Spring 2020 - ACE

I thought highly of this article's articulation of their presented ideas. It was very clear and distinctive in how they broke down the elements of engagement in a very precise way. One quote that stands out to me is the last sentence, "We need, in sum, a theory of collab- oration and participation that employs an ethics of engagement, not as an afterthought or means by which to deconstruct such practices, but as a way of re-inscribing an aesthetic as a form of sociopolitical praxis". This sentence captures the  essence  of the whole article, and how to therefore approach the future interactions and artistry on a team effort in regards to community and engagement. 3 questions I may have for this author after reading this piece are: 1. What, if any, ethical category is most important to you and why? 2. How do you see these ethical values shift in the future? 3. How would this have changed art relations in the past if...

This quote gave me a good insight on how I should approach community-engaged arts. I do not necessarily have to side with just one side of the spectrum. Some insights that were brought to the surface by the reading was that you have to be able to respect both sides of the creation and the artistic production. “... and the promotion of a subject who ‘thinks participatively’ in respect of both the ethics of artistic production (experience) and the conditions of its reception (interpretation)” (Page 603). “It would be worth enquiring whether or not it showed significant respect, in the form of consent, for the persons involved and whether or not he respected the decisions of the subjects being filmed. We may also ask who actually benefits from Marten’s film, a question that raises precisely the meta-critical issues that the film is attempting to explore if not exploit.” (Page 601). This quote brought to my attention that art has to respect the creators and the creation. You can’t go ar...

After reading this article by Anthony Downey, he brings up many points of different works of art that seem to have collaborated and taken advantage of people who are currently, or who have lived through something horrific that the artist is trying to bring to the attention of the public. Downey brings up many points on how and when an artist should consider the ethics of the art they are producing. For example, Downey talks about Olaf Breuning's film, Home , where a photograph was taken of children in poor living conditions in Ghana, all holding up twenty dollar bills that were thrown at them from Breuning. Downey suggests that this "calls for an ethics of engagement that would see a form of ethico-political praxis emerging in this work rather than a restatement of the obvious". Another insight brought to light from the text was the question Downey poses, "can we articulate an ethics of engagement that takes into account a formal aesthetic that has more to do with...

After reading Ethics of Engagement by Anthony Downey, the paper brought up many points and questions on when and how an artist should think and prioritize the ethical mission of the piece and the aesthetics. In the paper when talking about, (Artur Zmijewski’s Repetition, 2005 ) when he re-tattoos a holocast survivors tattoo for the reason that, “... social, economic and political conditions exist whereby such events can take place” (Downey 595). The questions brought up with tis pieces shouldn't be, “do we live in a climate that allows this?” but, “Should I take advantage of a flawed world and exploit one’s suffering for one's own political, economic or societal gain?” And that all really falls down onto one's hands and where they draw their own ethical line when engaging with collaborative art work. Another idea of the paper that brought up some thought was when most are critiquing this form of art, it is, “... judged on the basis of the ethical efficacy underwri...

After reading Anthony Downey’s, An Ethics of Engagement , I was challenged to reflect upon a number of crucial concepts necessary for community-engaged art. First, Downey emphasized that there are “degrees of collaboration” (Downey 594). Collaborations can consist of simple, pedestrian acts or be driven by an emotional or physical experience. When engaging with a living, breathing, and feeling community, artists must consider how much they are asking of their collaborators, because oftentimes the subjects that artists ask their collaborators to work with can be traumatic or “have modalities of conflict at their heart” (Downey 595). This leads me into my second insight, about the way in which community-engaged artists recruit their collaborators. Downey discusses the necessity for consent, because in community-engaged art, certain power structures can be created among the artists and participants, which can lead to circumstances where those participating “are frequently cajoled (or, in...

I have been so disappointed with myself and my body to not have been in class the previous 2 weeks so I relate extremely to the bummer is to miss out on class time. I am so sorry for whatever the reasons were and hope all is better now. That being said, I was grateful this provided the extended assignment of watching the videos that were all so uniquely wonderful in their own ways. First, I watched the ted talk on the concept of singular narratives by Chimamanda Ngizu Adichie. Through her talk, I could see how deeply this issue is rooted in our storytelling especially amongst families from one generation to another. It made me think about the times in my life where I have been wrong about another human because I start to see them through my eyes instead of the ones my elders have told me to use. Sometimes, they are wise and correct. And others, they are singular and misguided of full truth.             After that, I buckled up to...

I studied the fourth option, and begun with 'The Danger of A Single Story".  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  speaks about reading books as a child with white characters and then writing her own stories along the lines of the stories she read, even though she didn't relate to them. It reminded me of diversity in casting, especially casting people of color or LGBTQ+ members as side characters, often not getting their own story. This has started to change in the film community however it still needs to keep changing. After finishing her Ted Talk, I continued on to Sarah Jones, "One Woman, Many People". Each character was so different, with different backgrounds and stories but all had similar things to say, pointing out that we are all human, with a set of similar truths, even though we are all so different. Anna Deveare Smith is an absolute legend, and like her, I believe theater and activism are completely tied, and everyone must have a seat at the table. We must all be...