engage2012-ABOUT THE PROJECT

                engage 2012 artist led residential city project

          project description and details

Thematic background

During engage2012, a group of artists will travel from their different cities of residence, to Bucharest, Romania where none of them have ever been before. They will stay in Bucharest for two weeks. The artists will go out on their own into the city, where they explore, engage and interact, drawing from their own artistic practice and perspective. In this way they are made aware of their surroundings; a city in which they are strangers, newcomers. Bucharest Air, an artist run organization, will host the project and in return the project participants will share their research in a public presentation at the end of their stay.

Each day the group will meet together and share their thoughts and experiences, developing both their dialogue with the group and with the city of Bucharest.

The artists leave their homes, where reactions and interactions are often familiar and defined. They come together in a foreign city, where they themselves are the others, simultaneously being in the city, as well as apart from it due to their position as foreigners. The artists who are participating in engage2012 have during the course of their own practices, explored issues such as inside(r)/ outside(r), separate/ integrated, subject/ object. They have an interest in continuing these explorations, bringing their practices “onto” a city in an open and communicative process. They intend to establish a dialogue with each other, with the city, and with their host.

The process questions where and how “art” takes place. Here the dialogue is central, the making and unmaking of ideas and collective and individual strife, pushing beyond the boundaries set out for us.

How

As the project is intended to involve both individual research and collective dialogue all the participants will be expected to partake in daily meetings/ conversations. When, and under what circumstances these will take place will be planned within the group. It could, for example, be over dinner or in a public space. Apart from these meetings the participants are expected to engage with the city, explore it through the interface of their own art practice. Whatever impressions, questions or conflicts that appear relevant during these daily engagements with the city will constitute the topics of our conversations. Each participant will be encouraged to support their thoughts with “material” they have collected throughout the day; stories, drawings, anecdotes, found ephemera, recordings etc. During the first part of the project these meetings are intended to be closed so as to socially establish the group. As a form of presentation at the end of the project they will then be held open to the public for 1-3 days. During these final meetings participants can invite the public and local artists to join in the conversation. It could be moderated as a large “around-the table” or a speed-dating session. This is meant as the conclusion of the residential aspect of the project. The three organizing artists have also been invited by Bucharest Air director Tudor Bratu to present a lecture/ workshop to local art students about their individual practices and their experience of working together on engage2012.

Engage2012 is currently without funding, proposals for funding are being submitted locally by each artist, if you can offer funding or support for the project please contact us directly. We anticipate that engage will develop further, considering that we have had such positive responses from several art organizations across Europe, we foresee an ongoing dialogue and collaboration internationally, developing rich and diverse networks of exchange.

Documentation/ Publication

Throughout the process the meetings will be documented via audio recordings (ca 1-3 h daily). The transcriptions of these conversations, as well as any additional material produced in/ around/ and relevant to the project by the participants will be edited together in a publication. This publication is intended to exist online as a blog and newsletter from which parts could be sent to existing art-magazines. If possible we also wish to produce a small paper-edition that can be presented in an exhibition. It is however important to point out that the conclusion of the project takes place in the open conversations during the final stage of our stay.

We have begun and maintained this blog thus far and this could become a public document of the overall process from early planning stages to the point of visiting and residing in the new city, sharing the knowledge gained over the course of this artist-organized project.

Who is Behind Engage 2012?

This project is born from the collective concerns and curiosities of three artists; Josefin Rasmuson (Sweden) Emma Haugh (Ireland) and Tess Walkowski (US/ Resident in the Netherlands). Josefin Rasmuson and Tess Walkowski met during their studies in Amsterdam. During this period they organized several projects together. Josefin Rasmuson met Emma Haugh during Aerial Blue (organized by the Good Hatchery, Ireland) summer 2011 where they both participated in a "survival camp for contemporary artists". These relations are the basis for engage2012. The three artists meet regularly online for collaborative writing sessions and group discussion about the project and it’s ongoing development.