INFORMATION + ACKNOWLEDGMENTS + CONFERENCE THEMES . 1 This type of event would not be possible without the support of many individuals INTRODUCTION . 2 - 3 and institutions. I would like to thank the following for all they have done to help PLANNING COMMITTEE . 3 FRIDAY SCHEDULE . 4 make Open Engagement happen. SATURDAY SCHEDULE . 5 SUNDAY SCHEDULE . 6 First and foremost, I need to extend my gratitude to the Open Engagement plan- ART + EDUCATION SUMMIT . 7 ning committee. This core group of people worked closely with me for over a year MUSEUM SUMMIT . 7 FEATURED PRESENTERS . 8 (and some of them for the past two years) to realize this event: Lexa Walsh, Mack ONGOING PROJECTS . 9 McFarland, Ally Drozd, Ariana Jacob, Sandy Sampson, Sara Rabinowitz, Katy CONFERENCE PRESENTERS . 10 - 11 Asher, Garrick Imatani, Stefan Ransom, Harrell Fletcher, and Jason Sturgill. Their EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING TO GAIN . 12 - 13 dedication, patience, and hard work is what drives this conference. CONFERENCE PRESENTERS (CONT’D) . 13 - 17 INTERVIEW: BRUCE HIGH QUALITY FOUNDATION . 17 - 18 INTERVIEW: BUREAU FOR OPEN CULTURE . .. 19 A special thanks is due to planning committee member Crystal Baxley who has INTERVIEW: JULIE AULT . 20 worked with me tirelessly for the past two years on Open Engagement, and whose INTERVIEW: FRITZ HAEG . 21 passion and dedication help make this all possible. INTERVIEW: PABLO HELGUERA . 22 SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE + VENUES . Back Cover Please see Open Engagement map insert for additional information on public transportation, bicycle rentals and food. Many thanks to Portland State University, without the generous support of this institution we would not have been able to make this happen. I also want to thank the individuals within PSU who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in the Art Department for Open Engagement. Thank you to Xavier Oberlander, Karen Hensley, Patrick Rock, Ellen Wack, Lis Charman, and our Department Chair Bill PEOPLES + PUBLICS LePore for all of their hard work and support. Democracy, Group Work, Participation, Audience, Folk, Activism SOCIAL ECONOMIES I owe a great deal of thanks to Nicole Lavelle, the design force behind Open En- Experience Economy, Education, Social marketing, Networking, Technology gagement: Art and Social Practice. Her work on this project has been far reaching and has created a vision that pays tribute to all individuals involved in this effort IN BETWEEN SPACES as well as to the spirit of this event. Transdisciplinarity, Field Work, Urban/Rural, Defining and Naming TRACKING + TRACING My sincere thanks and appreciation goes out to all the Open Engagement volun- Histories, Documentary and Documentation teers and interns. SENTIMENT + STRATEGIES Feelings, Advice, Slowness, Generosity, Friendship The spirit of Open Engagement is made possible throughout the neighborhoods of Portland thanks to all the generous hosts who are housing our out of town pre- senters. Thank you all for your hospitality and personal support. Thank you to the local businesses and cultural institutions that have been so 2011 PLANNING COMMITTEE MEMBERS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCER supportive of Open Engagement: The Ace Hotel, The Portland Art Museum, Pa- Jen Delos Reyes Sandy Sampson Michelle Swinehart cific Northwest College of Art, Trimet, PSU Bike Hub, Sellwood Cycle Repair, Crystal Baxley Sara Rabinowitz Hollywood Cycling, Portland Bicycle Tours & Rentals, Kerr Bikes, Pedal Bike Harrell Fletcher Katy Asher EDITOR Tours Rentals, Waterfront Bicycle Rentals, The Portland Soup Company, Fressen Lexa Walsh Garrick Imatani Ben Storey Mack McFarland Stefan Ransom Artisan Bakery, Basta Italian Restaurant and Bar, The Candlelight Lounge, and Ally Drozd Jason Sturgill GRAPHIC DESIGN Pinball Publishing. Ariana Jacob Nicole Lavelle My deepest gratitude to all of the Open Engagement presenters for allowing your work to enter this conversation. Thank you, Jen Delos Reyes Founder and Director, Open Engagement The Portland Soup Company on the corner of Sw 4th & College tools as an integral part of their practice as art- cially engaged artworks are produced? ists and educators? SR What are methods of documentation, espe- Open Engagement is a free annual conference on socially engaged art. Directed by Jen De- CB What is the connection between art and so- cially in ephemeral projects that may produce a los Reyes and planned in conjunction with the PSU Art and Social Practice students and a cial practice artists and ideas about education? new experience in their representation? It seems that a large number of socially-engaged dedicated planning committee. artists are interested in education, specifically JDR Looking back through art history many of types of education that operate different than the moments in art that are in the trajectory of Each year the conference themes are directly related to the current research and inquiry of that found in our school system. Why this focus? socially engaged art practices have had a politi- the students in the Art and Social Practice program at Portland State University as well as What is it doing, and who is it really for? cal moment or activist motivation. What is our the interests of the planning committee. Students, faculty and committee members work to- current moment(s)? gether to select the featured presenters, who then also become faculty in the Art and Social Practice MFA program. The In Between Spaces stream during OE will focus on ideas of Transdisciplinar- The Sentiment + Strategies stream during What follows here is a series of questions that the planning committee are asking about the ity, Field Work, Urban/Rural, Defining and OE will focus on ideas of: Feelings, Advice, five conference themes as well as a discussion on the two summits that will take place at Naming. What questions are you currently Slowness, Generosity, Friendship. What Open Engagement on art and education and art and social practice in the museum. We hope asking around these ideas? questions are you currently asking around that these questions and discussions will assist in sharing our thoughts around the confer- these ideas in art? JDR How are others defining the term Art and ence we have organized. We look forward to having all of your voices join this conversation. Social Practice? AJ I am interested in how we give presence to emotional experiences, including the warmer GI I’m wondering what role pedagogy plays in side of emotions, in ways that resist being read seeking/needing definition and terminology? I’m as clichéd and that allow for open ended mean- The Peoples + Publics stream during OE will ject myself to other forms of crowd sourcing, so also genuinely curious if there is anything that ing and unpredictable readings. focus on ideas of Democracy, Group Work, why make an exception for art? can be considered as not being ‘in between’ any- Participation, Audience, Folk, Activism. What more? AD It seems that emotional information is not questions are you currently asking around GARRICK IMATANI I also wonder how a creative welcome or valid in intellectual and academic these ideas? action might function and open up the dialog JGS Why do we need to define things as Art? realms. Is this because feelings are qualitative of democracy if it abandoned an art-educated and it is difficult to communicate them quan- CRYSTAL BAXLEY How do you operate in a democ- spectatorship and critical feedback loop? My SR How are makers establishing models for titatively? racy where all of the voices feel like they are heard other question is: how does our historical under- transdiscplinary groups to come together? How and still make progress to move forward into ac- standing of agency affect our perception of the might the research and making that happens JDR Why place value on time spent as a way of tion? How do you sustain this process over a long disconnect between studio practice and political here extend beyond the art world? measuring the success of socially engaged art? period of time? praxis? KATY ASHER How can artists work within neigh- KA How long does it take to know a place or the ALLY DROZD So for me the questions become borhood associations to gain greater interest in people in that place? How long does it take to about how the group decision making process contemporary art? What art and social practice make meaningful relationships? is determined in the first place (by the group or The Social Economies stream during OE strategies could help the neighborhood associa- lead by one person?) and what does that process will focus on ideas of: Experience Economy, tions increase community participation in the JDR How does friendship play into the analysis look like? That process then has to be used to Education, Social Marketing, Networking, creation of neighborhood culture? of an artwork? lay out the road map for how the democracy will Technology. What questions are you cur- proceed. If the group is small then it is easier for rently asking around these ideas? SR As cities like Detroit and Cleveland are be- JDR Is audience participation an act of generosity? everyone’s voice to be heard and incorporated ing re-imagined from the once urban to the ru- into decision making. JDR What is the role of social art in museum ral, how are populations, real estate, and jobs SR How can art be used to create friendship and audience development? changing? Does art provide the platform for this why might this be important in our cultural cli- CB What is the critical breaking point between in- re-imaginging? mate? teraction and participation?