"Socially engaged art is situated within the wider arena of Public Art and is defined by Miwon Kwon (in One Place After Another: Site Specificity and Locational Identity, MIT Press, 2002) as art-in-the-public-interest, as it foregrounds social issues, political activism, and community collaborations.
"Socially engaged practices are developed and delivered through collaboration, participation, dialogue, provocation and immersive experiences. The organisations focus on process and strive to embed themselves within the communities among whom they work. This puts them in a position to respond to the specific needs and agendas of the communities and hence to widen audience participation."
(Creativity Works)
"Socially engaged practices are a way of empowering the disempowered and including the excluded, and can achieve radical and remarkable transformations. But they are not quick and easy solutions to long-term problems. The conflicts and contradictions between art and problem solving, the bridging of the gaps between privileged institutions and socially excluded groups, and the need to develop new and appropriate cultural and critical contexts for these practices are just some of the issues that still need to be unpicked."
(The Guardian)
"Socially engaged practices are developed and delivered through collaboration, participation, dialogue, provocation and immersive experiences. The organisations focus on process and strive to embed themselves within the communities among whom they work. This puts them in a position to respond to the specific needs and agendas of the communities and hence to widen audience participation."
(Creativity Works)
"Socially engaged practices are a way of empowering the disempowered and including the excluded, and can achieve radical and remarkable transformations. But they are not quick and easy solutions to long-term problems. The conflicts and contradictions between art and problem solving, the bridging of the gaps between privileged institutions and socially excluded groups, and the need to develop new and appropriate cultural and critical contexts for these practices are just some of the issues that still need to be unpicked."
(The Guardian)
Vik Muniz, "Wasteland"
MICRO-FUNDING PROJECTS
Visit SUNDAY SOUP for a compilation of grassroots crowd-funding projects.
"BREAD! IS A PUBLIC DINNER DESIGNED TO USE COMMUNITY-DRIVEN FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO DEMOCRATICALLY FUND NEW AND EMERGING PROJECTS.
AT EACH BREAD! KC EVENT, PARTICIPANTS PAY AN ENTRANCE FEE FOR WHICH THEY RECEIVE SUPPER AND A BALLOT. DINERS WILL VOTE ON A VARIETY OF PROPOSED CREATIVE PROJECTS THROUGH A MENU AND PRESENTATIONS. AT THE END OF DINNER, THE ARTIST WHOSE PROPOSAL RECEIVES THE MOST VOTES WILL BE AWARDED FUNDS COLLECTED THROUGH THE ENTRANCE FEE TO PRODUCE THE PROJECT. WORK PROGRESS WILL THEN BE PRESENTED DURING A FUTURE BREAD! KC EVENT.
SINCE OCTOBER 2010, WE’VE AWARDED OVER $23,000 IN MICRO-GRANTS TO FUND ARTISTIC ENDEAVORS, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS, AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN."
AT EACH BREAD! KC EVENT, PARTICIPANTS PAY AN ENTRANCE FEE FOR WHICH THEY RECEIVE SUPPER AND A BALLOT. DINERS WILL VOTE ON A VARIETY OF PROPOSED CREATIVE PROJECTS THROUGH A MENU AND PRESENTATIONS. AT THE END OF DINNER, THE ARTIST WHOSE PROPOSAL RECEIVES THE MOST VOTES WILL BE AWARDED FUNDS COLLECTED THROUGH THE ENTRANCE FEE TO PRODUCE THE PROJECT. WORK PROGRESS WILL THEN BE PRESENTED DURING A FUTURE BREAD! KC EVENT.
SINCE OCTOBER 2010, WE’VE AWARDED OVER $23,000 IN MICRO-GRANTS TO FUND ARTISTIC ENDEAVORS, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS, AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN."
"If you could re-imagine the city you live in, what would it look, feel and be like?
The Dialogue Lab: Impossible Madison was a collaboration with the students of the Madison Art Academy, the Hanover College Greiner Art Gallery, the Madison Area Arts Alliance, and the West Street Art Center. Impossible Madison created a responsive exhibition investigating the reimagining of the city of Madison, Indiana. Through various design challenges, public engagement tactics, and interactive installations, Impossible Madison aimed to cultivate a space to make the improbable, probable.
This exhibition featured projects made by high school students from the Madison Art Academy during a four day design workshop with the visiting artist."
The Dialogue Lab: Impossible Madison was a collaboration with the students of the Madison Art Academy, the Hanover College Greiner Art Gallery, the Madison Area Arts Alliance, and the West Street Art Center. Impossible Madison created a responsive exhibition investigating the reimagining of the city of Madison, Indiana. Through various design challenges, public engagement tactics, and interactive installations, Impossible Madison aimed to cultivate a space to make the improbable, probable.
This exhibition featured projects made by high school students from the Madison Art Academy during a four day design workshop with the visiting artist."
"Token Conversations, a socially engaged art project by Kansas City-based artist José Faus produced in collaboration with Invisible Venue, implements conversations with laundromat clientele in the production of a social document that encapsulates pressing social issues. The project explores the role of the artist in facilitating public discourse and the use of a laundromat as a generative public platform.
In late March, Faus conducted office hours in residence at the Walnut Place Laundromat (4241 Walnut Street, Kansas City) and spoke with locals about art and the role of an artist in a community, especially topics that related to social issues including the financial crisis, domestic policies, racism and/or gun violence, among other topics. A “laundry list” of topics was available or participants offered a topic of their choosing; participants received laundry tokens in exchange for their participation. Prints and a series of silk-screened recycled t-shirts, produced and laundered on site, was available for free distribution at the culminating public event..."
(more info)
In late March, Faus conducted office hours in residence at the Walnut Place Laundromat (4241 Walnut Street, Kansas City) and spoke with locals about art and the role of an artist in a community, especially topics that related to social issues including the financial crisis, domestic policies, racism and/or gun violence, among other topics. A “laundry list” of topics was available or participants offered a topic of their choosing; participants received laundry tokens in exchange for their participation. Prints and a series of silk-screened recycled t-shirts, produced and laundered on site, was available for free distribution at the culminating public event..."
(more info)
ARTICLES
The Self-Fulfillment of Socially Engaged Art, Huffington Post
Socially Engaged Art is a Mess Worth Making, Nato Thompson
The Social Turn: Collaboration and its Discontents, Claire Bishop
Socially Engaged Art Journal, SEAJ
FIELD: A Journal of Socially-Engaged Art Criticism
Is It Okay to Make Art? The Effective Altruist Perspective
Socially Engaged Art is a Mess Worth Making, Nato Thompson
The Social Turn: Collaboration and its Discontents, Claire Bishop
Socially Engaged Art Journal, SEAJ
FIELD: A Journal of Socially-Engaged Art Criticism
Is It Okay to Make Art? The Effective Altruist Perspective
GRANTS / FELLOWSHIPS / COMMUNITIES
ABOG (A Blade of Grass)
The Sprout Fund
Charlotte Street Foundation
Rocket Grants
Open Engagement, International Conference for Socially-Engaged Practice
The Sprout Fund
Charlotte Street Foundation
Rocket Grants
Open Engagement, International Conference for Socially-Engaged Practice
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