Aesthetic Evangelists

Jaron Crespi

Evelyn Serrano

Arts and Community Engagement

4/4/16

The Influence of Your Personal Sphere

The artist has great influence upon their personal sphere of influence. Through community-based art, a society can be transformed from the inside out through the power of the artist. In Grant Kester's essay Aesthetic Evangelists: Conversion and Empowerment in Contemporary Community Art, he warns the artist creating community-based works of failed processes that have exploited communities and the danger of a priori "solutions." He explains these obstacles by bringing to light the, "...Representational politics of community art… the current ideological and cultural context within which community-based public art must operate, as well as its historical antecedents… and a short case study of a particular project [Dawn Dedeaux's, "Soul Shadows: Urban Warrior Myths]," (Kester).

Within the representational politics of community art Kester introduces two interrelated meanings of the term "representation." The first of the two, "...Refers to the act of political representation - a process by which the community, through its own electoral procedures, selects an individual subject to speak its collective will in political debates, etc." (Kester). The second mode of representation (symbolic representation), "...Occurs when the delegate confirms and legitimates his or her political power through the act of literally re-presenting or exhibiting the community itself, in the form of demonstrations and other political performances," (Kester). There is a problem which Kester points out with the latter of the two which is the artist's ability or inability to "exhibit" a specific community, and the authority to declare a position that is sanctioned by that group's social experience. Kester points this out with an extreme example quoting Alice Walker, in regards to being identifying with African women who undergo genital mutilation, saying, as she describes it, "...She received her own 'patriarchal wound' when she was shot in the eye with a pellet gun by her brother when she was seven years old," (Kester). The artist is warned to not claim somebody else's suffering as their own, and then to create an art piece out of it apart from an acceptance and recognition of a certain community who has delegated that priviledge to them, if it isn't the artist's experience to begin with in the first place. It is crucial for the artist to approach a politically coherent community with a spirit of humility, not knowing-it-all but with a teachable attitude and willing to surrender their pre-supposed lenses in exchange for understanding through being taught by the community.

Historically our culture has approached poor and homeless people as a deformed and morally flawed society, whose distorted morality bears relation to their economic, emotional, social, and creative "disempowered" status. The primary focus of our society concerning the poor and homeless has been on their moral regeneration as opposed to any systematic changes in the surrounding society. Kester states that, "At the center of this model is a matrix of personal transformation derived originally from evangelism, due in part to the fact that many of the most influential charity agencies and social reform movements of the late 18th and early 19th centuries were sponsored by evangelicals and evangelical denominations," (Kester). Not only has the church been partially responsible for the cultural focus on moral regeneration rather than a systematic tweak in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but there is a lack of a societal change and activism within the church body today. In the late 60's and early 70's christian artist Keith Green wrote songs provoking the church make lifestyle changes that would image the compassionate, servant-hearted, humble Jesus they so boldly proclaimed to follow. He wrote songs that say, "Go to the hungry ones and fill them with his bread… Is your house open to let strangers enter there? Give to the least of them, show them someone cares," (Go To The Hungry Ones - Keith Green). Through his message during that time many homes began to open up to people in need of food and shelter. Communities were totally transformed through Keith Green's direct influence on the christian community during that time. The work of Keith Green did not demand obedience to a moral law. His art changed his immediate social system and mode of thinking to help provide for the real needs of people. Keith Green exemplifies how an artist can directly influence his or her direct personal sphere of influence and witness the transformation of a community starting with their life and then spreading outwards and beyond.

Aesthetic Evangelists Reflection- Sophia Pietrkowski

Sophia Pietrkowski

4/5/16

Arts and Community Engagement

 

Aesthetic Evangelists: Reflection

 

            Community Engagement is a sufficient platform for social change. It starts with artists engaging in a social issue with a specific group of people. Grant Kester's Aesthetic Evangelists defines a community in relation to "special or institutional boundaries." Another note is that community is in relation to "specific issues" or "in connection to specific identities." The term of community is broad, however, the term itself carries a lot of weight. When one thinks of a community, it is thought of as a group of people that identify themselves in relation to each other, it is empowering to be part of a larger association. Group engagement collectively relates members of a community together in the direction of a common interest. So how do artists go into a community and use their privilege to artistically morph social issues into an art piece?

            The real question to explore is what is an artist's relationship to these communities?  Grant brings up that an "artist is distanced from the community as a catalyst." So what gives artists a right to speak on behalf of people that they have no relationship with? Artist's hold a "representational relationship of speaking 'for,' 'through,' 'with,' 'about,' or 'on behalf of' other subjects." These "other subjects" are usually what unites a specific community together in the first place. The artist's role is not to identify what already unites these people. The artist's role is to start a conversation of empowerment for the people.

            However, the line is blurred between empowering a community versus empowering oneself for personal gain. This is what Bourdieu says is "embezzlement, in which the [artist] claims the authority to speak for the community." This is a charged issue. The line that is blurred is when an artist is doing this work "in order to empower [themselves] politically, professionally, and morally." Politically and professionally are two areas that are somewhat self-explanatory. However how do artists empower themselves morally? If their work is purely for moral gain, does this idea play into their development professionally, or is it the ignorance of thinking they are doing the right thing? Is personal moral empowerment a bad thing? I believe it is if it is at the cost of not communicating with the community that is supposed to be engaged by an array of artwork.

             Kester's work discusses John Malpede's work on Skid Row. I believe that this work is an exemplary form of community and moral engagement. According to the Los Angeles Poverty Department journal Making the Case for Skid Row, LAPD states the case that "for many years, a host of public and private agencies directed the poor—and services for them—to [Skid Row] and away from other areas." This group of homeless people created a grass roots community. John Malpede is the artistic director and founder of this theater company involving people that are homeless and formerly homeless since 1985. Malpede takes credit and stands by his work while keeping in mind personal and communal morality in the community engaged work. In an interview that I conducted he said that: "the most important piece of [his] work is in building relationships." Malpede is a leader in work with the homeless and has provided opportunities for personal growth, passions to emerge, and giving the people of the community a chance to be heard. The key thing here is to realize that the art is for the community. According to Doug Borwick's article, Engaging Matters, "Community engagement is focused on developing partnerships, deep ones; its end result is trust and understanding from which expanded reach can be pursued" (artsjournal.com). Being informed and building conscious relationships with the community is key to successful social change through community-engaged partnerships with artists.

Works Cited

"Aesthetic Evangelists" Grant Kessler. 1. Afterimage 22 (January 1995) (n.d.): n. pag.

"Audience Engagement-Community Engagement." Engaging Matters. N.p., 13 May 2012. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. <http://www.artsjournal.com/engage/2012/05/audience-engagement-community-engagement/>.

 

Introduction. MAKING THE CASE FOR SKID ROW CULTURE Findings from a Collaborative Inquiry by the Los Angeles Poverty Department and the Urban Institute (n.d.): n. pag. Web.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aesthetic Evangelists Reflection- Sophia Pietrkowski

Jonathan Bangs Reflection Essay

Jonathan Bangs

E. Serrano

April 2016

 

            In the beginning my intention was to read Grant H. Kester's highly eloquent essay until I reached the bibliography section. Implementing this nonstop task as my objective had its pros as well as its cons; after reading Grant Kester's work it was apparent that Kester is an intellectual man that possess the gift of keeping the reader emphatically attentive however he as the ability to ramble historical facts to the point of boredom as well.

            March of last year I started the process for a community engaging play titled Shelter; the story centers around seven kids from Central America and their horrendous and hopeful journey to the United States of America. The journey in terms of the show process for which has also been long and arduous but doesn't hold a candle to the trek these thirteen and fourteen year old children go through for the opportunity to receive a pinch of the American Dream; at twenty two years old and have been acting for sixteen of those years, never before have I been in a show that resonates fibers of being I've never felt before. During the twelve/ thirteen-month process a myriad of the Shelter cast and crew have often participated in workshops with East LA kids who've taken the dreadful voyage themselves. Orchestrated by Martin Acosta, Marissa Chibas and the CalArts Center for New Performance, Shelter will be premiering in the heart of East LA with the engagement of the Latino community April 8^th- 17 at Lincoln Park.

            I was a fan of Kester's essay mostly at times in which he would deeply detail examples of community engagement processes and the reception that each artwork garnered.  Grant Kester says in his thirty plus page essay:    

             "The community in community based public art often, although clearly not always, refers to the individuals marked as culturally, economically, or socially different either from the artist or from the audience for the particular project."

            I found the quote above to be somewhat of the helm or motif in a plethora of concepts embedded in this writing. I also found the dichotomy of a "rightfully done" art making project versus a not so consciously acted art work amusing for the reader; Kester's introduction of Alfredo Jaar and his exhibit "One or Two Things I Know About Them" was one of the strongest sections in the essay. Jaar was invited to stage his site-specific work he constructed in Bangladesh at the Whitechapel Gallery in London 1992. Jaar compiled photographs of many young Bangladeshi women to be hung in the gallery but what lead to the pour of outrage were the sexist and racist captions scribed on the images. The ending result of the gallery staff ultimately taking down the images altogether is what I perceive to be a community involved artwork not properly engaging the community.

            In short, I found Grant Kester's writing highly informative and coincidental with the timing of the community engaging art project Shelter. A few days away from my first performance for a site-specific audience or tailored demographic; reading Kester praising Dawn Dedeaux's art installation "Soul Shadows: Urban Warrior Myths" and its impact has consequently given me anxiety about communal reception destined for Shelter.

 

                                                Works Cited

1)    http://arthurrogergallery.com/artists/dawn-dedeaux/

2)    https://www.artsy.net/artist/alfredo-jaar

3)    Aesthetic Evangelists: Conversion and Empowerment in Contemporary Community Art Kester, H. Grant

 

Jon Bangs Assignment 9

Jonathan Bangs

E. Serrano

March 2016

            I will like to open my weekly reflection by saying much hasn't changed since my latest journal entry. The show is premiering at Caracen this Friday but I will be absent because of the Graduating Actors Showcase. Going to New York in a few days has really consumed my thought process to the point where the "Team Project" necessarily hasn't been circulating. I'm looking forward to do what is needed on the East Coast and attack whatever his needed from me in terms of Shelter. In conclusion, the team and I have decided to do a tad bit of self-promotion at Lincoln Park Wednesday morning. . .  I can't wait to shed light on the experience for my next benchmark. 

Noga Yechieli- advanced benchmarks

Let's Talk Sex Work has taken some major leaps over the last ten days. 

1. First after collaboration and rehearsals since November the final script is complete, with about 90% of the script being DIRECT quotes of sex workers. I am so pleased to have maintained such accuracy with the work. My cast is currently getting off book to prepare for the NWF. 

2. I have been in contact with the Nola Brantley Speaks and it looks like I will be able to bring her to give a lecture to the cast sharing her own experiences as a sex worker and hopefully collaborate in the future of the piece. 

3. I am bringing a young woman by the name of Jessica Jean who is a trans woman, to come and speak to two of my cast members that are playing trans women, and to share her personal experience. 

4. My producer Salina is going to be writing an article for bitchmedia.org about our piece and our process. 

5. More interviews with the cast will be coming out next week as well. 

6. I have reached out to an organization called Children of the Night which works with trafficked teens and children to possibly collaborate with them, but am still waiting for their responses. They are located in Van Nuys so hopefully it won't fall through. 

Monique Wilmoth – Benchmarks

This past week, the team working on the Shelter project visited Lincoln Park to pass out fliers around the surrounding community to promote the event. The support from businesses around the community was so positive! Jocelyn & Camila did an amazing job giving voice to event & describing further details to community members we engaged with.

SERINA BERNSTEIN—ADVANCING BENCHMARKS

I was added to the social media team during our last meeting, so now I can post on the FB page for shelter promotional material. I drove a group to Lincoln Park on Wednesday to promote the event by passing out fliers to people and businesses. I plan to attend the performance at Carecen and Ratri and I have plans to discuss engagement strategies during the break. We are on track with our ideas for engagement, however we still need to decide exactly what we are doing, when, and what supplies we need. I'm wondering when these questions will be answered.

Jocelyn Dimaya// week 9

The Salsa event was a huge success. We sold most of the food, everyone danced, the salsa band brought a lively energy as always, and most importantly, it was a great opportunity to share our work with the Calarts community and get some feedback on our projects. Since my project with Melis requires people's news, we left out a table with strips of paper for individuals to write down news that is happening in their lives. Reading through the answers, I found so much sincerity. It was a mix of excitement about finishing films or babies being born as well as people struggling with loneliness, college debt, and passing of loved ones. It reminded me that news is everything. News is all of the good and the bad. It was very inspiring and I cannot wait to do this in Cuba.

Josh Lowenstein - Progress Report 3-15-2016

Progress Report: 3-15-2016

Last week we went to downtown LA to interview homeless people. We stayed around north Hollywood and talked to two people who were asking for money. They both had interesting stories that we recorded on our phones. We will be using the audio we compiled to make an installation to present in the main gallery. We need to organize how that event will go and clean up the audio samples. I will be dealing with the audio samples and I will provide a sound system to use for the gallery night event.