http://artroots.info/

Visit: Parc Departemental des Cormailles, M7 to Mairie...

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 12:28:00 -0400

Visit: Parc Departemental des Cormailles, M7 to Mairie d’Ivry

"And then, all of a sudden... an art project [gets] all key stakeholders...participating." -Heidi Quante

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 03:41:00 -0400

HQ: My name is Heidi Quante and I primarily work in the realm of creative communication. For the last year-and-a-half, I worked with 350.org, the largest international grassroots climate change organization, to use creative communication to educate the public about the impacts and solutions to climate change and ideally to spark them into action.

AR: Is art a particularly important tool in your organizing work?

HQ: Yes. I would say that if you look throughout history, whenever you look at revolution or changes that occur in society, culture is where it really happens. Every revolution has artists at the forefront. At the end of the day culture is going to drive politics more than politics is going to drive culture. The role of the artist is to be a visionary and to help show society what is possible before it actually happens so that people have something to work towards.

I received a science degree and an arts degree, and for a good decade or so, the primary jobs I had involved running corporate accountability campaigns. In short holding natural resource-extractive industries, primarily oil companies, accountable for the human rights and environmental destruction they were causing in their operations. And I always thought that art was something that I had to give up because there’s only one thing you can do in life and I was needed more to speak in the trenches, on the frontlines organizing shareholders, educating shareholders about what their company was doing.

But ironically, I always worked with other artists to convince shareholders to take action. So if I had to go to a union meeting and I had two minutes in front of all these sometimes really burly union guys, I had to convince them in 2 minutes why they should care where their retirement fund was invested in. And I always used photographs, and I always used hard-hitting powerful videos, and I would get them inspired within 2 to 5 minutes, and I was increasingly realizing that the power of a good story is so critical to convincing people. You have to first reach their heart before you can get them to take action.

AR: How do you define success?

HQ: An example of success would be the work we did during the earth art project for 350.org. EARTH was the world’s first ever global satellite art project. In over 16 locations around the world, artists collaborated with communities to create art that highlighted a local climate change problem or solution. For example Santa Fe, New Mexico has been designated as a high water stress area, which means that by the year 2050, they might not have enough water to support the local population. This is primarily due to the fact that the snow pack that feeds the Santa Fe river is melting faster than ever before. This is a really depressing subject to bring up with locals. For example you’ve bought a house and the house that you bought might not have access to its current water source by 2050. No one really wants to spend their free time at meeting at night talking about this really depressing, but real issue.

So we used art to engage people in this critical issue. Our local partners, The Santa Fe Institute, met with the people of Santa Fe and together they decided that they wanted to fill the now dry Santa Fe riverbed that runs through the city with thousands of people, all wearing blue to show where the river should be. As part of the lead up to EARTH, the Santa Fe Art Institute organized water and climate change workshops, but because they were connected to this crazy participatory art project, everyone wanted to check them out. The city put up free posters and buses. There were announcements on the radio. Kids had art workshops where they would paint blue things, and everyone really got engaged because it was this participatory art project that was unusual and everyone was invited. It was free, and throughout the course of it, the whole city for the first time started talking about water. I think that was a success where there was a boring, depressing topic and art provided an “in” to break this critical issue.

Similarly in Egypt, where we also organized an EARTH art piece (a scarab holding a sun to represent Egypt’s amazing solar potential), the organizer there on the ground—and this is before the revolution—was saying few people would come to their environmental meetings. No one saw themselves as an environmentalist, and it seemed really boring, and it seemed like work. But because this was art and the BBC was traveling all the way to the Egyptian desert to film this participatory art piece, everyone wanted to participate in it, and then the funny thing is once they engaged, they wanted to do more. So I think it’s a way to engage the general public in something that seems easy and fun, and then for those whose curiosity has been piqued, a way to take them to the next step or the next level.

AR: Are their certain qualities that you’ve observed which make these types of projects very successful?

HQ: In the case of 350.org I would say projects that are really successful are ones that reflect the local values and cultural values. They decide the messaging. They decide the medium. They decide how to engage their local community on the issue.

Egypt would be a prime example. The words you use, the solutions you highlight, are totally different than what you use in the United States. But even though it’s informed by local cultural values, when you’re dealing with a global issue like climate change, people then also find a way to connect globally. So you don’t feel alone. One of the things we heard from Egypt is, “The reason we felt confident doing something so unique and different - again this is before the Revolution - was because we could tell people, they’re doing this in the United States, they’re doing this in Europe, and then the teenagers were like, Okay, we want to do this too.”

Another story is from the Dominican Republic, the 350.org organizer there, Vanessa, is a phenomenal on-the-ground organizer. Vanessa would try everything to get on the radio, to get in the newspaper, to talk about global warming because as an island state, the Dominican Republic is going to really be severely impacted by climate change before any of the larger continents are.

And no one would listen to her. And then she said she was doing this art project with Dominican Republic youth and she said she was amazed, all of a sudden, the President wanted to participate, the military lent them helicopters to take aerial photographs of it, because at the end of the day, the government is the one who’s going to have to deal with sea level rise, with increased hurricanes and floods. They know this and this was an opportunity to do public education in way they knew would grab people’s attention because it was unique art, not a depressing lecture.

It’s a good example where someone was trying for years to get her country, island country, to talk about climate change and no one would, and then all of a sudden, she does an art project and all key stakeholders are participating.

Heidiis inspired by her grandmother, Henry David Thoreau, Bjork, Michael Verhoeven, the Yes Men, Nelson Mandela, Ursula Sladek, and fellow ArtRoots interviewee Eve Mosher!
See 350’s climate street art here and their awesome “insert here” public art project by one of ArtRoot’s interviewee’s Eve Mosher
Join the movement at 350.org and follow @350 on twitter

Reading: Selz, Peter Howard, and Susan Landauer. Art of...

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:09:42 -0400

Reading: Selz, Peter Howard, and Susan Landauer. Art of Engagement: Visual Politics in California and beyond. Berkeley: University of California, 2006.

Photo

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 04:38:00 -0400

"Before [The Alley Project] there were many murders in a in a three-, four-month period…And..."

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 03:43:00 -0400

“Before [The Alley Project] there were many murders in a in a three-, four-month period…And what’s incredible about this particular project is that residents can see [crime] actually move away. Now it actually feels peaceful. That’s what’s amazing. This place, you can stand here and it feels … peaceful, and it’s because of TAP.”

- Dan Pitera, advisor to the TAP Gallery, Associate Professor of Architecture, Director of Detroit Collaborative Design Center

Check back soon to see an interview with founder Erik Howard and professor Dan Pitera as they give a walking tour of TAP.

Wheatpasting by Joe Caslin as part of a project entitled...

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 08:21:00 -0400

Wheatpasting by Joe Caslin as part of a project entitled “Our Nation’s Sons.”

“The aim of the project ‘Our Nation’s Sons’ is to use portraits drawings as a tool to provoke and question current representations of young men in today’s society. The media openly ridicules and demonises this generational group. By using words such as NED and CHAV we continually push young people out of society and slowly beat them into apathy. I want to change this.

I enlisted a group of young lads from the local area to help with this street art project. I named the lads the Tyros, a latin word meaning learner or apprentice, and we set about making our mark on the city streets of Edinburgh.” -Joe Caslin

Follow @joecaslin

The Alley Project

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:35:00 -0400

The Alley Project

“My artwork became about process…not about trying to...

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 12:26:00 -0400

“My artwork became about process…not about trying to create a precious object.” -Ellie Balk

Visit the blog for You Are Here
Ellie is inspired by Biggie Smalls and David McCandless
Follow @EllieBalk on twitter

Detroit Graffiti Photoset. (Stay tuned for a tour of the The...

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:15:00 -0400

Detroit Graffiti Photoset.

(Stay tuned for a tour of the The Alley Project)

Street Art in Dumbo.

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:18:36 -0400

Street Art in Dumbo.

“You might not be an expert in political science…and you...

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:52:33 -0400

“You might not be an expert in political science…and you may not be a traditional and trained artist, but everyone has access to the same tools…where art comes form, which is imagining things…When it comes to imaging great ideas, that is…accessible to everyone.” -Jose Serrano-McClain, founder of Trust Art, community organizer at Queens Museum of Art

Support Trust Art and buy tickets to their May 4th Triennial Event
If you want to participate in the next round of Trust Art projects make sure to sign up on their homepage
Follow @TrustArt on twitter

Images courtesy of Trust Art and Queens Museum of Art.

"This fence was installed in case of riots provoked by mass falsifications during upcoming elections. Sorry for the temporary inconvenience."

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 10:04:16 -0400

Meet Partizaning, a website and public project seeking to create a new social art movement. On March 4th, they launched their English website (eng.partizaning.org) in Debalie, Amsterdam, during Welcome Back, Putin! – a festival showcasing Russia’s leading art activists.

Their projects have included:

Car Impounding: an event organized to kick start an automobile intervention in collaboration with Flacon Design Factory on February 27th. The idea was to deal with the issue of growing car ownership and the irresponsible attitudes of drivers towards pedestrians, the environment and their city. Volunteer participants received sticky labels that resemble official traffic and parking violation tags - and invited members of the community to stick them on badly parked cars - aka blocking crosswalks, trolly and bus paths. The goal was to create a sense of shame among drivers to raise awareness.

Wiki Parliament: a response to the crisis in Russia and ideas of political representation. It emerged following the November 2011 elections and the many protests and meetings held thereafter. It lets all enthusiasts and/or professionals connect and work on the basic text, which should serve the interests of the overwhelming majority of users and citizens. People can supplement the main proposals, or create separate articles based on you areas of expertise, interest or knowledge – especially related to governance and lawmaking.

The Residence: a container which has been installed at 4 different locations across the city, and currently sits at the Flacon Design Factory. It is an artist’s studio, and a repository for materials necessary to create works in the city: paint, tools, a bicycle trailer, a mattress, a small supply of food, boards, plywood, cardboard, paper, buckets, and boxes. It was part of the 4th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art.

Want to get involved? Join them at the event ‘Delai Sam’ from 14-21 April 2012. OR you can join the Car Impounding intervention through their group on facebook or by picking up labels and instructions at Cafe Moloko at Flacon. They also invite street artists to work in the shipping container/mobile street art studio - the Residence, currently located at Flacon.
Follow @Partizaning on twitter, and on vimeo, and friend them on facebook, and visit their English or Russian site!
Email them at partizaning.org[at]gmail.com for more information or to collaborate on projects.

Below is an interview with the members:
Make / Anton Polsky: activist, art-historian, designer.
Igor Ponosov: street artist, curator of The Wall project (Winzavod).
Sonya Polskaya: art-historian.
Shriya Malhotra: urban researcher, english editor.

AR: What is “Partizaning?”

Partizaning is the name of our website and new social art movement or strategy for replanning the city. It is based on street-art + activism and falls in the Russian traditions of pioneers and socialism.

AR: Why is art a good tool for activism?
Make: Art has always played an important role in revolutionary change. Now, many artists and art institutions in Russia are disappointed and seek to implement their projects on the street. We are inspired by situationist practices which show that real life can be more interesting than fictional worlds or documentation presented in galleries or museums.

Art is an area of critical discourse, and artists themselves are often very sensitive to the surrounding social environment. Therefore, it is critical to have an artistic approach to solving social, environmental and political problems in order to find solutions to local and global problems, which are increasingly connected. Plus, good art and design lets us visualize different lifestyles we want to strive for. By popularizing the idea of strategic, DIY art-based activism in Russia and globally, we can start a series of social, ecological and political changes.

Make: искусство всегда играло важную роль в деле революционных изменений. Сейчас многие художники в России разочарованы художественными институциями и они стремятся реализовывать свои проекты на улице: примеры акций The Yes Men или Occupy показывают, что реальная жизнь может быть интереснее, чем вымышленные миры или даже документация, представленные в галереях или музеях.

В связи с этим художники часто тяготеют к различным формам общественной деятельности и пытаются использовать свое творчество для информирования, площадку для высказывания или пропаганду.

Однако часто художники остаются на пол-пути к настоящему активизму, ограничиваясь лишь жестом в сторону возможных перемен. Партизанские тактики тяготят к непосредственному воздействию на окружающую действительность. Вместе с тем, для того, чтобы действовать эффективно, нужно хорошо понимать что, где и как не в порядке.

Так или иначе, искусство — это территория критического дискурса, а сами художники часто очень чувствительны к окружающему социальному окружению. Поэтому именно критически-художественный подход к решению социальных, экологических, политических проблем предполагает поиск самых нетривиальных решений. Плюс искусство это и хороший дизайн, визуализация другого образа жизни, к которому захочется стремиться.

Shriya: Art has the unique ability to raise awareness, engage bigger audiences, and creatively inspire people’s imagination beyond what exists and towards greater possibilities. For activism, it is almost the perfect tool to think and act outside of the box. And this approach is kind of what cities really need right now - new, creative solutions that are participatory and multi-dimensional. So art and activism in cities seem to go together seamlessly.

AR: How will you achieve your goal of promoting art-based DIY activism?

Make: By popularizing the idea of strategic, DIY art-based activism in Russia and globally, to start a series of social and political changes.

Sonya: Our task as the site is to research information, providing the reader with concrete examples that are implemented in real life. Instead of ranting theoretically, we show people about what can be realistically done using all available methods.

Наша задача, как сайта - делать грамотный research информации, предоставляя читателям конкретные примеры, реализованные в реальной жизни. Вместо теоритических разглагольствований мы рассказываем людям о том, что реально можно сделать доступными всем методами.

What projects are you proudest of?

Make: I feel like I have been a part of a big project for last 2 years starting with my USE/LESS cycling map.

Igor: From 2004 to 2009, I wrote and published a book series about Russian street art: Objects. This is very important for researching the evolution of Russian street art.

AR: How do you engage with your community?

Make: In modern society people are increasingly isolated from one another and this is particularly the case in post-soviet countries and in Moscow especially there are many different communities, but it is hard to connect and work with all of them. People don’t know their neighbors and there are no communities based on area + most of the people who live in Moscow come from different cities. That’s why we mostly deal with communities based on shared interest and organize events and discussion through the internet. For us, community is formed not by geography but by shared beliefs – and this has been enabled by the Internet. Thanks to the Internet, relationships among people are easier to establish and have begun to build anew.

In particular, it is very difficult to work with older people – they all are very busy, set in their ways and no one is interested in what we have to say. However, we are starting to have meetings and change people’s minds, at least in Moscow.

We work mostly using internet. And it is important to us because as of last winter 50% of Russians use the internet. We also leverage the language of art which is more engaging and creative than any other tools we have.

Make: Проблема в том, что в Москве вообще тяжко с различными комьюнити, можно сказать, что благодаря интернету вообще отношения между людьми начали строиться заново. То есть большинство комьюнити формируются не по географическому принципу, а по идеологическому и в интернете.

В остальном мы вынуждены ориентироваться на среднестатистических горожан, вместе с тем, конечно есть отдельные районы в городе, где существует своя специфика. В этом смысле многие и очень часто воспринимают что-то новое в штыки.

Очень сложно работать с людьми старшего поколения, даже нашими родителями — все очень заняты и никому нет не до чего дела. Правда с началом митингов все поменялось, по крайней мере в Москве.

AR: How do you define success?

Make: In the long term, success to us means new means of self organization and alternatives that will cause social / ecological changes and better cities in Russia and across the world.We want better world and we want to act as we can and like — using the tools we have which is art. We want to serve as an example for others — whoever they are occupied by— to work together, trust each other.

AR: What is Zachem? What is special about the street art movement in general in Russia right now? Has there been a noticeable increase of street art around the election?

Igor: Zachem is the name of a famous russian graffiti crew, one of the first and most important graffiti teams (the word translates to “Why? What for?” — in Russian). They became very popular 5 years ago.

Its value is not only in the adaptation of American Graffiti for the Cyrillic alphabet, but also the question asked to themselves and to the audience. This kind of conceptual component is a rarity in traditional graffiti bombing. Later, some members of the team organized itself into an art group - No Future Forever. Trying to move away from the canons of graffiti artists, it focuses on social and political issues.

I see two important points in the development of Russian street art. The first was the mid 00’s, which saw the rapid development of techniques, forms and methods that generated a lot of street art collectives and projects. And even though they were often copied from temporary, Western trends, this time played a key role in subsequent development.

The last couple of years, I have noted a new period of re-formatting of illegal art in the city. First of all, this is the main essence of street art - site-specific, not only physically contextuality architecture, but also social and political. So, gradually began to form their own authentic style, above all, is not recognizable in the west for some graphic design elements, and in its intention and mood. Radya, P183, Cyril who are the most important street artists at the moment, and for a long time have worked in the field of socially-oriented art. The political situation naturally affects the other street artists, who generally do not take into account the social context of the environment that hosts their work. This vector of development includes Partizaning are among the new phenomenon, which seems almost the only way for prospective self-street artist.

Igor: Зачем одна из самых первых и значимых граффити-команд. Ее ценность не только в адаптации американского граффити под кириллицу, но и в постановке вопроса, как к самим себе, так и к зрителям. Эта некая концептуальная составляющая большая редкость для традиционного граффити бомбинга. Позже часть участников команды организовалась в арт-группу No Future Forever. Стараясь отойти от канонов граффити, художники акцентируются на социальных и политических проблемах.

В развитии российского уличного искусства я вижу два важных момента. Первый приходится на середину 00-х, бурное развитие техник, форм и методов, породившее большое количество стрит-арт коллективов и проектов. И хоть они зачастую были временными и скопированными с западных тенденций, этот момент сыграл ключевую роль в последующем развитии.

Последние пару лет я отмечаю новый период переформатирования нелегального искусства в городе. Прежде всего, это основная сущность стрит-арта — site-specific, контекстуальность не только физически архитектурная, но и социальная и политическая. Так, постепенно стал формироваться собственный аутентичный стиль, прежде всего, узнаваемый на западе не по каким-то графическим дизайнерским элементам, а по своей интенции и настроению. Радя, П183, Кирилл КТО наиболее значимые уличные художники на данный момент, которые на протяжении длительного срока работают в одном проблемном поле социально-ориентированного искусства. Политическая ситуация естественным образом влияет и на других уличных художников, которые раньше вообще никак не учитывали контекст социальной среды размещения своих работ. Этот вектор развития мы причисляем к новому явлению Партизанинга, которое нам кажется чуть ли не единственным способом перспективной самореализации для уличного художника.

AR: Do you ever see your work as “illegal?”

Make: We call it unsanctioned, because it’s not actually illegal. We try to do things that should be done by authorities. Using art, humor, satire. In the words of Kirill Kto: “…rather than hiding behind guerrilla activities or imitating those who are ashamed of what they have been doing… We street artists have nothing to be ashamed of. We are doing it right.”

AR: Do you participate in other forms of political protest or organizing?

Make: Yes, we are part of projects like 10/10/10 Delai Sam (DIY), Wikiparliament, Moscow 2020. It seems that we are doing something all the time, and we separate from art wherever it is difficult or unnecessary.

Make: 10/10/10б Делай сам, митинги, Wikiparliament, Москва 2020 мне кажется, что мы по жизни все время чем-то занимаемся, и отделить где арт, а где остальное оч сложно и не нужно.

All images courtesy of Partizaning.

“It’s a different way of understanding art....

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 11:03:27 -0400

“It’s a different way of understanding art. It’s not something you’re contemplating in an exhibition space, this is something that people can come and experience.“-Camilo Godoy, intern at Immigrant Movement International

More about Camilo’s work here
To teach or attend a class visit Immigrant-Movement.us

All images courtesy of Immigrant Movement International

“Art is… a way of creating community pride because...

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 08:06:48 -0400

“Art is… a way of creating community pride because it’s …a way to talk about who we are and where we come from.”-Edward Hillel founder of the Harlem Biennale

DIY stickers: order fancy stickers from StickerRobot or use name...

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:33:00 -0400

DIY stickers: order fancy stickers from StickerRobot or use name tags or shipping labels.

“How can art really influence politics, and…not...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 08:44:00 -0400

“How can art really influence politics, and…not just [be] a commentary about what’s happening with no level of influence other than awareness?” -Tania Bruguera

To find out about how to get involved and upcoming events vist immigrant-movement.us
Tania was inspired by the 2005 Riots in Paris and Joseph Beuys
Follow @ImmigrantMove on twitter

All images courtesy of Immigrant Movement International

“What I’m doing with the cups is I’m up-cycling them. They’re...

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:59:00 -0400

“What I’m doing with the cups is I’m up-cycling them. They’re not trash to me, I’m turning them into art objects, which the art gallery sells. I want people who come in here to think about that. What else in their life can they turn into art…that they would otherwise throw away or disregard?” -Gwyneth Leech

Gwyneth is inpsired by choral music, especially Palestrina and Thomas Tallis, and the blog Laughing Squid
DIY directions: Gwyneth saves her cups and draws on them with Faber Castell pens and water color. When she’s done with the design she coats the cup with acrylic varnish or other sealants suitable for drawings, to preserve the paper from oxygen, oil, and moisture.
Here’s a link to the project she inspired in Singapore, Paint a Miracle
Visit Gwyneth’s blog and facebook, and follow @gwynethleech on twitter

“By valuing the arts I feel like you value..people’s...

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 11:33:48 -0400

“By valuing the arts I feel like you value..people’s opinions…across race, class because we all express ourselves and arts doesn’t see the color of one’s skin.” -Sharon De La Cruz, graffiti artist and program director of ACTION and WOMEN at The Point

Want to see more of Sharon’s work? Check out her flickr stream
Follow @MISS163 on twitter

All images courtesy of Sharon De La Cruz and The Point.

“We’ve always talked about comics and social...

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:03:00 -0400

“We’ve always talked about comics and social justice…we thought about how that could reach beyond just the people who were Occupying. I think art and creativity…make organizing more effective.” -Terry Marshall of OccupyComix

Want to get involved? Email occupycomix[at]gmail.com
Want to make your own comic? Terry recommends printing with MagCloud
Terry is inspired by Dream: Re-imaging Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy by Stephen Duncombe, Beautiful Trouble, The Modern Prince by Antonio Gramsci, and Stuart Hall
Follow @BajanCool on twitter & like them on facebook
Most of all, DOWNLOAD OCCUPY COMIX ISSUES 1 & 2 FOR FREE!

“Places like The Point are really marking this area as a...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:39:56 -0400

“Places like The Point are really marking this area as a cultural destination.” - Carey Clark, Visual Arts Program Director at The Point

Want to volunteer or work at The Point, check out opportunities to get involved here.
Check out all their classes, groups, & events here!