FUT#4 - ITS GLOSSARY? OR NOTES?
As we intend to integrate the practice of the visual arts into daily community life, it is our work to make clear that they (the arts) are themselves permeable enough, malleable enough to belong to many worlds: that of objects, that of culture and history, that of language and symbols. And all pretty much simultaneously.
However, such a glossary can only be contextual and explore the spaces revealed among a profusion of objects, ideas, events and dreams.
And what if the arts were the medium of choice to accomplish the necessary task of go-between, messenger, conciliator, peace maker? Can we consider 'to be an artist' not as a trade but as a social function to augment our commons?
However, such a glossary can only be contextual and explore the spaces revealed among a profusion of objects, ideas, events and dreams.
And what if the arts were the medium of choice to accomplish the necessary task of go-between, messenger, conciliator, peace maker? Can we consider 'to be an artist' not as a trade but as a social function to augment our commons?
LOOK OUT FOR GLOSSARY WORDS THROUGHOUT THE SITE. THEY ARE IDENTIFIED IN BLUE
AESTHETICS: as we focus on the context of this project, the first major decision concerning the form of the work came after a very early conversation with the director of MMA. She wanted the work to be “low impact” for the sake of the lawn in the garden. Therefore our decision to make every structure movable and built on narrow stilts. This defined the whole formal, visual aspect of the installation.
The choice of five partners who, themselves, were planning on work-sub-groups determined us to build five major table-like structures with multiple, independent elements on them. The understanding that we could not build the work in Jackson, although the inspiration and all the wishes of the participants were centered in Jackson, helped us imagine the construction of ‘blanks', bare props which we would deliver, from Charleston, for each group to take possession of and transform at whim.
Around the end of the project, we would receive calls in South Carolina, from participants in Mississippi, who ordered pieces, objects and described details they needed done.
The aesthetics of the installation was therefore participative.
PARTICIPATIVE AESTHETICS is a direct challenge to aesthetics as the most private element of an artist’s output. Or as a set of (either cultural or universal) rules, uttered by art critics or historians.
In the case of The Future is on the Table #4, we could also talk about the AESTHETICS OF FUNCTION. Which refers to the origin of art as the creation of objects for everyday use/survival, and places CRAFT as the skill artists develop to make such objects.
We also need to stress that, in our practice, there is no aesthetics without ethics.
The choice of five partners who, themselves, were planning on work-sub-groups determined us to build five major table-like structures with multiple, independent elements on them. The understanding that we could not build the work in Jackson, although the inspiration and all the wishes of the participants were centered in Jackson, helped us imagine the construction of ‘blanks', bare props which we would deliver, from Charleston, for each group to take possession of and transform at whim.
Around the end of the project, we would receive calls in South Carolina, from participants in Mississippi, who ordered pieces, objects and described details they needed done.
The aesthetics of the installation was therefore participative.
PARTICIPATIVE AESTHETICS is a direct challenge to aesthetics as the most private element of an artist’s output. Or as a set of (either cultural or universal) rules, uttered by art critics or historians.
In the case of The Future is on the Table #4, we could also talk about the AESTHETICS OF FUNCTION. Which refers to the origin of art as the creation of objects for everyday use/survival, and places CRAFT as the skill artists develop to make such objects.
We also need to stress that, in our practice, there is no aesthetics without ethics.
ART INSTALLATION: A multi-dimensional, multi-media, uninhibited artwork creating a space which can be activated by its authors, other artist(s) or visitors. It proposes more than one point of entry.
ARTWORKS IN PROGRESS: This is an opportunity here for us to highlight many aspects of the role of artists in Future #4. Here artists listen and offer their skills and artisanship to make whole the projects community partners may not be capable of seeing through alone. “Alone” is not an option, in Future #4. In the process of such collaboration, as ideas and skills are shared, richer ideas and richer skills develop, which make this practice of art uniquely fertile.Then, could we say “Artworks in process” instead ? A yes would give us the opportunity to debunk the notion that, in the practice of “community art”, what counts is the process, more that the resulting artwork. A not so subtle way to dismiss this art as unworthy.
From conception and fabrication to communication and presentation, art-with-community distinguishes itself from official art in that it promotes the people’s genius to generate cultures rather than the genius of stars to generate value. It reminds us that even the shiniest star is not be without its social environment. As for the organizing power of stars, as compared to that of community artists, it comes to life only when they espouse causes greater than themselves.
From conception and fabrication to communication and presentation, art-with-community distinguishes itself from official art in that it promotes the people’s genius to generate cultures rather than the genius of stars to generate value. It reminds us that even the shiniest star is not be without its social environment. As for the organizing power of stars, as compared to that of community artists, it comes to life only when they espouse causes greater than themselves.
BANK PLUS GREEN: where the Mississippi Museum of Art, a state-owned non-profit organization has privatized the use of its location.
The size of the characters to recognize this donor seems to be questionable in a garden that is there to honor pieces of art, instead of accentuating the perception of "art equals money" or "art is for the rich" or "art is to decorate big businesses."
The size of the characters to recognize this donor seems to be questionable in a garden that is there to honor pieces of art, instead of accentuating the perception of "art equals money" or "art is for the rich" or "art is to decorate big businesses."
BATIK IDEA: The tradition of oriflammes, flags, wall hangings paired with the practice of a simplified batik technique.
"BIRD HOUSE" TYPE REPRESENTATION: the miniaturization of a period building and its architectural details Vs the free interpretation of a structure chosen by community partners to carry the meaning and fulfill the use assigned to it.
BRICK IDEA: The tradition of the brick builder is in Gwylène's mind when we decide to cut 4 or 500 bricks from 2X4s. They will be colored and laid on the school facade by students who, this way, are made accountable for the symbolic "rebuilding" of their school.
COMMUNITY-BASED ARTISTS: Originally they were artists based and operating in the community they lived in. Today the meaning has shifted to describe artists working with communities, one way or an other, as in “community-engaged artists”. We prefer art-in-community or art-with-community artists. Both convey the local roots of the work, the transient aspect of the artists’ presence, the necessity to remain nimble-minded, the multiple sources of creative energy.
COMMUNITY EXCHANGE: soon after having visited Jackon and met with some of our new partners for the first time, Operation Shoestring’s Amber May in particular, we were struck by the powerful sense of hope they were carrying, although, as outsiders, we were stunned by the enormity of the challenges the city was facing. Future#4 had to affirm such hope. It was to support Jackson’s future. Therefore, it had to live past our stay with MMA. In the rush of activities and creations which characterized the project, the idea faded some. But after 6 months of intense work it reappeared, as a testimony to our enthusiasm for all the folks we had worked with.
The challenge was to reinvent the project as it was ending. Since each group’s piece was made of many different parts, we asked that each group exchange a part of its piece with that of another group. Had every group exchanged with the other 4, the pieces would have been but an uncontrollable “something else”! It did not go that far. Yet the amputations were seen for what they were: a sharing of precious work with other community groups, a sense of trust in the others, a matter of faith in the process, a sense that more could still be done.
Let us say that at that point we were so tired that we could not quite carry the enthusiasm of the whole bunch. It is our assistant, daniel johnson who swept the microphone off our hands and carried on the exchange very successfully.
The challenge was to reinvent the project as it was ending. Since each group’s piece was made of many different parts, we asked that each group exchange a part of its piece with that of another group. Had every group exchanged with the other 4, the pieces would have been but an uncontrollable “something else”! It did not go that far. Yet the amputations were seen for what they were: a sharing of precious work with other community groups, a sense of trust in the others, a matter of faith in the process, a sense that more could still be done.
Let us say that at that point we were so tired that we could not quite carry the enthusiasm of the whole bunch. It is our assistant, daniel johnson who swept the microphone off our hands and carried on the exchange very successfully.
COMMUNITY MEETING: In our context a community meeting is seen as an administrative meeting, task checking. We see it as developing common knowledge, therefore the capacity to work together, trust each other, project ideas …
CONSTELLATION OF STRUCTURES: Phrase used to describe the strong configuration of the different pieces in the MMA garden. Probably a misnomer as soon as we remember that the pieces were conceived to be movable, as on a checker board. Perceptually, though, every configuration wanted to be meaningful, gestalt-wise, which makes it a temporary constellation!
CONTAINERS FOR CONTENTS / POSSIBILITIES: Sculptures or props, pieces that may carry a function or initiate a communication, and then be transformed. Such containers are sufficiently open-ended in meaning an/or implications that they invite multiple interpretations and possibilities.
ORGANIZER / FIELD COORDINATOR: Someone who knows the grounds, its geography, its actors, its cultural ecology and will be the link between the outsiders (JEMAGWGA) and our Jackson partners, and feed the process with local relevance and actuality. The Museum told us about two organizers who had been important in the first C3. daniel johnson (allergic to the capitalization of his name) and Jayson Porter. daniel is a relational artist, Jayson a student of philosophy. For a fee, they accepted to work as both coordinators and organizers for the times we would be in Charleston. We treated them as we treated all the partners in the projects, meaning that we also listened to them and took in their expertise.
CREATE A CAMPAIGN: See in this Glossary the “EXTEND THE WORK OF ARTISTS WITH ORGANIZERS” [to go beyond helping to create a campaign]. Here, the “help” word is key. Future#4’s ambition, from the start, was to make the institution understand that it is not the museum which makes the artist but the artists who justify the museum. From there, maybe, the production of art-with-community artist will find its place and its role in public museums: the democratization of our cultural sanctuaries.
CREATIVE COMMUNITIES: Remembering Soho! In New-York, the creative community became the harbinger of gentrification. This spectacular example is imprinted, one way or an other, in the conscious of all cities in search of development. Besides, with the global commodification of art, artist communities are perceived not only as invasive, but also as oblivious, arrogant. “Midtown Partners” had not forgotten Soho and they saw the opening of art studios as an invasion to be weary of. Indeed, artists opened their studios to their new neighbors. But it is not enough to invite, you may first have to be invited, mostly in a neighborhood with such a proud African-American character.
CREEKS: In 2012-13, Art Minton, a local Real-Estate person, was placing creek signs around the city, in the shape and color of street signs. Recognizing that now-a-days cities are mapped around roads and streets, he wanted to raise the consciousness of Jacksonians about earlier days, when streams and creeks defined the city. All this was developing around a new urban scheme to uncover the 7 creeks of Jackson, when it was understood that their earlier paving over had been the cause of major floods.
We used the metaphor of creeks as creative streams. As objects, they could be seen wandering about the whole installation. They were tying Jackson back together. It is unfortunate, though, that a major hailstorm chopped them up so badly!
We used the metaphor of creeks as creative streams. As objects, they could be seen wandering about the whole installation. They were tying Jackson back together. It is unfortunate, though, that a major hailstorm chopped them up so badly!
ETHICS OF OUR PROPOSAL: Our work intends to conform to the Alternate ROOTS mission of social and economic justice, originality and quality of the pieces, local relevance. To which we add respect, the art of seeing and listening, collaboration in the conception as well as in the making of the work.
EXTEND THE WORK OF ARTISTS WITH ORGANIZERS: Once JEMAGWGA had left Jackson, our hope was that the artists-organizers, daniel, Jayson and the sponsor, MMA, would have enough momentum to inject their creativity further into the project, take ownership of the process and share it with participants. One indirect outcome of Future#4 is that daniel was hired by MMA to be field coordinator: the work of the artist extended to that of organizer within an institution! This is precisely the kind of blending of roles and responsibilities which gives art-with-community its acquired freedom. The idea of a website came out at this junction. We experienced long delays but now we hope that the use of the electronic media will help expand the whole work for good.
FARISH STREET: You have to see it to believe it. Despite its historic fame and importance in the history of Jackson, Farish street is the perfect victim of its own success. Cursed out by the white establishment for having been the Business Mecca of Mississippi and the heart of its music scene. Go to the bottom of the Farish street project site below (with critical mind, of course) and listen to Melvin Priester, city councilman, who worked with us at one point. There, he bets that if any revival of Farish street succeeds, it will be because its original inhabitants and their descendants will have been given back the leadership for redevelopment.We felt this very longing for leadership everywhere we went in Jackson, as if its people, once again, had been denied the right to govern themselves, although its establishment was fleeing to the suburbs, leaving the city hanging in steep misery. “Jackson is in lock down”, to quote one of our Future#4 partners, ever since the Civil Rights era, of which it was a major center.
www.olemiss.edu/projects/…/farish.street.project
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farish_Street_Neighborhood_Historic_District
www.olemiss.edu/projects/…/farish.street.project
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farish_Street_Neighborhood_Historic_District
HISTORY WITH A PAST AND A FUTURE: In early September 2015, the images of the destroyed Palmyra temples were haunting: as beautiful ruins they were objects of admiration, as traces of a past culture they were art pieces worthy of a museum: as vandalized witnesses of past life, they carry multiple symbolic meanings. Works of art-with-community are modest Palmyras! But they are not applied the same patina. Originated from the people, their patina is a deep-rooted growth, whereas that of art objects is applied superficially, (a skin?). They are not of interest to fine arts historians. They regroup on trash piles. They belong in geology, anthropology, transcultural history.
"IN THE MAKING": The arts belong to many worlds: that of objects, that of culture and history, that of language and symbols. Arts in community also belong to the multiple communications that take place around them, to give them life as well as keep them active. This is where their depth of content can be found: in the constant movement, real or virtual, that keeps them alive. They are constantly shifting grounds, foregrounds, backgrounds. They are also constantly in the making when they are passed on from one partner to another.
LARGE BLANK NOTEBOOK: The classical school notebook, with blue horizontal lines and a red vertical line indicating the margin; a type of pages that will soon be obsolete but still invites visitors to participate, share notes.
LODGING: We were invited to stay at the home of MMA-related people, different each time, a week per trip. This was an opportunity to exchange with stakeholders at many different levels, to appreciate and respect them for reasons beyond function, status, hierarchy, funding. It helped us challenge our ability to think the project through differently. Very early on, it gave us the idea of including MMA board members as a partnering group. Only time and lack of availability prevented this from happening.
MISCONCEIVED IDEAS THAT DRAWINGS OFTEN CARRY: Future#4 being a project where artists receive and carry the voices of the communities they work with, it is essential that such voices not be misunderstood, distorted, misconstrued. Drawings are essentially interpretative representation, not really neutral modes of communication. Even technical drawings are subject to misinterpretation.
M!A: M!A is a motley crew of ever rotating Mississippi creatives - movement, voice, visual and aural - who join together for real-time site-specific conversation in the form of creative improvisation.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CONTENT TO APPEAR: Art as a search engine for content independent of the artist. Development of usership, not spectatorship.
PAINTERS: Tony Davenport with Shannon Valentine, Tommy Reeves and Shaundra Macklin.
PROPS: As the props enter the world and dress up as sculpture, or the sculptures enter the world and dress up as props, creating a meaningful space, they go through a process of transformation but also extend their belonging and their symbolic contents, all pretty much simultaneously.
PUBLIC ART: Future#4 has not left many visual traces at MMA. It was designed to be public for one week only, on the green of MMA. Measuring its local relevance, its durability, its resilience is what needs to be done, what will give it meaning and justify the present website. In fact, the virtual footprint of such a project fits the nature of digital reality. It is coherent with the communication dimension of art.
RECUPERATED MATERIALS: and hopefully these materials will become recycled then.
RELATIONAL ARTS: See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_art
http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/relational-aesthetics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_art
http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/relational-aesthetics
SKYPE and SKYPING: In our work to know each other, skyping allowed daniel, Jayson and us to hold conversations that did not have to lead to immediate decisions and helped us all to familiarize with each other’s company. Not sure if this would have happened over the phone, in blind conversations.
SUBTITLE: At the time, it made sense for everyone concerned to choose Future#4 and refer to JEMAGWGA's artistic practice . It prevented constantly paraphrasing around former works. However we still wish the subtitle had been more ‘local'.This choice also reveals our concern for the concept of art stream. This stubborn effort to steer our work in a chosen direction: that of art-with-community.
How to get to a point where every choice and decision we make in the field of art belongs in the field of social and economic justice? The urgent question which is now a leitmotiv: “But what does this do for my people?”, forever asked by Nayo Watkins, community artist in Durham NC.
How to get to a point where every choice and decision we make in the field of art belongs in the field of social and economic justice? The urgent question which is now a leitmotiv: “But what does this do for my people?”, forever asked by Nayo Watkins, community artist in Durham NC.
TO BE LOCAL: It is to participate in the daily life of the local community. Moving in is not enough to claim the benefits. Newbies need to share the drawbacks, the struggles and earn their good neighbor points with their blood, sweat and tears. In the case of Jackson’s own “Midtown Partners”, this association is so very determined and knowledgable. They understood perfectly what Future#4 was doing. Unfortunately Future#4 was still green in Jackson, did not use the right approach and Midtown saw a new invader, a new gentrifier who, under the cover of the usual integration language, was going to impose its will on the neighborhood.
TOWN/VILLAGE: Initially, we thought about working around the notion of village as the symbolic heart and hearth of a community. Very quickly we understood that the stake holders of the Jackson village were too entrenched and powerful for the project. We needed to be autonomous, meaning free of influences and with a fully open mind. Our strategy turned to working with groups which were as autonomous as we ourselves wanted to be. None of them was a”pressure group” with political influence. Yet they each were remarkably clear and determined in their purpose. The kind of pressure they imposed on us was that of listening to and learning from them. We all were free.
VARIOUS ARTISTS'WORKS: We feel that there is no common knowledge of the arts that has been created over the world since the 60's, despite the fact that they have influenced all the dominant culture of advertising and entertainment. Showing other artists' works is meant to recognize influences, women and minority's fights to be part of the dominant artfield, materials-formats-frames other than the traditional ones and promotion of cultural knowledge. A previous project of JEMAGWGA, "The Charleston/Atlanta/Alaska Challenge", was based on the fact that "there is a potential parallel between discovering the Last Frontiers and discovering the adventure of contemporary art."
VINTAGE POINT: In Jackson, a city in lockdown, vintage point is everything. The understanding of the city is different when you look at it from Farish street, from a suburb, or as outsiders like visiting artists . This layering appears on the site of MMA as well: the garden lies below the museum building. You need to climb up majestic steps to reach the museum. Of course this observation belongs more to the world of symbols but in a city constantly struggling for social equality, symbols are essential. The purpose of the C3 series being to attract inner city populations to MMA, how can this vintage point effect be challenged so that both the garden and the museum are at the same level, belong together?
WORK WITH 'COMMUNITIES': As opposed to work FOR communities. We are not on a charitable mission here. We are in a reciprocity-powered, creative situation. Not a handout. Empathy is not a seasonal activity.Empathy? Surrendering privileges to create a level of equality, trusting and being trusted as a solid ground for fraternity, learning to be free of fear and misconceptions, liberated. Art-with-community as liberator, exhaler of empathy. Empathy, a concept for our times.