HI all, I know I don't post often, but here is a story I wanted to share, and this seemed like a good place to share it.
Last Sunday November 13th I went down to the Occupy protest in Portland. I had come closer, off the street into the corner of Lonsdale Park to participate in the general assembly, and at a certain point the riot police came in from the park, which seemed like from behind. I was kind of incredulous that they would choose to do this as every thing was chill, and this meeting was discussing what should happen next. I felt frozen at the place I was standing.
I don’t know how became part of the front line, I never moved forward.
The beauty and power of this movement is that so many divergent people are standing together. I didn’t intend to be at a flash point or involved in confrontation, yet when confronted with this situation I didn’t so much decide, but viscerally felt there was no other choice than to stand where I was. My stance was much as some of the police I witnessed; I’d rather be doing something else but it is my duty to be here.
As I was standing there with police batons against my upper arms I was in a strange sense of surreal calm. I am my certain that my oft-commented on expressive face was frozen in an expression of neutral “just being”.
There were two officers directly in front of me who alternated pressing their batons on me. I felt great compassion for one who really seemed like she would rather be anywhere else in the world at that moment. The other and I were actually kind of having a conversation. He said to me “mam, I’m sure this is not how you want your day to end” I responded “No, this is not the way I wanted my day to start either” I said to him, “surely there must be another way, between us, their must be another way.”
To my immediate left things were more contentious with police pushing harder, I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and looked and saw directly to my left and down the top of what looked like the balding top of an old man’s head, and an umbrella on the ground. I realized immediately that the man had dropped it and was trying to pick it up. My mother’s instincts kicked in, and I realized that this was a very dangerous situation; if the police to my left made a strong push while this man was bending down there was great danger of him falling and being crushed. I put my right hand out in a signal of stop towards the police and my left hand to protesters behind me, and looked to the police yelling, “Stop be careful there is an old man here!”
There was a policeman in a yellow coat walking behind the front line of the police; I think it was him who pulled the old man through the front line. My feeling was that he did so to bring the man to safety. The ranks of police closed and I couldn’t see anything behind them. A few moments later there was a gap in the line and about twenty feet back I saw the old man face down on the muddy ground with at least three police in riot gear standing over him, their body language in that small instant I could see it looked like they were being rough, not helping him. The gap for me to see closed up quickly and I must have had a very concerned look on my face because the policeman in the yellow jacket caught my eye and said, “He didn’t want to go”. Before I knew it that same policeman pulled me through the line. Immediately there were at least two other officers coming towards me with aggressive body language. I can only assume that the understanding was that anyone pulled through the front line was to be arrested, and this aggressive, punitive approach was the stance being taken by the officers tasked with making the arrests. The policeman in the yellow coat quickly told them, “no, she is with me”, or something like that. He then took me away from that part of the line to a less crowded place and asked the police to part and let me through.
I can only guess that the man in the yellow coat treated me with special protection because he had seen what happened to the old man. I appreciate the calmness of the two police who were pushing me with their sticks and the willingness even in this charged situation to engage in speech. I’ m glad I wasn’t arrested, though I understood that was a possibility. What I didn’t understand was a possibility is that I, passive as I am, stood the real chance of being treated roughly, or being abused by the police in the process of being arrested.
After I was on the other side of the line I walked over to another street to see what was happening. I saw a man laying on his back by the Portland Building, there were people, I believe at least one was a doctor and another a medic, trying to help him. The belief was that he had a broken back or had a spinal injury. An ambulance at the end of the street was stopped from leaving, but they said they were un-able to help him until there was a police escort. They were responding this way either because of their own fears or policy, and said they had to act out of concern for their own safety. There were many people working to get him help, a few of us went to separate places along the police line to explain the situation and ask for an escort for the ambulance drivers.
Then as I was standing by ( a group of us were to offer assistance if needed) I noticed an attractive older and stylishly dressed woman near me. I smiled and said hello, she responded and we started having a conversation. She had a French accent and I took her to be a tourist. In fact she lives here and was looking for her husband, a man older than herself and recovering from pneumonia. He apparently had wanted to see what was going on and take pictures. I had a strange moment of recognition and asked her if he had a long umbrella. She said yes and as I asked her more questions. I felt increasingly confident that the man I had seen earlier was her husband. I finally told her I’m sorry but I have to tell you I think he was arrested. Together we started asking around where the people arrested were. Eventually we were able to go into the central precinct where the woman at the desk eventually went out to the busses full of arrested people and confirmed that indeed, “Jack” was among them.
Apparently Jack’s head was banged into the ground on both sides, his shoulder has pulled or possibly torn ligaments, and his knee was injured. He will be undergoing physical therapy.
Jack is 81 years old. I cannot imagine any reason for his receiving such heavy handed treatment, as he was a lone civilian surrounded by a score of riot police behind the “front line.”
While I am shocked and appalled by this brutality, I also experienced demonstrations of human understanding from members of the police. I suggest that even as we the 99% contest our portrayal by the media as a dangerous mob, we also should recognize the actions of police as being actions of individuals. I think we should certainly continue to challenge the orders given to these “public servants”, but equally I think we should hold individuals accountable for their personal actions, and laude those who act with some integrity.
This is of course difficult to do as some of them display no names or badge numbers (is this legal?) and people like me can be so intensely overwhelmed by the moment we don’t capture the names or numbers of the officers involved.
I would also like to echo the call for truly peaceful and non-antagonistic civil disobedience and protest. This continues to be our most powerful tool, and best strategy to turn the tide of opinion, and engage those who are on the fence.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
A story about Occupy Portland
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Lend Me an Object?
Hello all! I'm gearing up for another Shine A Light evening at the Portland art museum this October. Last year I created a card game called Apples to Apples/Art and Labor (pictured here.) This year I'm facilitating a "Teaching Collection" and I can't do it alone. I need your help! Here is what I'm looking for...
Wanted: Locals (Portland area) to participate in a project titled “The Teaching Collection”
What your participation would entail:
1.) Visiting the Portland Art Museum with me (no cost to you) to explore their collections.
2.) Have a discussion with me about an object/s in the collection that have meaning for you; or the lack of an object with meaning for you.
3.) Select an item from your home that has meaning for you.
4.) Give me permission to photograph and display your object in the Portland Art Museum for one evening.
5.) Approval of or collaboration on an interpretive text that will accompany your object, and appear in a catalog of the project.
6.) Attend Shine A Light on Friday evening October 15th and tell people about your object.
Please contact me if you are interested, or want more information.
lendmeanobject@gmail.com
Thanks!
My intention is multifaceted. Conceptually I want to point to the fact that the majority of objects/works in the museum's collection once lived in someone's home, were part of someone's life/culture and had a personal meaning and function for that person. We look at these objects in a museum often to learn about how life was lived in a certain place and time, however we rarely know the relationship the original owner had to the objects we see.
I would like to honor the importance of our (everyday contemporary people) objects and the roles they play in our lives. It is my intention that the objects lent to this project will teach us something about one slice of one life right now in Portland. By putting participants objects and information about those objects within an institution I hope to inspire others to consider differently the things they live with and learn from.
I am also personally excited about what I will learn from this project.
I have no preference as to the type of object, it could be the most mundane, the most precious, or anything in between.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Boycott Polls?
Boycott polls?
I have long considered polls to be pointless at best and evil manipulations at worst, but I participate in them out of morbid curiosity. Long gone is the day when I thought I was helping to shape the public discourse by virtue of my participation. Now I participate in order to experience an unhealthy sort of pleasure from criticizing a polls design and guessing at the agenda behind it.
On the face of it taking a poll seems neutral enough; answer a few questions, the same questions that everyone else is answering. But the questions often (almost always) offer false or impossible (impossible to answer honestly) choices, either by the allowed responses, or the vague wording of the questions themselves.
“Should the government pursue the common good by limiting certain individual freedoms” is one question I was asked on a poll yesterday. This question is in itself a definition of government. The question is meaningless unless I know what is the definition of common good we are referring to, or what certain freedoms are being limited. How can I honestly answer Yes or No to such a vague question?
“Should the government address climate change by establishing a cap and trade on carbon emissions?”
“Should the government protect Americans by holding terrorist suspects indefinitely with out charge?”
Both of these questions are more specific questions that fit within the one actually asked and both are more likely to cull an actual opinion.
Quoting existent reality in the form of a question without acknowledgement, and with out offering nuanced options for response signals to me an unspoken agenda.
I have no idea how this data is being used, or what context the results will be made public. I can assume however that the results will be embedded in a context other that a complete record of all the questions and the data they generated.
A poll I participated in a couple of years ago asked many questions about the role of prisons in Oregon, offering reasonable options for response. The main thrust seemed to be gauging attitudes along a continuum of a strong belief in rehabilitation and discretionary sentencing, to a strong belief in punitive and mandatory sentencing. There were also some relatively subtle questions about the division of limited resources, how much for prisons and how much for education. I was thinking that it was one of the better polls I had participated in until the last question. I can’t remember the exact wording of the question but it was rather sly. Hidden within a lengthy scenario describing prison reforms, was a small statement about victims’ rights (the only mention of victims’ rights in the entire poll.) When I asked the pollster to repeat the question it became apparent that the real question was about diverting money from rehabilitation to a victims’ rights program.
I believe this poll was set up for the sole purpose of getting an affirmative response to this last misleading question and was commissioned by supporters of a related initiative on an upcoming ballot.
This last example is a variation on the classic “push poll” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_poll
It is time for me to forgo my morbid curiosity and “just say no” to polls. It wasn’t that I learned something new from the poll I participated in yesterday rather; I realize that if I keep participating I will continue to be part of the problem.
I am taking the pledge to give up participating in polls. I guess I’ll have to find another satisfaction for my morbid curiosity. Suggestions?
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Tuesday, April 6, 2010
An update of recent goings on....
Hello strangers, I’m just checking in to tell you all what I’ve been up to. First, since last April, I’ve been working with Project Grow, which is an amazing shared studio and organic urban farming program in North Portland. I get to work with my colleagues,all artists and farmers on various projects, curate shows and generally learn about life and meaning from some of the best teachers I have ever had! LINK
I went to NYC in February with Laurel Kurtz to participate in The Incidental Person at Apexart. Laurel and I did a new version of Public Speaking, we collaborated this time with Dale Blagrove from Pride Toastmasters which is based in district 46, as is the gallery. Laurel and I spent our days gathering words in response to the question: What’s on your mind, and our evenings/early mornings typing up transcripts of gathered words. The speeches, the words, were presented at Union Square subway station over two hours on a Friday afternoon, we even had a guest appearance by a local Portland Toastmaster, Barbara Berger (Barbara was our mentor in the Civil Tongues toastmasters club, she just happened to be in town).
We also spent a lot of evenings hanging at Daddy’s which became our local in Brooklyn (right down the street from where we were staying with Ken Butler.) At Daddy’s we also met some wonderful people who contributed to our project, and generally made us feel right at home for the week we were there. We started our mornings at The Bean Bar, a great coffee shop also near us that had free wi fi and a wonderful cast of regulars.
The Curator of The Incidental Person was Antony Hudek, Antony is also one half of the independent publisher: Occasional Papers There was so much going on and we were so busy with our project that were barely able to participate in much of the larger project. Some highlights for me were: The panel discussions between Claire Bishop, Noa Latham, Julie Martin, Barbara Steveni and Stephen Wright and the skype discussion with Barbara Stevini facilitated byBasekamp, Philadelphia, hosted by Scott Rigby, Stephen Wright. And the Incidental Pancake celebration that capped the entire show at Bubby’s (a Hannah Jickling and Helen Reed project) was truly wonderful.
In December I was part of a group residency at Betonsalon in Paris. As a group we did an alternative Info Point for the new ZAC district that is being made. We basically met with local people and assisted them in creating something like a science fair exhibit that they would present to visitors on the occasion of the “opening.” This info point was a place to learn a little bit about the knowledge base and interests of people who live and work in the community. I worked with an amazing woman, Claire Chomasse, we met randomly and were able to work together sans translator because we both speak broken Italian as a second language. Claire could have chosen to present on any number of topics as she is a passionate participator in many areas, but she chose to focus on her work with the Non La Pub campaign. This is a campaign to raise awareness about abusive advertising and its effects on civil society.
While in Paris I also worked with Association Aurore, and Project Grow to facilitate a long distance dialogue between the artists at Project Grow and Parisians. This project was done with invaluable collaboration from Laurel Kurtz and Mark Johndahl in Portland. The result was an edited video of conversation back and forth over three weeks. The video screened in Paris at the Betonsalon opening inside of a tent situated just outside the gallery. The tent titled Space Comune was a collaboration with Ana Monteiro an intern at Betonsalon. Ana and I had a conversation that led us to agree that what this new community lacks is a place to be, intimate public space. The tent was our gesture towards providing an intimate public space, and to my mind illustrated the need. The tent moved around the area near the gallery and Paris 7 University, there was a map of possible tent locations available at the gallery and inside the tent.
I also got to teach a class at PSU last term (winter) Intro to Drawing. I loved it, a lot of work in a way, such a diverse group of students in terms of background and ability, it was a challenge to connect with each of them where they are, but I loved it, and by and large the students were great.
I am teaching this term at PCC Cascade which is amazing. When I first came to Portland in the early 80’s I took some classes at Cascade Campus, and again in the 90’s when I decided I needed to get some “marketable skills”. I feel really attached to and supportive of the mission of PCC, and one of the things I perceive that mission to be is ACCESSIBILITY! Had I not had my experiences at PCC I can pretty much guarantee that I never would have felt able to pursue a University program. So, this is a beautiful opportunity to give back, and also a lot of pressure: Can I be a difference to students the way that some of the faculty at PCC were for me? I’m hoping I can, and I am stunned by the poetic symmetry of this situation.
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Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Cash Cart!
Hello all, sorry i don't seem to post anymore, but here is a new one:
I found another photo on the ground tonight, I also met Rhonda, she is working at collecting bottles to get by, she is not homeless right now, she is staying in the basement of a friends place, but they are being evicted soon.
I’m not sure how this came up in our conversation but Rhonda mentioned a show called Cash Cab, I wouldn’t have had a clue what she was talking about if it were not for my Jury duty this summer, I saw part of this show while I was waiting in the juries pool. Cash cab happens in NYC, someone gets in a cab and tells the driver where they want to go, and then it turns into a game show where the cabbie asks the rider questions during the length of the trip for cash prizes, the rider has an option to ask the cab to pull over so they can roll down the window and ask a passer by for help with an answer. A brilliant show!
Anyhow somehow Rhonda and I came up with the idea for a version called “Cash Cart” where she could ask the questions to someone who would walk along with her, and they would win a bottle for each correct answer, she suggested they might get a bottle over the head for a wrong answer, there would also be an option for the contestant to ask another passerby for help on the answer.
I hope Rhonda will call me to collaborate on this idea, I think cash cart could be amazing!
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Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Better late than never ONE DAY SCUPTURE
Hello, well way back in late March I had an amazing invitation to travel to Wellington New Zealand and deliver a paper on the Aesthetics of Generosity to the international ONE DAY SCULPTURE symposium. The symposium was at the end of a one year project by Massy University's Litmus Reasearch project. Litmus invited UK curator Claire Doherty as their first research fellow and she conceived of this project. The ODS project consisted of commissions for over a dozen international and N.Z. artists to develop public interventions somewhere in N.Z.
Each project was manifest for 24 hours at some point in N.Z. over the year.
The symposium was an opportunity for participants to explore the ideas behind the artist's work, the notion of contemporary art, sculpture, and temporality, and from my point of view participation as well. It was a great honor for me to be included and a really stimulating and exciting experience as well.
Here is a link where you can download my paper as well as dig deeper and learn about the project as a whole and explore the commissioned works.
http://www.onedaysculpture.org.nz/ODS_programme_sym.php
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Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Watch this film
This is a BBC documentary about life in Tehran. I think it is a really good anchor for thinking about what is happening there now, and our perception of Iran.
http://freedocumentaries.net/media/106/INSIDE_IRAN_WITH_RAGEH_OMAAR/
Enjoy
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Saturday, May 2, 2009
Hello again!
Well it has been a while since I posted, but not because nothing has been happening, quite the opposite in fact. One very exciting thing is that I went to Wellington New Zealand over spring break to deliver a paper at the ONE DAY SCULPTURE symposium. I also got to spend two days on the south island with a friend, photographer Elspeth Collier, who I haven't seen in 18 years. We first met on a job in London. I took a video of the flight from Nelson to Wellington which I am sharing with you here in a low res version. This is by way of saying hello again and a promise for more later. If you would like to see a better version of this just let me know and we can do a screening. It is about 28 minutes long- and pretty trippy, so make it full screen sit back and enjoy!
Nelson to Wellington from sanone on Vimeo.
By the way I recently found out that someone else was arrested for trying to take video like this, so I guess I was lucky!
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Friday, April 3, 2009
an open question
What would a comfort spa for a radical intellectual look like?
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Sunday, January 25, 2009
On the street
Yesterday I was coming out of the library and heard these guys from Mt. Olivet Baptist Church on the corner of 10th and Yamhill, check them out!
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Sunday, January 18, 2009
Public Readathon
Multnomah County Library hosted Parallel University for a readathon of "Stubborn Twig" the Everybody Reads book for 2009. This book written by Lauren Kessler follows the story of three (I actually would say four) generations of the Yasui family who came to Oregon from Japan and settled in Hood River. It shares the story of assimilation, racism and the impact of WWII on Japanese americans, including the internment and prosecution of members of the Yasui family. This reading was facilitated by Kim Willson-St. Clair from our very own Miller library. The Library hosted this event on in the 3rd floor Collins gallery which is in the open lobby at the top of the stair case, and provided copies of the book for participants to read from and take away, apples from a Japanese owned orchard in Hood River, and a lot of material about the everybody reads project were also on offer. They were most gracious hosts!
It took a little over 15 hours for us to read the entire book.
Watch this short video showing snippets of some of the participants to get a feel for the intimate nature of the event. (about 3 minutes)
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Thursday, January 8, 2009
My Students
Well I've been pretty bad about posting on this blog of late, and this won't be a long post, I just want to say that I love my students and here are a few pictures of them talking with each other about their own criteria for what constitutes a drawing (they are exchanging these criteria as instructions for each other's assignments.) These photos were taken on the second day of class, did I mention, I love my students!!!
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Tuesday, November 25, 2008
what would you think?
I got this "friend request" from face book. And I sent Mr. Kaufman a message telling him how really great and hilarious he is! Turns out he wasn't trying to be funny.
I honestly thought that he was like a "Yes Man" or maybe a Baltimore Based Andrew Dickson, it made me think of the women's shelter confusion I had at the armory in New York (another post) or when I first saw the ads on Saturday Night Live, and how it was hard to tell which ones were satire and which ones were real.
I really didn't mean to insult Mr. Kaufman, he is obviously (as it turns out) very sincere in his efforts to recruit business. I finally figured that he had gotten my contact through toastmasters.
I have mixed feelings about my short and virtual encounter with Mr. Kaufman. On one hand I am honestly a little freaked out that someone would approach me this way (and assume I was interested) and on the other hand I think it is brilliant that he is so out there with his own bad self! And then on another hand (I know I already used two, but two are not enough) I wonder about my own fixations on the world, I am fairly new to face book, but before this everyone who has contacted me has been pretty "like minded" so I assumed that Mr. Kaufman was an artist, and assessed him as such. Is my assumption much different from Mr. Kaufman's seeing me through his lens of business opportunity? (ok I know he came on my turf and is obviously trolling, but lets forget about that) Really its not. I don't really know where I'm going with this, but it is somewhere in the direction of trying to figure out how we get out of our own heads and talk to (see) each other, but at the same time maintain and value "our own heads."
as always I welcome your thoughts.
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Friday, October 17, 2008
Is Socialism the New Communism?
Socialist (ecru?) is the new Communist (red)
I just finished watching the debates (the nine o clock version), and then good choir member that I am went to the Huffington Post to see what others were saying.
One of the links I went to there kept me up way later than I meant to be. It was a link to an hour long special on Fox about Obama, and all his really scary connections!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_HZMD97nMw&feature=related
It has six segments, please enjoy if you want to check it out.
The thing that really resonated with me was how the words socialist and socialism kept coming up. These terms were assumed to be, understood as equivalent to, …. I don’t know what but something that everyone would instinctively perceive as horrifying!
Now I personally don’t have a pet ideology. As far as I can see the problem with all of them is application, anything could work if we were all on the same page DUH! But we don’t even live in (or agree on) a Democracy, (as you know its a republic.)
My question is; what is so bad or scary about socialism? It seems like the word is being groomed to take the place of “communism” as the awful ogre, “there is no reason to think about it because it eats children and rapes widows,” and once the word is spoken all attention and energy must be spent deflecting association with it, instead of dealing with the real topic at hand.
I grant I may be over reacting, but I gotta say this is what I seeing coming down the pike. (where does that come from “come down the pike”?)
This post is my small attempt to say “hey lets not go there this time, lets stay focused on what matters and think about what makes sense, let’s not close up shop on an idea just because it gets called something (socialist, communist, conservative, radical, modernist, relational, abstract, intellectual, naïve… you get the idea! )
This last part of this post should be really neutral, and yet a call to action; very understated and at the same time poetic and moving. I don’t know how to write that, please feel free to send me your submissions!
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Saturday, July 12, 2008
Withina7minutewalkfromworksound
DAISYCHAIN
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I met some strangers out side of KW Printing and asked them to recommend me to some one else on my map. What you see here are all people and businesses’ that I was referred to in this daisy chain fashion. I wanted to hint visibly at the web of connections that make this a community.
Visitors to the gallery marked and described their connections to places on the map.
Monday, June 16, 2008
One Day Residency At the Pancake Clubhouse
Cyrus facilitated my dream of installing a community vegetable garden (geurrilla style) on this 8 by 15 foot piece of abandoned parking strip near the clubhouse. It took us about 5 hours to complete the job! (with a little bit of clean up later
I'd like to thank participants, Gary, Cyrus, Mike, Sara, Nicole and Andrew!
The sign says, Community Garden, Plant something, Eat Something.
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Saturday, June 14, 2008
not exactly a new project
Well I got the message loud and clear at my review that i need to pare down my activity and prioritize, however I was also told that I tend to take on things that involve a lot of work. Now this might look like a new project, but it is just recognition that something I have already been doing is worth sharing.
As you may know I am helping Linda Wysong with her Backyard Conversations project on the south river front. Before the tour on Thursday somehow (I think she mentioned that I looked really like a tour guide in the uniform she had provided) the conversation came around to a place where I told her that people often mistake me for an employee at random places I happen to be.
I've been asked how long the wait is or told how many a table is needed for at restaurants; I am regularly asked where certain merchandise can be located at retail stores, once at the Goodwill I was even asked by an upset customer to call the manager. It is a hobby of mine to try to fulfill people's requests when this happens. Now this doesn't happen every week, but it has happened often enough over the years. I have enjoyed trying to help people with what ever it is they need when it does.
After the tour I was able to come to the tail end of the PSU Art Auction. While there I ended up talking to a woman who I didn't immediately recognize, but when she told me her name I remembered meeting her several years ago. She is an artist. When she heard my name she told me how much she liked my work, (I was very flattered) she went on to explain to her partner what an amazing photographer I am!
Suddenly the previous conversation I'd had with Linda Wysong and my projected identity project collided. I did explain to the artist Thursday evening that I am not a photographer, however I offered to do a photo shoot with her, and she verbally agreed. I like the idea of not knowing when I will be mistaken for performing a role I don't usually perform, but taking on the "job" that has been projected onto me the best I can. I like this because it is simple, it is like the bus stories because I can not know when it will happen, but unlike the bus stories there is a good chance of follow up and further chapters to the stories.
Stay tuned.
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Monday, June 9, 2008
NYTimes article about Richard Reynolds
Hi all here is a link to an article in today's New York Times Magazine about Richard Reynolds, and guerrilla gardening. I hope you will enjoy it (there is even a seed bomb how to video clip!)
Click here!
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Monday, May 26, 2008
MEET AND GREET BBQ
Sunday Eric Steen and I hosted a meet and greet BBQ as part of the A lot of _____ series.
We were aided by Marco Frattaroli, a local restaurateur, and expert pig roaster. The food was amazing!
In looking at the photos I see at least 35 attendees (not including the boys who stopped by as we were cleaning up and took some food to go. Most were neighbors who came because of fliers we had passed out door to door, some just found us walking by. Several undergrads came as well.
A few highlights for me include, Michael and Karl, our first guests, ended up staying the whole time, except for a couple of trips home to get things to throw on the grill (and share.) Michael ended up manning the grill and cooking the veggie burgers for those so inclined. Taylor, his wife Rumi, and their two kids are new to the area, they live just across the street and had prepared some potato salad, sausage and corn for the grill in preparation of the event, which they worried would be canceled because of rain. Eric and I took turns manning the greeters station on the side walk where in addition to asking people to read the personal safety waiver, we gave out name tags. I personally witnessed many people shaking hands and introducing them selves. Several people said to me "thank you for doing this." Which felt really great.
I was really impressed by peoples willingness to truly meet and greet each other, many met and chatted with neighbors they hadn't known before.
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Thursday, May 22, 2008
Daisy Chain
Above is a picture of some connections I made between various artists, either by one artist referring me to another, or things I came upon from research of artist generated leads. I found strong thematic and conceptual connections between artists who came to me from disparate sources.
One over arching commonality between these artists, writers and organizations is an implicit challenge to the primacy of institutionally generated knowledge. By this I mean they challenge the assumption that information must be mediated by received science, or some other institutional body (or method) in order to create meaning.
Another common thread is an interdisciplinary approach. In addition to artistic skill, these artists all draw selectively on biology, archeology, sociology, technology, journalism, or history in the creation of their projects. None I talked to called themselves "social practice" artists, neither did they reject that label-as long as it was one among many.
All seemed uninterested, at best, in labeling their practices.
I note that all the projects I have looked at are time based, however I think there is something more specifically defining about them than that. All these projects deal with living things in ways that are cognizant of and, dependent on, the dynamics of change in one way or another. Whether you look at Mark Dion's Vivarium, or Anna Callahan's Irish Stories project; the time based element is intrinsic to the work.
This observation can be unpacked to include what is to me one of the most interesting issues addressed in my interviews and research; namely activism. If (as some claim) there is an element of activism, or pedagogy in these artist's works, then where does the work end? For example, I have planted an “edible estate” in my front yard, inspired by Fritz Haeg's work. He has moved on to Animal Estates now; is my front garden a continuation of his earlier work? My point being that even with a project that appears to be finite in time; if there is an educational or activist intent that becomes manifest then the work becomes time based in an extended way.*(see read more below)
Another extension stemming from the idea that all these artists are working with living things is the idea that social systems (communities and interpersonal relationships), even histories are also living things. Which puts for me a new slant on my own definition of social practice.
I've participated in discussions around social practice where one idea of a criteria would be collaboration with the public as a medium. I'm wondering for my self if “collaboration with dynamic entities as a medium” wouldn't be more apt. I say this because I think it implies more strongly a lack of control. I have discovered though this research my own proclivity to appreciate most, projects that do not presume specific out comes. This could be more simply put as I admire work that is open ended.
I began this research with the question of context, what context do these artists put them selves in? As it turns out my daisy chain method for this research is a microcosmic link in a larger chain. I now realize that what I want to understand more than context is process and resulting aesthetic. I want to understand how people I admire translate their varied motivations and interests into work. I am now aware that aesthetics (for me) are best an organic result of process, rather than the other way around.
Here is a list of the names on this chart, each is followed with a link.
Andrea Bowers LINK
Suzanne Lacey LINK
Anna Callahan LINK
Community Art Lab LINK
Augusto Boal LINK
Theater of the Oppressed LINK
Fritz Haeg LINK
Chip Lord LINK
Jeremy Deller LINK
Richard Reynolds LINK
Dave McKenzie LINK
Pierre Bourdieu LINK
Mark Dion LINK
Type rest of the post here
