6pm, at the Cactus Cafe in the Texas Union on theUT campus (2247 Guadalupe). Free; donations accepted atthe door. Cvetkovich will also deliver a free lecture entitled“The Secret Life of the Counterarchive: Queer Artists andTheir Archives” on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 7pm, at the AvayaAuditorium, ACE 2.302, on the UT campus.a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m JANUARY 18, 2013 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E 27