KQED Arts | Artists Seeking Social Change: What Social Practice Art is/looks like

 

            

A frame (0:08) from Artists Seeking Social Change Bring the Public into the Picture | KQED Arts video 

    I was introduced to Social-practice art in this video, "Artists Seeking Social Change Bring the Public into the Picture" (7:51) by KQED Arts. The main focus of this video was to give the viewer an idea of what Social-Practice Art looks like with a few examples of Social-practice art projects that were in the making in Oakland at the time of this video. The video walked me through two Social-practice art projects, Chris Treggiari's van newsroom project and Chris Johnson's "The Best Way to Find a Hero" project, as well as tidbits of information and insight on what Social Practice art is/can be/can do, by Professor Stephanie Syjuco who teaches social practice at U.C. Berkeley. 

     The first project I was introduced to was Chris Treggiari's "Eyes on Oakland" project. Chris Treggiari is a social practice artist in the bay area who is working mainly with Peter Foucault on this project that takes a van, converted into a newsroom, into the streets of Oakland asking the public about issues related to surveillance and the changing demographic of Oakland. 

 A frame (1:07) from Artists Seeking Social Change Bring the Public into the Picture | KQED Arts video, Eyes on Oakland van with Peter Foucault

I thought it was interesting that they had a silkscreen station so that the people could engage in an art-making process while discussing topics on surveillance. As I watched the artists ask questions and direct the people in making these silkscreen prints, I wondered about the color they were using for the prints which was a saturated blue. I’m curious as to the reason for that color as opposed to a shade of red, which I tend to associate more with surveillance and surveillance cameras which typically have a red/infrared light; red also is typically associated with power which is relevant to a discussion of surveillance. 

Stephanie Syjuco

    On another note, Professor Syjuco mentions that “the best social practice projects attract people to join a conversation.” That is exactly what Chris Treggiari and Peter Foucault are doing with “Eyes on Oakland”. I found this to be a great and important aspect of their project. In some ways, the work is greater than the sum of its parts as it addresses issues that not only the artists and their audience are dealing with but the entire city of Oakland. 

    The second project the video went over was Chris Johnson’s “The Best Way to Find a Hero”. Chris Johnson is a Professor of Photography at the California Institute of the Arts. “The Best Way to Find a Hero” focuses on acts of everyday heroism where Johnson prints out a map configured using parts of Oakland defined as troubled neighborhoods by developers which he then throws a dart on to determine where he and his team would go to talk to people living in those neighborhoods. 

 A frame (3:33) from Artists Seeking Social Change Bring the Public into the Picture | KQED Arts video, Chris Johnson

When discussing the idea behind the project Chris Johnson said, “If you’re looking for people who are surviving and thriving against adversity, you’d find that person to be a hero.” I found this to be such a genuine, optimistic, and wonderful view of celebrating those who go unnoticed and uncelebrated for their personal, familial, or communal efforts. To face and overcome adversity truly is a heroic deed and worth being known and celebrated. 

In all, This video was very educational and informative; it gave a good introduction to Social-practice art, what it is, what it is concerned with, and how it is done. Professor Syjuco defined the medium of Social-practice art as “working with the public and the social relationships that unfold in a situation.” This really expanded how I understood what a medium in the art can be and deepened my understanding of Social-practice art. Just from this short introduction, I find that Social-practice art is an extremely important art practice since it taps into the power of art to reach, connect and engage everyone using art about very important issues of the time that are worth discussing, contemplating, and taking part in.