Week 1: One Place After Another - Ch. 4

Week 1One Place After Another - Ch. 4

Jake Maize:

1) Does engaging the community in your work mean that they're an active participant in the art making? Or rather, the artist is bringing the art to a community? 2) This excerpt hits a question that I had since the first page: “… the general ambiguity surrounding the very idea of collaboration: does the ‘creation’ of a work mean the actual physical labor of making an art object (or component parts to a larger installation/event), or does it mean the conceptualization of a project? This crucial question remained unanswered even at the end of ‘Culture in Action’.” (125) Practically, as an artist trying to take on such a challenge, it would drive me crazy not knowing my responsibility. Of course you can set your own responsibilities, but there’s certainly a lack of tried and true precedent that’s liberating/terrifying. 3)What does a creative process look like when you're collaborating with such a large and open group? 4) What is the line between bringing art to a community and imposing your art on a community? 5) What would be a clear way of contrasting new genre public art and previous eras of public art? From this reading I learned that I knew/know almost nothing about how an artist might go about leaving their more traditional boundaries, moving to a more direct interaction with “the man on the street”. Like I said in the questions, I don't really know what that creative process might be or even how to approach such a project. This reading forced me to see that my views on the relationship between artist and viewer are rather strict and, to be honest, possibly a touch elitist. The idea of breaking down the wall between artist and audience is as scary as it is fascinating.