The Skowhegan Alliance is planning a one-day event that will focus on how artists build an active relationship with an audience into their art work. We will think about how some artists who engage in "social practice" integrate a loose idea of "public" into their projects, while others develop projects that are aimed at building a very particular community. The event will consist of four hour-long conversations on Saturday February 1, 2020 at the Skowhegan Office on West 22nd Street. Join us, come listen and talk.
Due to space limitations, RSVP is recommended. Email plaino@skowheganart.org with the discussions you plan on attending.
11AM-12PM Session A: Creating (with and for) Community
Sreshta Rit Premnath (A ‘09) talks about his publication project Shifter that is generated out of public discussions and gatherings. Pallavi Sen (A ‘17) talks about using Instagram as a way to start her video work and connecting to an audience through it.
12:15PM-1:15PM Session B: Focusing audience and community in a project practice.
Christopher Udemezue talks about RAGGA. A platform founded by Christopher Udemezue, RAGGA 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. A vibrant community deeply committed to education and grassroots organizing, RAGGA fosters a network and an extended family that makes space for solidarity, celebration, and expression.
Jeanine Oleson (A ‘00, F ‘18) discusses “Photo Requests from Solitary.” People 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.
1:15PM-2 PM Lunch
2-3PM Session C: Participatory Education
Paul Pfeiffer (F '05, '10, '16) and Sarah Workneh (co-director, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture) talk about the idea of a school as a way of experimenting with ideas at their inception, within the studio and within group relations.
3-4PM Session D: Moving images and Audience
Birgit Rathsmann (A ‘ 04) 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, the difference between urban and rural space, and Cory’s project in Maine.