Anchored in Place Locational Identity + New Genre Public Art

ANCHORED IN PLACE LOCATIONAL IDENTITY + NEW GENRE PUBLIC ART ANCHORED IN PLACE 1 2 ANCHORED IN PLACE ANCHORED IN PLACELOCATIONAL IDENTITY + NEW GENRE PUBLIC ART A THESIS PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE IN MASTER OF ARTS (MA) IN ART + DESIGN EDUCATION IN THE DEPARTMENT TEACHING + LEARNING IN ART + DESIGN OF THE RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN BY STEPHANIE BENENSON RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN MAY 2017 APPROVED BY DR. PAUL SPROLL DEPARTMENT OF TEACHING + LEARNING IN ART + DESIGN APPROVED BY PROFESSOR NANCY FRIESE DEPARTMENT OF TEACHING + LEARNING IN ART + DESIGN ANCHORED IN PLACE 3 4 ANCHORED IN PLACE ©STEPHANIE BENENSON MAY 2017 ANCHORED IN PLACE 5 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE A COMPONENTS OF SUCCESSFUL PLACE- MAKING ACCORDING TO BECK & TAFT (SCHUPBACH &BALL, 2016)............................... FIGURE B CHARTING THE ACTIVITIES OF CITED SOCIAL PROJECTS............................................... FIGURE C GRAPHING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TERMS IN PRACTICE....................................... APPENDIX A THEORY IN PRACTICE, EXCERPTS FROM GRADUATE STUDIES GRANT PROPOSAL........... IMAGES: UNDER FAIR USE, ALL IMAGES ARE RE- PRODUCED FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY 6 ANCHORED IN PLACE TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE.............................................................................................................3 COPYRIGHT...............................................................................................................5 LIST OF FIGURES....................................................................................................6 LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................................7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..........................................................................................9 ABSTRACT................................................................................................................11 CHAPTER ONE: TO BE ANCHORED IN PLACE..................................................13 METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................17 STRUCTURE AND CONTENT................................................................18 CHAPTER TWO: LOCATIONAL IDENTITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY.................19 CHAPTER THREE: ENDURING SOCIAL PROJECTS SPECIFIC TO PLACE.....29 THE WASSAIC PROJECT.....................................................................30 THE PROJECT ROW HOUSES..............................................................31 THE REBUILD FOUNDATION..............................................................34 CHAPTER FOUR: COMMONALITY + MUTABILITY: SHORT-TERM SOCIAL PROJECTS SPECIFIC TO PLACE.........................................................................49 THE SHIPYARD PROJECT.....................................................................51 SUZANNE LACY, ARTIVIST..................................................................61 PEDRO ALONZO, CURATOR...............................................................55 LIZA LOU, ARTIST................................................................................56 VIK MUNIZ, ARTIVIST..........................................................................65 MUNDANO, ARTIVIST...........................................................................67 CHAPTER FIVE: ARTIVISM: MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF ARTIST-LED AC- TIVISM.....................................................................................................................71 CHAPTER SIX: AN ARTIST COLONY REVISITED..............................................77 CURATE ACCESS, AN APPENDIX........................................................................79 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................86 ANCHORED IN PLACE 7 JOHN TERELAK “WORKING HARBOR,” 2012 A WRITING SAMPLE FOUND IN THE STUDIO OF MY FATHER, JOHN TERELAK. WRITING ABOUT PLACE IS OFTEN PART OF HIS CREATIVE PROCESS. 8 ANCHORED IN PLACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Occasionally in life, we cross paths with a person and recognize immediately a rare personification of life becoming art. The bril- liant attributes of this phenomenon, including creativity, empa- thy, scholarship, and generosity, among others, compel one to con- tinuously learn, discover, and celebrate. This thesis is about life becoming art, and relied heavily on the inspiration and encour- agement set forth by the lives & work of Professor Nancy Friese, Sonia Gechtoff, Bowie & Jeff Barnett-Zunino, Clement Benenson, Pedro Alonzo, Kevin Zucker, Jim Benenson, Jr., Dr. Paul Sproll, Maura Reilly, Bridgitt Evans, Barbara Erickson, and Suzanne Lacy. Furthermore, it becomes abundantly clear that a family tradition of painting and creativity has imprinted deeply on my pro- fessional future. I am forever indebted to my parents and grand- parent, John & Pat Terelak and Martin Ahearn in this regard. I also thank my aunt, Peggy Chick, for running a gallery ded- icated to the promotion of the painting tradition in my family. I dedicate this work to my children, Augustine & Gwyn- eth Benenson, and I am hopeful that their parents’ influence will help them form lives inspired by creativity and service. Also many thanks to Brent Leland at Leland Creative and Chris- tine Woodman for graphic design expertise, Anne Holt for art pho- tography, and Frances Musco Shipps for editorial suggestions. ANCHORED IN PLACE 9 STEPHANIE BENENSON “POSTCARD PLACES,” 2017 STEPHANIE BENENSON “LEARNING TO COPE,” 2016 10 ANCHORED IN PLACE ABSTRACT Since its inception in the 1970s when Joseph Beuys proclaimed, “Jeder Mensch is ein Kunstler” or “Everyone is an Artist”, public art that focuses on social engagement (otherwise known as new genre public art) has been tested in a variety of formats and places. Today, the breadth of work in this category is vast and the STEPHANIE BENENSON “POSTCARD PLACES,” 2017 resulting aesthetics vary based on the artist’s intentions and goals. While measuring the success of these projects remains a challenge, an examination of recent history provides us with insights that can become a tool kit for artists commencing on social projects. Once examined, specific factors increase the likelihood of creating meaningful and authentic public experiences, such as mutability (giving a project the flexibility to grow and evolve) and commonality (establishing partnerships across sectors creates scaffolding of support). Moreover, new genre public art benefits greatly when the artist creates or maintains a deep understanding of the place in which the work is situated: including its people, the landscape and surrounding structures, and its history. When place imprints on the artist, a locational identity forms, and this identity guides the artist’s decision-making and social engagement. It also makes an indelible connection within the artist and encourages an enduring relationship between art and place. STEPHANIE BENENSON “LEARNING TO COPE,” 2016 ANCHORED IN PLACE 11 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION STEPHANIE BENENSON “THE WEIGHT,” 2017 12 ANCHORED IN PLACE CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO BE ANCHORED IN PLACE “THE ART OBJECT OF TODAY IS BEST UNDER- STOOD NOT AS WONDROUS, BUT RATHER AS A CATALYST FOR A SET OF STIMULATING RE- LATIONSHIPS THAT MAKE THE ART EXPERI- ENCE.” — BILL ARNING, WHAT WE WANT IS FREE: GENEROSITY AND EXCHANGE IN RECENT ART In One Place After Another: Site Specific Art and Locational Iden- tity , Miwon Kwon (2002) posits the role of the contemporary artist as “a cultural-artistic service provider rather than a producer of aesthetic objects” (p.4). Through an examination of several artists working in this realm, such as artivist Suzanne Lacy and chore- ographer Liz Lerman, some qualities emerged that constitute the successful achievement of service as it relates to contemporary art. Lerman and Lacy, for example, triumphed at reconfiguring rela- tionships between disputing subsets of a community and manipu- lated public perception. By employing their creative intelligence and drawing out nascent creativity and vitality within the community, these artists were able to enact real social change. The label given to this type of artwork, new genre public art, which includes activist art (artivism), social sculpture, social practice art, and occa- sional cases of creative placemaking, implies a shift in public art from “site specificity” (art addressing a geographical/architectural need) to “community specificity” (art that addresses a community need). ANCHORED IN PLACE 13 While the aim of the artist is often pure and philanthropic, Kwon (2002) asserts: “NEW GENRE PUBLIC ART CAN EX- ACERBATE UNEVEN POWER RELA- TIONS, REMARGINALIZE (EVEN COL- ONIZE) ALREADY DISENFRANCHISED GROUPS, DEPOLITICIZE AND REMY- THIFY THE ARTISTIC PROCESS, AND FINALLY FURTHER THE SEPARATION OF ART AND LIFE (DESPITE CLAIMS TO THE CONTRARY).” (KWON 6) AARON SISKIND, “GLOUCESTER HARBOR,” 1944 In exploring public artists’ varied commitment to place in relation to the potential shortcomings of new genre public art, the most successful examples emerge when the artist finds a way to become deeply rooted in place. When an artist experiences this connection with place, she assumes an interminable locational identity associated with the place. In our global, migratory, and multicentered society, forming an identity associated with place is complicated. It becomes a per- sonal construction filled with nostalgia, longing, and not without fictions (Lippard, 1997, p.6). To social practice

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