In March 2008 I worked with Nato Thompson and Creative Time from New York City to organize a massive research project to document local socially and politically engaged cultural work going on in five cities throughout the US. We came up with five questions that we hoped would capture the diversity of ideological, methodological, organizational, economic and aesthetic approached that were occuring presently throughout the country. It was our hope to develop a format that would allow future audiences to compare the work happening between these cities. These “Town Hall Talks” took place in Baltimore (@ 2640 community space), Chicago (@ The Experimental Station), Brooklyn (@ The Change You Want To See Gallery), LA (@ Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), and New Orleans (@ The Community Book Center). One hundred artists, curators, educators and activists were interviewed in this project. This essay (below) was recently published in “A Guide to Democracy In America” from Creative Time Books (2008, Ed. Nato Thompson). The version in the book was edited down to be shorter and lost some clarity, so I am including the longer version. The essay is an introduction to over 50 pages of edited transcripts from the Town Hall Talks organized by Nato Thompson and I to accompany his “Democracy in America” exhibition and event series throughout 2008. To read the unedited transcripts from these meetings, you can check them out online (where you can also order a “print-on-demand” bound copy of the transcripts).
Town Hall Talks: Five cities discuss regional models of art and activism
by Daniel Tucker
Impetus
The impetus for a series of Town Hall Talks comes out of a belief and observation that many cities in the United States have produced robust infrastructures for art and activism. These local examples need to be documented and discussed widely to glean information on art and activism models and practices operating in relation to regional concerns. While some theorists of capitalist globalization suggest that homogenization is occurring in global urban locales – examination of these cultural practices reveal many particularities to local contexts as seen in Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans and New York City. Following the explosion of energy in the “Counter-Globalization Movement” of the late 1990s/early 2000s where everyday people across the world were educating themselves about the global production chains effecting everything from manufacturing to food and elite education, there appeared to be a pragmatic turn towards the local.* This turn is demonstrated in the work happening in these cities – practices that directly interrogate and are integrated within the fabric of a place. Their unique characteristics can prevent them from being interpreted in relationship to one another and prevent them from being seen on the popular art radar. In highlighting these forms, we hope to strengthen the much-needed critical art community by sharing models and by encouraging potential networks of critical artistic practice.
As a follow up to the 2005 “Who Cares” initiative sponsored by Creative Time that set out to discuss artists’ reactions to the current political climate through three by-invitation dinners, the Town Hall Talks jump off from New York City into other urban contexts. The four other cities chosen were selected because they demonstrate a range of practices that would be productive in conversation with each other. We hope that each conversation raises complicated questions in regards to what constitutes a effective and engaging political art practice.
Daniel Tucker 