‹ Arts in Action Working Group •
This group seeks to examine how individuals and groups acquire and exercise social and political agency through collective aesthetic practices and—taking its cue from the group’s name—is particularly interested in the situation at this moment in this (porous) city.
We probe the interface between theory and practice and we are developing two main initiatives. This fall, we’re organizing two public assemblies, one before and one after the presidential elections, to produce four or five distinct incidents of political agency. They will be structured like charrettes (modeled on design charrettes, an often entertaining and effective combination of concept and mobilization) with specific challenges that call for immediate practical solutions developed within a few hours. It will be required that the outcome of each charrette will find a public platform—provided by the institutional members of Where We Are Now and other organizations—to ensure long-term impact beyond the one-day event.
Charrettes will be preceded by key note addresses by some of the charrette participants intended to identify theoretical reference points pertinent to each charrette. While both elements are completely public, a solid number of participants for the charrettes will be secured through the Where We Are Now network in advance. The presentations by keynote speakers will be targeted to a broad audience.
Timed to bracket the presidential elections, the assemblies will enable us to determine the impact of electoral politics on our community in NYC, and to look beyond them.
The keynote presentations could be hosted by The New School in the evenings of Friday, October 17, and Friday, November 14, with charrettes taking place the following days at various sites.
The second initiative of the Where We Are Now Conference and Pedagogy Group aims at a consideration of pedagogy and activism, and will partially be informed by the outcomes of one of the charrettes.
Possible charrette topics are listed below; however, the Conference and Pedagogy Group very much solicits ideas for topics and public platforms from the whole group, by mid-April (just after the next general meeting).
1) “Get Out the Vote” graphic campaign
Example: CUP’s Making Policy Public
Potential public platform: Printed Matter (launching a related publication series)
2) “Political Representation and Visual Culture” course curriculum
Potential public platform: Cooper Union
3) Produce an alternative, independent economic microsystem supporting new models of artistic production.
Example: Rebecca Gordon Nesbit’s 100% proof (curators earn money as editor and commission artists)
Ultimate goal: find production space
4) Re-activate a significant countercultural moment and determine its validity for today.
Example: Sharon Hayes performance, “I march in the parade of liberty but as long as I love you I’m not free”
5) Define the conditions for political momentum.
Example: Francis Alys, project on rumor that acquires physical presence through “Missing Victim” posters
TO GET INVOLVED:
Please send a blank email to wherewearenow-pedagogy-subscribe@googlegroups.com to join the Conference and Pedagogy listserv.