Art in Activism: Comparative Case Studies of ARTivism in Taipei and Seattle Katie Idziorek and Aaron Asis Introduction: Artivism Artivism deals with the embrace and exploitation of art as the catalyst in tying to reach an activist objective. Artivism, as defined by Ming Jay Kang is essentially the combination of art and activism to engage in socio-spatial issues. Yet within the parameters of Kang’s definition the term Artivism is a conceptually ambiguous term. The following report will summarize several case studies in Artivism, in an effort to cast light on various approaches, techniques and objectives of art in activism. Case Study: Heavytrash Heavytrash is an anonymous group of Los-Angeles area architects, artists, and urban planners that designs and installs large, disposable art objects that encourage community thought and dialogue about urban spatial issues such as gated communities and mass transportation. The objects are intended to be sturdy, fully interactive, and somewhat ambiguous as to their purpose and origin. Aside from their public installations, Heavytrash also hosts a weblog on which they do everything from answering questions about their work to giving instructions on how to create one’s own gated community viewing platform. The three projects they have completed to date are “Stair to Park,” “Aqualine,” and “Viewing Platforms,” all of which can be seen documented on the web at heavytrash.blogspot.com. “Stair to Park” was Heavytrash’s first project, a reaction to the fencing off of Triangle Park, a public park on Santa Monica Boulevard, by the city of Los Angeles. The fence was built (using taxpayer money) due to a perceived problem of loitering homeless, and cut off the park to the “offenders” as well as the general public. The 2-ton stair remained in place for three weeks, acting as both a piece of public sculpture and an effective means of access to the park for the neighborhood. “Aqualine” is a signage installation that advertises a new Los Angeles subway line that is “coming soon.” It was strategically implemented during the Democratic National Convention in 2000; signs were placed near delegates’ hotels in hopes that they would spur conversation about the need for better mass transportation connections in the city. The Aqualine proposal ran through many of Los Angeles’ most exclusive areas, including areas around San Vincente, Santa Monica, and Wilshire. This speaks to the tendency for these neighborhoods to resist placement of subway stops in their neighborhoods, effectively keeping themselves segregated from much of the Los Angeles community while at the same time impairing what could be a much more effective transit network. A series of “Viewing Platforms,” Heavytrash’s latest installation, are large sculptural towers placed near entrances to three of Los Angeles’ most exclusive gated communities, Brentwood, Laughlin Park, and Park LaBrea. Though largely symbolic (because in many cases one can easily see through the gates to the homes beyond), the platforms allow one to climb upward and see over the fences that separate these collections of homes from the public domain. With this project, the group aims to “build bridges” among communities that might not otherwise make contact despite the fact that they share a common city. Instructions on how to build one’s own viewing platform are available at heavytrash.blogspot.com. Case Study: Treasure Hill Global Artists Participation Projects The Global Artists Participation Projects (GAPP) were intended to explore the place of art (and artivism) in the identity of Treasure Hill, a squatter community facing demolition and relocation. The event was arranged by governmental and institutional authorities and invited artists from around the globe to submit proposals for identity-building activities in part to deal with existing urban planning and cultural landscape issues. One aim of the series of projects was to raise public awareness of the situation in Treasure Hill, and to legitimatize the community in the eyes of the public and the government. Another goal was to explore the limits to which this formerly “artless” community could use creativity to build social capital and community identity for themselves. The following three selections are just a few projects that were implemented during the GAPP activities. The “Blue River” landscape art project is a large scale participatory installation. Biodegradable blue paper pulp mixed with native wildflower seeds (of various hues of blue) was spread on the earth in the form of a living river as part of an Earth Day celebration by artist Jane Ingram and the local community. The intent is that nature be used as a partner in the creation of the artwork, rather than as a force to be resisted, and that the outcome of the project be a truly “living” river of which the community could witness change over time in response to natural forces. “Treasure Hill Environmental Theatre Series” was conceived of as a means to create shared community experiences by way of performance and new uses of space and the neighborhood environment. A drumming workshop brought together professional drummers, elderly with their grandchildren, and everyone in between to lean a new musical skill. The collective action of creating the music overcame any individual shortcomings that may have been present, and allowed everyone to contribute to a piece of art that was truly created by the community. A mask-making project also brought together a range of generations in a workshop that prepared papier-mâché masks for a later community theatrical performance. The workshop spurred community members to work on their art on a daily basis and prompted individuals, through the experience of creating the masks, to rethink the place of art in their community as well as their personal lives. The “Garden Portraits Project” was a low-profile project conceived by activists Hiroko Kikuchi and Jeremy Liu. The concept was to create meaningful dialogues about an under-utilized community garden space and to instill a sense of ownership of the space into the community. The artists conceived of a project in which community members were first interviewed about the space and then asked to sit for a formal portrait. The portraits were returned to the subjects in red frames to be hung in individual homes. In this way, the community itself became the exhibition space. The pieces also served as a way to prompt informal dialogue about the space by acting as conversation pieces in the homes and giving the photographic subjects significant memories of being in and interacting with that particular space. Case Study: Fremont Art Attacks The Fremont Art Attacks were (are) the product of communal embrace and ownership of space. The Fremont neighborhood underwent a tumultuous era in the early 1990’s, when municipal jurisdiction called for the absorption of Fremont into the Wallingford and Ballard neighborhood to take place. Through the establishment and support of the Fremont Arts Council, the local arts community banded together to reclaim their space and define their neighborhood through art. The Art Attacks ranged from individually installed art pieces throughout Fremont (i.e. Capitalist Pig), to community festivals, using art as the means to celebrate the identity of their neighborhood (i.e. Solstice Parade and Troll-o-ween) Solstice Parade: was conceived in 1988 and is representative of the community’s artistic embrace and the birth of the Art Attacks. The initial intent of the parade was to unite the artistic community within Fremont and draw attention to their community to accelerate their identification of place in the eyes of the municipal forces acting against them. The parade now serves as a neighborhood celebration of the summer solstice, the personal celebration of the successful identification of an artistic community in Fremont, as well as the embrace of a communal sense of place. Capitalist Pig: In 2001 a local Fremont artistic welded and installed a bronze pig sculpture in Downtown Fremont, whose face was imbedded in a trough of propagandistic capitalism. The sculpture was designed in reaction to the capitalist exploitation of the American public, by the corporate conglomerates that represent this country’s financial interests. This was essentially an individual statement, however, the community was engaged through a neighborhood vote in support or against the existence of this piece art in the public realm. The perception of unauthorized installation had become less intimidating through the sense of neighborhood ownership (established through various celebratory gatherings and Art Attacks) – re-iterating that personal connection with place and communal ownership of the neighborhood. Troll-o-ween: Troll-o-ween is the hybrid product of the Fremont Troll and the celebration of Halloween. The Troll itself was a communally financed and constructed projected (constructed with city approval and selected by public jury) and has become an icon of Fremont and the starting point for the annual celebration. Troll-o-ween celebrations began by impulse of the 4 Troll artists in 1989, and ran through 1995 without city approval. However, overtime community representatives sought after city approval and gained recognition as a neighborhood with a communal identity, as well as the city’s approval to continue their annual celebrations. Troll-o-ween is the ultimate celebration of community, neighborhood ownership and has been agreed to, and coined as “the ultimate Art Attack” through interview with the former President of the Fremont Arts Council (anonymous), Conclusion: Key Lessons
Sources: Heavy Trash. http://www.heavytrash.blogspot.com/ Accessed 04.28.05. Fremont Interview with: |