Query v. Question
/
Last week or so, I was in that liminal state between sleeping and waking, and without warning this phrase emblazoned itself across my brain:
…Query v. Question…
I mean to say, wot?
Once I was fully awake, I let my brain work on that and try to explain what this potential shinyperfect might be about. It wasn’t that hard, actually: Query is when you’re looking for a specific answer to a question, e.g., “What is the capital of Albania?” Question is when you are answering the question by exploring the answer, e.g., “What, exactly, is a showstopping dance number?”
I did a cursory search online and, indeed, that is the general distinction between the two terms. There were several articles about various uses of the distinction, in information sciences and in education, all of which were specific to their arenas and not completely applicable to us as Lichtenbergians.
So how can we use the distinction as we Make The Thing That Is Not?
You probably know an artist who makes safe, utterly predictable art. I’m thinking people like Margaret Keane or artists you might see in a public square where tourists are or your Cousin Bobby who paints those cute little puppies. In other words, they have a successful formula and they see no reason to abandon it.
They know before they start what they’re going to end up with, the only variables being the color of the puppy dog’s eyes and the length of its ears. Tongue? Always out. Tail? Always wagging. Flowers? Always poppies.
You get the idea. “Query” artists aren’t exploring new work for which they are not sure of where it’s going. They’re essentially answering the universe’s questions with answers they’ve memorized.
Questioners, on the other hand…
They may start with a shinyperfect. They may have no clue as to what they’re working on when they start. Remember Beethoven and his notebooks? He’d scribble musical ideas down in his WASTE BOOKS as he went on his twice-daily walks, but he usually didn’t know what they were at first. He’d transcribe a good one into a second WASTE BOOK, and there he would play with the theme to see where it would take him. He didn’t start by thinking, “Oh, this is the second theme from the first movement of my next symphony,” because he didn’t know. He had to test drive it, so to speak, to find out what it was capable of, what it could do.
Artists who query are completely within their rights to create as they do. Margaret Keane is world-famous and made tons of money, right? But on the whole, which is more valuable to the universe, a big-eyed waif painting or Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony?
Query for skills, question for art.
answer key: Tirana
