The School of Visual Arts is pleased to present two innovative summer residencies in public art, which introduce artists to the conceptual and practical considerations of expanding a studio practice into the public realm. Both programs are open to artists interested in moving from the traditional studio, gallery and theatre space into the urban arena. Visual artists, writers, architects, designers, performance artists, urban planners and social activists are invited to apply.
City as Site: Public Art as Social Intervention
June 16–27, 2014
City as Site is a nomadic summer residency that explores the diverse communities that define New York City with the aim of creating site-specific public works and brings together artists, scholars and community members to think about the role of art in constructing space for civic dialogue. Participants will develop experimental models for an artistic practice that combine methods from the arts, activism, and other fields in order to cultivate innovative approaches to the construction of social spaces as works of art.
The residency will use New York City’s five boroughs as its classroom, engaging with its communities, histories and stories as materials for final projects. Interventions may take the form of tours, temporal installations, video or sound projections, performances, community involved projects, peer-to-peer platforms, print or online publication, or a one-time street event.
A faculty composed of leading artists and social entrepreneurs will help artists originate projects that reflect current social issues and guide collaborations with local businesses and neighborhoods, as well as cultural and governmental partners.
Faculty and guest lecturers will include Ofri Cnaani (visual artist), Kendal Henry (public art, urban design consultant; visual artist; curator), Ed Woodham (artist, founder and director, Art in Odd Places), Rachel Falcone & Michael Premo (Housing is a Human Right), Tom Finkelpearl (Queens Museum), Lisa Kim (Two Trees), Micaela Martegani (More Art), Jenny Polak (artist and activist), Todd Shalom (Elastic City), Radhika Subramaniam (Parsons The New School for Design), Charlie Todd (Improv Everywhere), Risë Wilson (The Laundromat Project & Robert Rauschenberg Foundation), Caroline Woolard (Our Goods & Trade School).
Reconfiguring Site: Art, Architecture and Activism in the Public Realm
July 14–26, 2014
Making art in the public is no longer just placing an object in a public plaza, a monumental sculpture in a park or a memorial sculpture. Public art can be integrated into the landscape or digitally into the fabric of a building. It can be performative, ephemeral, digital or permanent. Many artists would like to make art in the public but feel overwhelmed by its challenges or by what is often seen as a compromise of one’s creative freedom. The restrictions imposed by a commissioning agency, as well as limitations of liability, money and recognition can also be confining for an artist.
This program is structured as a think-tank for public art. Participants will learn how to read from architectural plans and create an ephemeral work in the streets or a temporary work at a site suggested within NYC. Perfecting an existing proposal or developing one that can be realized at a later time will also be fundamental. In acknowledgement of the increasing threat of global warming, this summer’s residency will focus on the waterfront. Art and architecture serve integral functions in the redevelopment of waterfront areas, which have been affected by climate change. Residents will be encouraged to develop professional proposals, which engage a New York City-based waterfront site under the guidance of faculty members and guest lecturers.
Core faculty will include an artist, a public art curator/administrator and an urban planner/architect. Leading public art administrators will be among the guest speakers in the residency. Faculty and lecturers have included Charlotte Cohen, Craig Dykers, Eiko and Koma, Wendy Feuer, Anita Glesta, Kendal Henry, Barry Holden, Meredith Johnson, Anne Pasternak, Lauren Ross, Krzysztof Wodiczko and Nina Yankowitz.
For further information or questions regarding SVA’s summer residencies:
[email protected] / T +1 212 592 2188.
