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Hace unas semanas participé en un evento académico.
Fue un seminario poco usual en su estructura que tenía la intención de abrir un diálogo entre sociólogos y artistas con un tema en común: conversar acerca de nuestras investigaciones académicas, y/o prácticas artísticas en las calles de Monterrey, entendido esto como espacios de apropiación y manifestación de los sujetos – habitantes de la ciudad.
El diálogo incluyó aproximadamente a 15 expositores distribuídos en 8 fines de semana, así que cada fin de semana hubo un ejercicio doble: el diálogo entre las disciplinas (arte y ciencias sociales) y las discusiones con los participantes inscritos en el evento.
Este ejercicio nos permitió explorar y observar críticamente los diferentes procesos, algunos divergentes y otros convergentes, que utilizamos a la hora de producir conocimiento (arte y ciencias sociales). Durante los encuentros se bosquejaron asuntos acerca de las metodologías, las formas de llevar a cabo descripciones, los tipos de objetos y algunas conclusiones sin llegar a una confrontación o una discusión radical.
Desde un punto de vista personal, pienso que esto es benefico para el mundo del arte, porque la condición contemporánea es hoy multidisciplinaria, y es un error del mundo del arte permanecer encerrado en una burbuja que solo atiende a sus propias necesidades. Eso le resta sentido a su vocación social y lo aleja de la comprensión y el interés de la mayoría de los individuos. Desde estos encuentros multidisciplinarios, o mejor dicho, extra-disciplinarios como dice Brian Holmes, es interesante observar que hay grupos de artistas que buscan reactivar sus funciones culturales, políticas y económicas y estéticas, desde plataformas que se alejan de la burbuja. De esto hablé un poco en mi participación.
Hubo otra idea que me atrajo, planteada por un grupo de asistentes al evento, quienes proponían un ejercicio a partir del concepto “la deriva” tal y como lo propone Walter Benjamin (flaneur) en los textos sobre París. Es decir, como una actividad de exploración a partir de caminar por la ciudad sin rumbo fijo, o más bien, con el rumbo de la mirada, observando con curiosidad lo que siempre ha estado frente a nosotros, pero que no vemos por su familiaridad o su obviedad.
Esta forma de vagar por la ciudad es similar al estado hiatus. Se camina sin rumbo aparentemente, pero en realidad se producen reconocimientos del sí mismo y del entorno que mantienen el espíritu del sujeto a la expectativa, abierto al devenir, a la sorpresa, Es un estado del cuerpo y la mente que suspende los presupuestos (hasta donde es posible), y articula relaciones con lo que normalmente permanece atenuado. Es un estado de subjetividad y extrañamiento.
El asunto de la deriva no es negativo, sino productivo, al igual que el hiatus. Ambos son especies de reflexiones que solamente es posible llevarlas a cabo desde el lugar de las circunstancias que vive el sujeto, en la presencia y conciencia del sí mismo en un lugar determinado.
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A few weeks ago I took part in an academic event.
It was an unusual structure seminar that intended to open a dialogue between sociologists and artists with a common theme: to talk about our academic research, and / or artistic practices in the streets of Monterrey, this understood as spaces of appropriation and demonstration of subjects – city inhabitants.
The dialogue included approximately 15 people in 8 weekends, so every weekend there was a double exercise: a dialogue between arts and social sciences, and the discussions with the participants registered for the event.
This exercise allowed us to explore and critically observe the different processes, some divergent and other convergent, that we use when we develop knowledge in arts and social sciences. During the meetings one artist and one academic resercher talked about methodologies, ways of conducting descriptions, types of objects and at the end, some conclusions were made without reaching a confrontation or a radical discussion.
From a personal standpoint, I think that this kind of meetings are beneficial for the world of art, because the contemporary condition today is multidisciplinary, and it is wrong in the art world to remain locked in a bubble that only serves to its own needs. This situation (the bubble) goes against the art’s social vocation and keeps most of the people away from art. Those multidisciplinary works, or rather said, extra-disciplinary works as Brian Holmes explains, can be seen in certain groups of artists who are looking to revive their cultural, political, economic and aesthetic functions, and also in platforms that move away from the bubble. I talked about this in my participation.
There was another idea that appealed to me, developed by a group of attendees, who proposed an exercise based on the concept “drift” that Walter Benjamin explained (flaneur) in his texts on Paris. It’s an urban exploration activity in which one is expected to walk around town aimlessly, or rather, with the direction of one’s gaze, watching with curiosity the things and people that has always been in front of us, although we normally ignored them because of his familiarity or his obviousness.
This form of roaming around the city is similar to the hiatus state. We wander, apparently, but in reality many acknowledgments are made, of oneself and of the environment, that maintain the spirit of the subject in expectation, open to surprises. It’s a state of body and mind where we suspend presuppositions (as far as that possible can be), and articulate relations with what normally is dimmed. It is a state of subjectivity and estrangement.
The drift is not negative, but productive, like the hiatus. Both are meditations that only can be carried out from within the subjetc circumstances, in the presence and awareness of oneself living in a particular place.
Mary Kroetsch wrote on Jan 1:
Back in November I attended a weekend symposium in Windsor Ontario entitled "Neighborhood Spaces". It was kind of the wrap up report of a two year project sponsored by the City of Windsor's Arts and Culture organizations where artists were engaged in spending time in a community space that desperately needed some form of revitalization and encourage its use through creative acts.
It was an interesting 3 days with the artists presenting their projects. But my one observation was that all the projects were temporary installations and/or activities and that once the project was completed the art disappeared. There was no real long term goals met in my opinion, for the revitalization objective.
One debate resonated with me the most between the chair of 1 Neighborhood Association that had been sponsoring a beautiful mural project on the commercial buildings and warehouses mostly abandoned by the Auto Industry for a number of years. His point was that the artists and the city need to work with the neighborhood members to create art that makes a positive and long lasting change to
the area and engages a sense of pride to the people who live and work there to want to maintain the work on a more permanent basis. He believed as I do that creativity is a catalyst for change. But one artist in this debate made herself painfully clear. "I make art."
Matt wrote on Dec 12:
Very thought provoking. I forget who said it but there was a quote: "you have to work within the culture to really be a part of it." which I tend to endorse as well.