Browsing by Subject "Social practice"
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Item Inside-outside : practice between the private and the social(2016-05) Chelben, Roni Alexandra; Williams, Jeff, M.F.A.; Clarke, JohnIn the course of the last few years, the work I have been making was very eclectic in terms of methodology and form. My practice ranged from studio practice pieces, to a socially engaged workshop based work. I tend to see the relationship between the different works as dialectical, at least to some degree, while each work is pushing forward a different parameter that was not fully realized in the prior work. These back and forth movements have left me with some questions regarding gallery aesthetics versus socially engaged projects, and my position on the scale between them. The largest question I have, however, is whether I need to choose one practice or another, and if so to which degree the ethics and aesthetics of the different practices can or should be distinguished from one another. In this report I do not attempt to answer those vast questions, which will probably stay with me as part of my practice, but rather to raise four core issues that I find crucial to their exploration, and to which I dedicate four separate sections. Those issues are the gallery as a socially isolated site, questions about the relevancy of socially engaged art change to studio art practice, guilt as motivation for art making, and lastly, relationship between action and documentation in art.Item Social design as violence(2015-05) Nasadowski, Rebecca Shannon; Gorman, Carma; Lee, Gloria; Gunn, JoshuaFaculty in art schools, colleges, and universities have increasingly begun institutionalizing and professionalizing "design for good" in their curricula. Students are currently being taught that social design is good--or at least preferable to working for large corporations--but are not being urged to question this feel-good assertion. When the trendy phrase "design for good" is used, for whom is it good? Though social design can result in powerful, laudable work, it often escapes critical scrutiny--particularly in educational settings--for two reasons: 1) by default, many consider non-commercial (broadly defined) work de facto virtuous and thus assume that any and all partnerships with non-profit organizations, for example, must be ethically commendable; and 2) many consider good intentions sufficient and do not inquire about actual effects and consequences. My thesis work proposes that social design is just as ethically fraught as other kinds of design, if not more so, as any unintended harmful consequences of projects lie unnoticed and unchallenged under the guise of "doing good." Social designers' analyses of sociopolitical dynamics and histories of conflict are often thin. In some instances, their projects may actually enact violence, maintaining imbalances of power and perpetuating the oppression of the very individuals and communities they try to serve. I argue that insights regarding power, state control, and privileges afforded by race, class, and gender should form a critical foundation for designers seeking to work in this field. If designers and design educators are serious about design providing a "social good," it is essential that they broaden their scope of analysis and critique to include the insights and strategies that activists and academics in other fields can offer.