[IHJ Artists’ Forum/Workshop]
But Is It Art?

  • *This event has finished.
  • Date: Friday, September 30, 2016, 7:00 pm
  • Venue: Lecture Hall, International House of Japan
  • Artist: marksearch [Sue Mark & Bruce Douglas] (Interdisciplinary artists; US-Japan Creative Artists Program Fellows)
  • Guest Artist: Nakamori Akane (Suisei-Art, Kanazawa)
  • Language: English & Japanese (with consecutive interpretation)
  • Co-sponsored by the Japan-US Friendship Commission (JUSFC)
  • Admission: Free (reservations required) Fully Booked
  • *This workshop is open to a maximum of 15 participants with past experiences or an active interest in community-based art initiatives.
  • *Participants are welcome to bring and share materials or stories from their own experiences in community-based work. It can be physical, such as a small object, tool or artifact used in the project, a visual such as a photo, drawing, or diagram, or it can be intangible, such as a short story that describes an important experience from the project.
  • *Artists’ Talk on September 29.

Photo: marksearchAs socially engaged artists shift away from working in the known spaces of museums and galleries, many interesting challenges arise. Creating positive experiences for non-traditional art audiences requires new approaches and sensitive communication. California-based cultural researcher team marksearch (Sue Mark & Bruce Douglas) has worked collaboratively and extensively with communities in the US and other countries, and in this dynamic workshop with Nakamori Akane, will unpack the process of creating a socially engaged experimental project in a small, historic Kanazawa neighborhood. The workshop will include opportunities for participants to share their experiences and insights in the growing field of community-based art practices.
Some themes to be explored include:

• Artists’ responsibilities to develop sensitive works in a community
that is not their own
• Development of healthy relationships with institutional partners
• Strategies for accessible communication with local residents
• Ways to measure success

Profile: marksearch (Sue Mark & Bruce Douglas) engages people in collaborative expressions of local history to expose and deepen bonds between people and their environments. Through cross-disciplinary projects, they create temporary and permanent sculptural structures for improvisational collaboration in public spaces. On-the-street interactions offer people an opportunity to create a lasting neighborhood narrative that connects local history with the lived experience of a particular place.