CURATOR STATEMENT Audience as Subject is a two-part exhibition that considers the audience broadly as a living organism of participating viewers of live events. The object of the investigation is the dramatic and narrative potential of audience members — their physical bodies, expressions, attitudes, gestures and actions — this unique social body made up of individuals. The exhibition considers the behaviors of audiences at formal venues such as theaters, outdoor concerts and sports events, as well as other locales in the public sphere where people gather to experience a specific and individuated experience. The exhibition is inspired by art works where artists take into account the shift from a gazing audience to a producing audience, as an example of larger changes in perceptions about participation in civic life. The corporeal audience becomes the artists’ object of desire, and their presence is the energetic drive or conversely, entropic force of group dynamics. States of enthusiasm or attentiveness create opportunities for representing feeling states with unique aesthetics that incorporate various ethical positions. What types of identities are produced by the constitution of differently sized audiences — small, medium, large, extra large? How is individuality negotiated when one is part of an audience? What is revealed in works of art that represent audiences often with little or no access to the object of attention? Where the object of attention is minimized? What kinds of politics are revealed through acknowledging the value of these congregations? —— Would DEF check this out if I was back home! CHECK IT @YBCA SF ya’ll! Especially this event! Active Audiences: On the Representation and Theory of Spectatorship, Activism, and Public Culture Mar 31, 2012 5:00pm Screening Room FREE w/ gallery admission An engaging panel discussion featuring four speakers representing different perspectives on current artistic trends around audiences, spectators, and fans. Academics Henry Jenkins (University of Southern California) and Andrew Weiner (California College of the Arts), with artists Andrea Bowers and Tania Bruguera (via skype), examine issues of spectatorship in contemporary practice in an attempt to understand the individual’s behavior within environments of collective participation. From an artistic, art historical, and scholarly approach to the performative, mass media, and the internet, the speakers will expand on the politics of artistic interpretation and how those relate to an individual’s social, cultural, and political identity. What is the difference between social citizen and participant viewer when redefining notions of the public beyond spectators, fans, and activists?

CURATOR STATEMENT

Audience as Subject is a two-part exhibition that considers the audience broadly as a living organism of participating viewers of live events. The object of the investigation is the dramatic and narrative potential of audience members — their physical bodies, expressions, attitudes, gestures and actions — this unique social body made up of individuals. The exhibition considers the behaviors of audiences at formal venues such as theaters, outdoor concerts and sports events, as well as other locales in the public sphere where people gather to experience a specific and individuated experience. The exhibition is inspired by art works where artists take into account the shift from a gazing audience to a producing audience, as an example of larger changes in perceptions about participation in civic life. The corporeal audience becomes the artists’ object of desire, and their presence is the energetic drive or conversely, entropic force of group dynamics. States of enthusiasm or attentiveness create opportunities for representing feeling states with unique aesthetics that incorporate various ethical positions. What types of identities are produced by the constitution of differently sized audiences — small, medium, large, extra large? How is individuality negotiated when one is part of an audience? What is revealed in works of art that represent audiences often with little or no access to the object of attention? Where the object of attention is minimized? What kinds of politics are revealed through acknowledging the value of these congregations?

——

Would DEF check this out if I was back home!

CHECK IT @YBCA SF ya’ll!

Especially this event!

Active Audiences: On the Representation and Theory of Spectatorship, Activism, and Public Culture
Mar 31, 2012 5:00pm
Screening Room
FREE w/ gallery admission

An engaging panel discussion featuring four speakers representing different perspectives on current artistic trends around audiences, spectators, and fans. Academics Henry Jenkins (University of Southern California) and Andrew Weiner (California College of the Arts), with artists Andrea Bowers and Tania Bruguera (via skype), examine issues of spectatorship in contemporary practice in an attempt to understand the individual’s behavior within environments of collective participation.

From an artistic, art historical, and scholarly approach to the performative, mass media, and the internet, the speakers will expand on the politics of artistic interpretation and how those relate to an individual’s social, cultural, and political identity. What is the difference between social citizen and participant viewer when redefining notions of the public beyond spectators, fans, and activists?