Interaction

I have a friend who a few years ago was a student at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).  She asked me to come to her presentation of a community art project she had just finished.  I was delighted to come and see what she was going to present.  When she began her presentation, she displayed a clear jar of chewed bubble gum.  I must say I was intrigued.  She went on to share about how she had set up a "venting booth" in Baltimore City, where people had the opportunity to come to her booth and vent to her about their thoughts of what was going on in their neighborhood.  They received their gum and vented as they chewed, and when they were done venting, they would spit out the gum in the jar.  She then kept a record of all the venting she had heard during the day.

Afterwards, we went to lunch, and I asked her a question that has permanently changed my perspective on art.  I asked her, "So what was the art?  Was it the jar of chewed gum or the conversations you had with people?"  Her answer was that it was the interaction between her and her community--it was the conversation.  This was puzzling for me.  I had always thought of art as something that had some permanence to it--you can hang it on a wall, put it in a CD player, watch on TV, etc.  Yet of course, this is not true at all.  Concert performances are gone as soon as they are done--they exist only in the memories of those who were there.  Photographs fade and often take on different artistic qualities as they do.  Nothing really is permanent.

But what intrigued me is that art is interaction.  It is in a real sense a conversation between the artist and a community.  I don't mean that art requires that we call up artists and let them know what we think of their work.  What I mean is that artists are always interacting with a community as they produce a work of art, whether it be a painting or a conversation.  Recipients are also interacting with their community as they engage in art.  Beauty exists in the substance of a work of art, but beauty also exists in the interaction we have with it, and with each other as well.

And this is exactly what I'm hoping for in this blog.  We want to interact with art and with perspectives on art and culture.  However, I also hope that the conversations and interactions that take place here will be forms of artistic expression as well.