HAPPY NEW YEAR.
On October the 6th 2010, in collaboration with the Department of Creative and Festival Arts. The One Day Symposium was held at the School of Education Auditorium. It was well attended and well received.
 |
| Cross Section of Crowd at the Symposium. |
 |
| Cover of the Abstract Booklet. |
The UWI Sculptural Project.
Repositioning Aesthetics, Artists and the Institution.
The UWI Sculptural Project 2004-2010 began as a proposal for the installation of seven sculptures on the grounds of the UWI St. Augustine campus by some of our progressive contemporary artists. So far one has been installed. This project was not just a case of ‘art for art sake;’ it was an exploration of the relational and performative angst that exist between the artist and local institutions and to some extent the wider society. This project also aimed to bring the role of art and aesthetics into the discourse on development, alongside other deliberations taking place in relation to architecture and urban planning but without the input of the artists.
Even though art has contributed to the shaping of modernity in many contexts this has been much less the case in Trinidad and Tobago. The introduction of new terminologies and practices such as social sculpturing, site specific architecture and artists and architectural collaboratives have created major sensations internationally. There are a number of initiatives worldwide of artist involvement in development projects. These include The Artists’ Collaborative Movement in Toronto, the Phoenix Solid Waste Management Facility 1993, designed and built by two designers Michael Singer and Linnea Glatt and the Row Houses Project of the 1990’s, by artist Rick Lowe.[1]
Locally, CrossOver Designs, Peter Minshall’s Mas Camp, Studio 66, CCA7 and Alice Yard are other examples of collaborative artists’ projects in Trinidad and Tobago. Yet the recognition of the potential of aesthetics as a redeeming factor for the development of our civility and our civilisation has fallen on deaf ears. This is due in part to the ignorance and arrogance of technocrats and bureaucrats that resulted in the infamous NAPA fiasco of 2010, between artists and state.
This symposium, a component of the UWI Sculptural Project is taking place in the post NAPA era. It explores the situation where even in our creative diligence, we as artists have not been able to capture the imagination of the country, at least not since the early pre and post independence era. Artists have a responsibility to put in place an aesthetic philosophical framework through an honest exploration of our craft. Setting down mile posts for other discourses to develop. This arrogant dismissive attitude we have to our art performance, within academia, galleries, artists’ groups and established cultural institutions must cease. Through this serious intellectual investigation and a physical articulation of these findings we hope to regain our political[2] imagination and philosophical direction.
As we sit to break bread, there is a possibility that this will be the beginning of an engaged aesthetic movement that can redefine the modern Trinbagonian artists. This was what the UWI Sculptural Project is really about.
Dean Arlen
Project Convenor.
July 6, 2010
[1] See: Tom Finkelpearl, Dialogues in Public Art, First MIT Press, Massachusetts, 2001.
[2] Political – an engagement with agenda-setting, social change and engagement with the society.
 |
| Another Cross Section. |
 |
| I was Video Tapping the Panels. I should have taken more photos. |
 |
| The Artists Panel: Presenters were GA Gardner Ph.D., Shastri Maharaj, Peter Doig. Moderator Gabriel Hezekiah. |
 |
| Artists Panel. |
 |
| More Artists- Why did I take photos of only the artists panel? |
 |
| Ah the last one. |
The symposium brought a cross section of artists to the table, painters, designers and architects. There should have been a presentation by the urban planners, that was unfortunate. Dr, Gerard Hutchinson missed his presentation, but I'm sure his presentation will be in the publication that the Department of Creative and Festival Arts is working on and will launch sometime this year.
The Presenters were
Artists.
Shastri Maharaj.
GA Gardner Ph.D.
Peter Doig.
Designers.
Richard Rawlins.
Adele Todd.
Robert Young.
Lesley Ann-Noel.
Architects.
Mark Raymond.
Jenifer Smith.
Geoffrey Maclean.
Vernelle Noel.
Art, Design and Architecture and the Wider Community.
Sean Leonard- Architect.
Prof. Gerard Hutchinson- psychiatrist.
Gary Turton- Architect.
Keith Cadet- Designer.
The Symposium brought out and up interesting issues that will need to be expanded on in the next dialogue that happens. Issues- Such as the nurturing and the supporting of artists to the conceptual believe that our modernity has reached it's point, to the historical tracings of our public aesthetics.
We looked at the role the state can play in development and even in stagnating an environment of fear and bureaucracy. There was even the discourse on architecture as a product of local cultural vernacular.
LOOKING BACK- We should have had more time to debate the issues brought up in both the Q&A and the Plenary section of the symposium. Which we missed due to a scheduling error.
Moderators- should be effectively used. They have the opportunity to bring out of the presentations and the presenters intentions, clarity, analysis etc., especially when presenters aren't as effective as they should be.
This One Day Symposium will only work if there is a constant in the dialogue. It should be carried to the other level, the work of artist and designers should be able to be seen in real time and ably critically analyzed.
Therefore it is imperative that there is a certain amount of growth and ambition to the next symposium.
Which will be REDESIGNING THE MILE POST PROJECT.....aka "SHOWINGOFF"
and that is another story.
No comments:
Post a Comment