On Artists and Audiences

What is the role of the audience in an artist’s work? Is it a reciprocal relationship? This one-day symposium explores the active relationship between an artist’s work and the audience, including the concepts of “social practice,” the notion of the “public,” and the ways in which some projects are aimed towards building specific communities.

Program and Speakers

11:00 AM–12:00 PM  Creating (with and for) Community: Sreshta Rit Premnath and Pallavi Sen

Sreshta Rit Premnath talks about Shifter, his publication project generated out of public discussions and gatherings and artist Pallavi Sen discusses her use of Instagram as a way to start her video works and a means of connection to audiences.

12:15 PM–1:15 PM Focusing Audience and Community in a Project Practice: Christopher Udemezue and Jeanine Oleson

Christopher Udemezue talks about RAGGA, a platform that connects a community of queer Caribbean artists working across a wide range of disciplines—including visual art, fashion, and poetry—to explore how race, sexuality, gender, heritage, and history inform their work and their lives. Jeanine Oleson discusses “Photo Requests from Solitary”, a project in which individuals  held in solitary confinement units are invited to request an image of anything at all, real or imagined—and promised that people on the outside will fulfill their requests. The resulting photographs provide an archive of the hopes, memories, and interests of those who live in isolated confinement while seeking to provide support and make visible their condition.

2:00–3:00 PM Participatory Education: Paul Pfeiffer and Sarah Workneh

Paul Pfeiffer and Sarah Workneh (co-director, Skowhegan) discuss the idea of a school as a way of experimenting with ideas at their inception, within the studio and within group relations.

3:00–4:00 PM Moving images and Audience: Birgit Rathsmann and Cory Tamler

Birgit Rathsmann and Cory Tamler talk about extending the temporary community of the film set and the screening room, integrating audiences into the creation of film, video and performance projects.