Category Archives : Aesthetics

Occupy as Form: Catherine Ming T’ien Duffly

This entry was posted in Aesthetics Blog Occupy as Form - February 2012 and tagged community occupy as form temporary on by .

For those of us engaged in community-based art practice (via scholarship and/or via practice), what does the occupy movement have to offer our understanding of the term “community?” Miranda Joseph’s theorizing of community has asked us to think carefully about our tendency to hold up “community” as always and only a liberatory category. Other scholars have joined Joseph in questioning the use of “community” as an organizing concept for certain modes of socially engaged theater, performance, and art practice.’

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Occupy as Form: Andrew Weiner

This entry was posted in Aesthetics Blog Occupy as Form - February 2012 and tagged demands occupy as form autonomy collective on by .

Among the numerous memes, tropes, and forms associated with the Occupy movement is that of a concerted, public refusal to make specific demands. Although advocates of this tactic have seen it as a potent way to argue that the existing political system must be overhauled, rather than accomodated, many liberals have criticized such a position as impractical, while conservative pundits tout this apparent irrationality as proof that Occupy can’t be trusted.

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Curating People: Post-Show Paraphrase

This entry was posted in Aesthetics Blog Curating People Symposium - April 2011 and tagged curating people post show paraphrase on by .

My own notes are my personal interpretations of points raised by our speakers, but here is an attempt to share a few paraphrases of some of the things that made me do some extra scribbling. Others should feel free to add phrases and paraphrases that they remember—or correct mine.
Angela Mattox: how can different organizations make use of each others’ resources to support an artist?…there is an art to the practical…
Erin Doughton: representing the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art not of contemporary art…When we talk about ‘community,’ I mean “us” as part of that community. Community isn’t a codeword for something else… our Time-Based Arts festival abbreviates to TBA…our theatre tech crew all came from working on ships.

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Curating People: David Henry

This entry was posted in Aesthetics Blog Curating People Symposium - April 2011 and tagged past curating people confessions hybrid museums on by .

Over the past 30 years I have worked in five different art museums including one photography museum, two encyclopedic museums, and two modern/contemporary museums. I came to the field through the back door—a government grant to better engage visitors gave me and three fellow MFA students our first museum jobs – – leading tours and creating public programs.When the grant ended I went behind the scenes in a different museum as a preparator and curatorial assistant.

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BAY AREA ARTS: Etiquette at YBCA

This entry was posted in Aesthetics Blog Uncategorized and tagged bay area arts etiquette relational aesthetics commitment on by .

I had the chance to experience “Etiquette” under the auspices of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts earlier this semester.
I have been interested in the admittedly over-used concept of “relational aesthetics” over the last couple of years, thinking in particular about 1) how this turn in contemporary visual art is part and parcel of a related turn in experimental theatre and 2) how and with what modifications this turn addresses socio-political issues, i.e. the vexed but intriguing question of “commitment” in art practice.

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