This work was presented as a lecture and self-published 20-page pamphlet discussing a series of proposals, provocations, and trajectories for socially-engaged art practices interweaving with everyday civic life, education, and critical theory. Each page of the pamphlet was used as a starting point for discussion with the audience and included footnotes and an index of self-critiques for further reading, consideration, or problematizing. It was presented at the Contemporary Art Gallery’s Field House Studio, as part of their “Artists in Public” series, which invites creative and cultural producers to share their theories, thoughts, and experiences of developing projects in the public realm.
Download the PDF of the pamphlet here.
Included in the pamphlet were the propositions written below (please note that these propositions should be considered incomplete without their footnotes and critical responses, which are included in the PDF of the pamphlet):
Local realities should be a driver for all activity.
An education should not be designed to help you solve problems.
More participation resolves nothing.
A social practice is not about doing things for other people.
Working on behalf of other people is probably more violent than we’re ready to admit.
Engagement should be inextricable from commitment and duration.
Agonism is a thoughtful response to the world we encounter.
Being reasonable is a matter of class. Identifying a way forward is a measure of power.
Value practices are meeting points. Social practices are often not.
Priorities allow us to mask urgencies.
There is value to be found in our infinite complaints.
Forever, and ever, and ever. I’ve been so happy loving you.
Loss, when disguised as everyday life, marks a powerful turning point for tactical action.
Avoid building communities in exclusion of building publics.
Scalability concerns those with the means to scale.
Producing steals moments, re-producing steals a lifetime.