Culture in Action

 

The trend of current social/community art that captures the participation of local residents in the making of artworks has caught my attention because of the community in which I live in, Jacksonville, Florida. We have a few colleges here plus many hospitals along with The Cummer Art Museum and MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, which helps to facilitate some of these group endeavors. Miwon Kwon (2002) says “Culture in Action tested the territory of public interaction and participation, making the role of the artist an active social force” (p. 101).

 

 

It is precisely in this genre of art, that the artist seeks to change on how the average person engages with art outside of the usual venues. Tearing down the lines of how art has been used in the past, and bringing innovative methods of art making to the people, does this. The artist seeks to “empower the audience by directly involving them in the making of the art work, either as subjects or, better, as producers themselves” (Kwon, 2002, p. 107). The City Beautiful movement was about creating aesthetics in our communities where the current trend of social/community public art is more about

 

            a social function. Rather than serving to promote the economic development of American cities, as did public art beginning in the

            late1960s, it is now being viewed as a means of stabilizing community development throughout urban centers. In the 1990s the role

            of public art has shifted from that of renewing the physical environment to that of improving society, from promoting aesthetic

            quality to contributing to the quality of life, from enriching lives to saving lives. (Kwon, 2002, p. 101)

 

By changing our interaction with art in the community and everyday people, we are creating bridges between the artist, artwork, and people out in the community.

 

Dr. Elizabeth Delacruz (2011) enforces this precept by quoting “social learning theorist and business consultant Etienne Wenger (2006) who identifies a “community of practice” (http://www.ewnger.com/theory) (p.7). Dr. Delacruz outlines a plan of action to ensure the art educator’s relevancy in the educational system and in the practice of community. This plan of action is divided into four areas. The first looks on how we view ourselves as teachers. Art educators must take a hard look at their role as educators and their “civic engagement” (Delacruz, 2011, p.7) in community. Second we must look at the business world or entrepreneurship and its role towards creating something that others hold in high value. We need to create future citizens that connect to their communities so that theses areas remain vitalized and engaging. Third, the role of social media is changing every concept of “geographical, cultural, and disciplinary enclaves; rather, it’s both the individual and the collective. It’s about synergy, and the power of we” (Delacruz, 2011, p. 8). Lastly, our public assets and global communities need strong advocacy to ensure future survival of community assets. In the early 1900s, the City Beautiful movement brought aesthetics and culture to communities, we must now bring change to communities, and it is paramount to ensure the survival of public assets, by our own stewardship. In other words, the art teacher’s role is “teaching ethical behavior and cultural citizenship” (Delacruz, 2011, p. 8). We are addressing the future of our society. Only through our practices as art educators can we bring about change, the sociocultural playing board needs change, art facilitates these changes. We need to become a “community of practice” (Delacruz, 2011, p.7) and art educators are paramount to bringing about this change.

 

It is this very way of thinking in which we need to engage students. Students need to feel excited about being “globally connected and ethically charged citizens as a means of facilitating our creative, educational, and civic goals as a society and as world citizens” (Delacruz, 2011, p. 8). It is this very involvement of students that we as art educators need to facilitate, so that creative minds find ways to solve problems, by participatory action, students realize how they affect the sociocultural community in which they live. “It’s about synergy, and the power of we” (Delacruz, 2011, p. 8). It’s about a “community of practice” (Delacruz, 2011, p.7) in a global society. Art has the power to reach into societies and create cultural change. It is about a “Culture in Action” (Kwon, 2002, p. 101).

 

JR’s, Inside Out Project

 

JR is a French artist that created Inside Out – The People’s Art Project, which gave the art to the people, creating a global participatory art project, where communities could voice social concerns through the power of their own image. JR won the TED Prize in 2011. TED is a technology, entertainment and design award, this is a private non-profit sponsored prize advocating “ideas worth spreading” (TED, 2011).

 

JR states that his wish was “for you to stand up for what you care about and together we’ll turn the world Inside Out” (Inside Out Project www.insideoutproject.net/). In 2001, he started pasting large-scale black and white portraits in places that art is not normally found. But it was in 2011 that he invited everyone to do so for themselves, creating the global participatory art project. The rules are as follows: take a portrait photograph of self (black and white, from shoulders on up, looking forward and expressive), paste it in the street, so as to represent a cause you care about. The poster’s size is 36 inches by 53 inches for the self-portrait. The backgrounds vary, from plain to incorporating a screen dot pattern. 130,000 have uploaded their images onto www.insideoutproject.net, 1500 groups have been formed, creating a collective statement using their own image. Along with these global movements comes the documentation that plays a role in this project. So a collection of video, photography and audio statements are included at the website for Inside Out Project. It was JR the artist that provided the means to create this art, the concept of commercial art used in public places to create social awareness. It was his wish to the world, with the participation of everyday people, to make it happen, and “together we’ll turn the world “Inside Out” (Inside Out Project www.insideoutproject.net/). It is art education theorist Peggy Albers (1999) that supports JR’s philosophy when she stated in her article Art Education and the Possibility of Social Change,

 

           Art makes visible beliefs that are often invisible in other content areas. It is this sense of awareness that helps students understand

           their role in a larger society; one in which they must be thoughtful participants. It is out of this thinking that students can become

           more critical discussants about pluralistic issues, which then, I believe, can initiate social change. (p. 10)

 

The way that art is being used in our communities and the engagement of our sociocultural society is changing and I believe its use to promote social causes will become integral to communities. Public education (Florida) requires students to have a certain amount of community service hours to graduate. Education is creating a connection between students and community. Art education needs to be a part of this curriculum. We have become a society that wants to be socially active through art, as I have seen in my own community. We are a “Culture in Action” (Kwon, 2002, p. 101).

 

Adopt Out Project

 

It is my opinion, and from what I am seeing in my community, art is used in greater frequency for social causes in the Jacksonville’s area. The recent BUZZ magazine boxes that paired local businesses and local charities for fund raising. One Spark, which was a few weeks ago, had six pages of artists that want to start up businesses within the community and were looking for sponsorship. “Entrepreneurs are good at creative problem solving, social networking, and development” (Delacruz, 2011, p. 7). I believe the way community art is being used to engage people through social interactions and revitalizing areas of communities will be a tool that is here is here to stay.

 

That being said, my project adapts JR’s Inside Out Project to that of a community project for a social cause. I have named it, The Adopt Out Project, in conjunction with the local humane society to create a voice for those dogs and cats that need homes. While this is a theoretical project the possibility of implementation is quite real. By using the same format as JR’s project, the poster is 36 inches by 53 inches, in black and white, frontal view from the shoulders on up, with a screen dot background. The posters will be glued (wheat paste glue) onto the walls of area buildings in the vicinity of local adoption fairs or by the local humane society. The goal is to bring awareness to these animals that need homes and have no voice.

 

Portraiture is an effective way to “humanize” the issue; many photographers donate time to taking pictures of animals in shelters and post them on the web. While going to school at The Art Institute a student did a redesign of the logo for the Jacksonville Humane Society. One of the elementary schools did a design for a billboard along the highway for the local animal shelter. Adopt Out brings to the forefront, within the community, the plight of dogs and cats that need homes. It is a in your face plea, for a local social cause. By the faces being in public places it creates the possibility of connection between the community people and Adopt Out, resulting in the much-needed adoptions of these animals. It is a community interaction.

 

      In conclusion, it is education theorist Theresa Marché (1998) that talks of how“small decisions are like a pebble thrown into a pond, effects of this  

      decision rippled outward to the community and then reflected back again, inward to the school community, creating an ever changing pattern of  

      connections and personal relationships that enriched all who were involved.” (p.13)

 

“The power of we” (Delacruz, 2011, p. 8), “community of practice” (Delacruz, 2011, p.7), “Culture in Action” (Kwon, 2002, p. 101) these are all terms that are defining current social/community art. We have become a global society. JR created the global participatory art project. As Theresa Marché (1998) said, we must look “inward and outward” (p.13), art creates change, just as the ripples in the pond, and change is coming.

 

 

References

 

 

Retrieved from Inside Out Project www.insideoutproject.net/

 

 

Albers, P. (1999). Art Education and the Possibility of Social Change, Art Education, 52(4), 6-11.

 

 

Arnold, A. (1994). Building Community through Art Experiences, Art Education, 47(3), 47-51.

 

 

Delacruz, E. M. (2011). The teacher as public enemy # 1: A response in these most uncivil times. Art Education, 64(6), 5-10.

 

 

Kwon, M. (2002). One Place After Another: Site Specific Art and Locational Identity, Chapter 4 From Site to community in New Genre Public Art:

 

      The Case of Culture in Action. 100-137.

 

 

Marché, T. (2000). Toward A Community Model of Art Education History, Studies in Art Education, 42(1), 51-66.

 

 

Marché, T. (1998). Looking Outward, Looking In: Community in Art Education, Art Education, 51(3), 6-13.

 

 

Murphy, J. and M.K. (1975). Community Arts and Community Survival, Studies in Art Education, 16(2), 30-31.

 

 

Stankiewicz, M. A. (1998). Community, Art and Culture, Art Education, 51(3), 4-5.

 

 

TED. (2011). JR's TED Prize wish: Use art to turn the world inside out. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks 

 

      /jr_s_ted_prize_wish_use_art_to_turn_the_world_inside_out.html

 

 

Ulbricht, J. (2002). Learning about Community Art Behaviors, Art Education, 55(5), 33-38.