It is strange how studio work transpires. It operates between concept and material in ways that are full of strange possibilities. It is critical to engage ideas and to put them into actualities. Studio work is the most flexible (plastic) - it can be anything, it is also totally about specifics because that is what defines experience - those specifics are form (plastic too). It is our job to work the space between the conceptual and the actual. Energy and action are require all along that spectrum.
This process began with a vague focus on the River. It also involved an inquiry as to whether to engage artprize. When these came together the Gillette Bridge came into focus as a brash, public, potential space for the project. When I inquired about using it - I found out is was being otherwise organized. MOve on to other spaces.
Today I got a call to see if we might be interested in using Gillette bridge as our project site. This was from Artprize folks. This is not a done deal, but a possibility. The deadline to sign up as a project is tomorrow - Friday, July 31st at midnight. So that option is back on the table with lots of contingencies. It is highly visible and would put a different kind of pressure on the studio. I definitely would not do it if I thought there was pressure for us to do something not true to the project. I don’t think this would be the case, but it is difficult to tell the impact that context can have on the dynamic of cultural and creative work.
Some of what is unclear is:
What kind of structure could we get to inhabit the space with. (city, GV, codes, costs)
Could we stay there for longer than art prize. LIke the whole semester - or 2 months or so.
Would participation in ArtPrize be a requirement for us to do a project on Gillette Bridge during Artprize?
Would we need to predetermine what our project is? I’m pretty sure we would not- we could focus on the river or even focus on Artprize research. There would need to be some integrity to the structure of the project and the ideas we engage. (i.e. it makes sense to do the river as subject if we’re over the river - we could also trust the civic studio method of letting the project emerge from our experience with the situation - which might include responding to artprize).
A technicality - I’ve read that once you sign an ArtPrize contract - the one that’s’ due August 15th - that you do have a legal obligation to complete the project. What the project is or whether it changes seems to be potentially flexible, so it seems worth the $50 to me to prolong the decision for the next two weeks and feel things out.
I think the stance of participant-observer is an interesting one to take here - like my bff sociologist Loic Wacquant who made boxing in a gym part of his research studying Chicago’s southside - there’s something to be learned from an intimate or direct experience of your subject. Besides which, objectivity is generally a pipe dream.
Doing something public, parallel to and during Artprize seems a little clumsy/ maybe overly contrary?/ but it seems like that is really only the case because Artprize has already managed to assume such authority as an art institution. > grr
I still like the idea of a survey of art fair-style exhibition methods, but that doesn’t necessarily have to happen at the beginning of the semester.
A practical concern: 4 weeks is very quick turn around for a group project