The archive symposium, political imagination and political engagement
Emilie Morin says of Beckett, that despite widespread perception that he was not political, “He was never a passive observer, he was an active agent engaged in the making of political history, someone who didn’t just look at the world but thought about how he could act in it.” In this respect, Beckett is a useful reference for understanding the way in which many artists engage with politics, through actions rather than political opinion.
See Emiliy Morin’s interview on Beckett and the Political Imagination from the Cambridge University Press.
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public art: A Conversation
How art can make new public realms? How art can constitute new public spaces? and what kind of interactions might result from this?
Welcome to our conversation about public art. I’d like to introduce our panel:
-Sheala Sharmin, Director of the Chittagong Fine Arts Institute in Chittagong Bangladesh, performance artist and co-founder of the annual Cheragi Street Art Festival
-Jim Joel, photographer and archive researcher from Kampala, previously an artist in resident at the ubiquitous 32 degrees and currently an artists in resident in the Art Activism and archive project
-Shohrab Jahan, sculptor and installation artist and lecturer in Fine Arts at the Chittagong Institute as well as co-founding the Cheragi street art festival with Sheala and other colleagues from Jog Art Studios.
For the purpose of todays conversation, we will be defining public art as art work that takes place in the street, with the intention of creating a public space or a public ‘realm’. `Public art in this form can range from momentary happenings, to permanent installations - a trajectory that Shohrab Jahan’s work spans, and from real to virtual spaces online - as we’ll see in the work of Jim Joel.
In addition we will be thinking about what kind of work works in the public space, what impact this public display might have on the artist and their work, and what this work can achieve that gallery based artwork cannot.
First, an idea of the work that the artists we have here today do
-What work do you do in the public space and why?
Sheala - can you tell us about Cheragi, the work that led to this point and why you wanted to start Cheragi? Why don't you do your work in galleries - what changes in the streets?
Jim - can you tell us about the work that you have been doing in Kampala, and online. What is this work doing for people?
Shohrab -you were also involved in the set up of Cheragi, what led you to this point? You have also had a lot of involvement with sculpture, what led to this point? What can happenings do in terms of creating a public realm and what do sculptures do? Is there a tension between these? Is the ephemerality of a happening useful in some way?
What motivates this work?
Does public art need to be unintentional rather than an intentional interaction such as in the Tate? The public won't go to art so art must go to the public? Do institutional public spaces for viewing art like the Tate create a public realm? or are they doing something different?
Art has castes and classes, in the UK, Bangladesh and in Uganda it is the rich that tend to go to see art. Does this matter? Why do they want to engage more people who don't go into galleries in art?
Jim - What is it that you want to communicate with your work?
What effect does your work have on the public and what effect do they have on your work?
What kind of questions do people ask about your work in the streets? Have these questions changed your work - how does interactive work extend your practise?
How does doing art in a public space change the art you make? eg Does public art need to be more sensual - such as Sheala's work with spice and spicy books.
Does the work create new conversations?
How do you maintain your aesthetics in a public space? How does the public change your space? Are these site specific pieces?
Do artists need to let go of control more to display in a public space and what is the emotional impact of this?
What effect do curators and funders have on this work?
Is it useful to have curators? What do they bring?
Jim - How does this compare to the scene in Uganda? You've said before that the Kampala art scene is quite heavily curated? eg Klaa Arts, 32 degrees, and the Boda Boda work...and that this can make the art scene quite passive, a case of waiting for someone to curate you...what are you doing differently and what does doing things outside of the scene enable you to do differently?
Is funding helpful? Does it define how you work? When is it useful and when isn't it useful? How does your own funding work?
What impact has your work had in your view and when does this matter?
Looking back, do you think your work has had an impact ? on whom and in what way?