Week 2

Jake Maize

I was so happy that the first section—“The Politically Coherent Community”—began to address a super basic question I had at the beginning of last week’s reading: What is a “community” in this context? Kester’s definition is simple, but was a good first step. A community is a group of people who share values, nationality, race, gender, etc. He also went on to point out that “communities” are often “other” from white, middle class. I agree that its important for an artist to identify where they are in relation to the community they’re trying to engage with. This reading really brought home the difference between public and community art, and the importance of them. Also, in my eyes, cleared up where the artist’s role in community art is. I don't believe I have a right to speak for a community that I’m not apart of. I do believe that its the responsibility of an artist who's looking to engage with a community to support the community’s voice. The passages talking about the fine line between using your skills and status as an artist to channel a communities voice and speak for them stood out to me. It clarified a concern I had about my potential role in these collaborations. The idea of me—having level of privilege—coming to a community, whom might have a harder time being heard, to produce art in their name was… troubling. This reading helped me find my potential place in this work. In the intro of this article, Kester clarifies that ‘new genre’ public art focuses on the collaborative process, rather then the resulting art piece. Its about getting a community engaged in the actual practice of art making. The distinction Kester makes between public art and community-specific art also more neatly answered some of the questions posed by my classmates last week about the practical differences in collaboration between a public artist and community-specific artist. “The public artist most commonly interacts with urban planners, architects, and city agencies concerned with the administration of public buildings and spaces, while the community-based public artist more commonly interacts with social service agencies and social workers.” (p2)