I’m heading to Pittsburgh this weekend for the Open Engagement conference and I expect I’ll have a great time. This prediction is based on my experience last year at the conference in Queens, which was amazing; in particular, I’m a fan of the five-to-ten minute discussion sections, where individual artists discuss projects they’ve been working on. There’s simplyno better way to get caught up on who’s doing what in the world of social-practice art and activism.
Below, I’ve included a couple of events I’m looking forward to (at least a few of which come from writer Brent Burket.) If you’re headed there too, I want to see you.
- Conflict Kitchen: There’s just one rule to the Conflict Kitchen restaurant/activist center. The type of food served must come from a country where the U.S. is in conflict. Currently, the restaurant is serving Palestinian food. If I can get in tonight, there’s a $20 dinner and discussion with the project’s director. Help?
- Rick Lowe: Rick Lowe is a super-human. In 1993, he started the Project Row Houses, a series of homes turned into art spaces in Houston, Texas (my hometown). He started this project in 1993, and it’s still up today. Then, in 2013, President Obama appointed him to the National Council on the Arts. Just last fall, Lowe won a MacArthur Foundation Genius grant. So, let’s just say I’m in awe.
- The Mattress Factory: I’m looking forward to seeing the installation by Greer Lankton (that comes highly recommended by Brent Burket). An artist who doesn’t shy away from self-confessional topics related to anorexia, sex change operations, or anything else Participant Inc show, of mutated dolls, last year universally lauded by New York press. (Paddy loved that show, too.)
I’ll be filing a couple of pieces this weekend, so stay tuned for that, as well as a full rundown when I get back.
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