Global ArtLab '09: At The Start!

Sep 24, 2009

At The Start!

The process began with an introduction to public art. A two-hour presentation illustrated many aspects of public artworks including how artists communicated to a specific audience through their project. The presentation was tailored to stimulate ideas for the upcoming water inspired projects.

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ABOUT CEC ARTSLINK

Our Mission

CEC ARTSLINK is an international arts organization. Our programs encourage and support exchange of artists and cultural managers between the United States and Eastern and Central Europe, Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus. We believe that the arts are a society’s most deliberate and complex means of communication, and that artists and arts administrators can help nations overcome long histories of reciprocal distrust, insularity and conflict.

With solid expertise and lasting partnerships in 30 countries, CEC ArtsLink promotes communication and understanding through collaborative, innovative projects for mutual benefit. CEC was founded in 1962 to enable citizens of the United States and the Soviet Union to accomplish what their governments could not – opening doors, sharing ideas and building mutual trust. In today’s transformed and complex world, citizen diplomacy is still urgently needed.

Click here for a short history of our organization

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS

Amanda Eicher, a poet and artist, has lived and worked in San Francisco for the past four years, with intermittent stints in New York and Philadelphia. She primarily makes works based on lines, time and geometry, which often take the form of sculptures and drawings. For the past eight years, she has been developing social practice art projects in El Salvador together with students from San Francisco State University. As part of the Global Art Lab, Eicher will be working with children of Bishkek at B'Art: Bishkek Art Center to make a series of short animations with video, focusing on the ideas of "here" and "there." Using everyday objects, chalk drawings and other simple props as well as storytelling and performing, they will elaborate stories about Here (Bishkek and B'Art) and There (other towns along the silk road, neighboring countries, far-away countries, outer space, etc.) The children will learn how to frame shots and use a video camera to record stories, and the final presentation will take the form of a journey - from here to there. Eicher will be hosted by Shaarbek Amankulov, Director of B’Art: Bishkek Art Center (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan).

Daniel Gallegos started practicing art as graffiti writer and was actively involved in the San Francisco Bay Area graffiti art movement during the 1980's-1990's. He works with a variety of media including painting, drawing, watercolor, spray paint, installation and performance. One of the foundational principles of Gallegos' creative work is collaboration. In 2007, along with the international collective Artpologist, Gallegos explored the daily lives of Almaty visual artists. He has also collaborated with local youth in Almaty and Shymkent in a project sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan. As part of a Global Art Lab team, Gallegos will work with Jerome Waag and Zhanara Nauruzbaeva to create a project in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, that will explore one of the most mundane and yet central aspects of everyday life: food. Focusing on the bazaar, the main thoroughfare of social interaction and economic activity in Osh, they are interested in using the vernacular of food to initiate cross-cultural exchanges. They will set up a food stand where the performance of cooking and serving food will be a way to engage directly with Central Asians of different classes, genders, ethnicities and ages. Informed by social anthropology, this immersive practice seeks to share and collect stories that reach beyond food to social, political, economical and environmental issues. Gallegos, Waag and Nauruzbaeva will be hosted by Tamara Kadyrbaeva, art historian and regional advisor to the Kyrgyz Minister of Culture (Osh, Kyrgyzstan).

Kendal Henry is an artist and curator who lives in NYC and specializes in public art. He’s worked on a variety of public art projects and programs in the US, Europe, Russia, Asia and Australia. Kendal has served as a Manager of Arts Programs at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Arts for Transit for eleven years. During that time, he has overseen the fabrication and installation of their permanent art projects, served as a member of the MTA’s in-house design team, produced temporary exhibitions at Grand Central Terminal, and produced the MTA’s award-winning poster program. Previous to his experience at the MTA, he served as a project manager at the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs’ Percent for Art Program. While in Dushanbe, Kendal will create projects with local artists that utilizes art as a tool for education, communication and empowerment while maintaining the merits of a work of art. Community will be an integral part of the creation process. Kendal will be hosted by Farukh Kuziev, Acting Director, Bactria Cultural Center.

Marisa Jahn is an artist, writer and curator whose work explores, constructs and intervenes in natural and social systems. Ranging in practice from deeply personal to highly participatory, her work often relies on the collaborative authorship and distributive intelligence of surrounding people and situations. As an art educator working with mostly underrepresented youth, Jahn has partnered and worked with organizations such as BreakArts (US/Honduras), Moks (Estonia), Zero One (San Jose), NEXMAP (SF), Meridian Gallery Teen Internship Program (SF), and was recognized by UNESCO in 2006 as a leading art educator. As a participant in Global Art Lab's Central Asia program, Jahn's artistic approach will make several inquiries: first, responding to her stay in Tajikistan, a country defined by its layers of history and most recently by its post-Soviet transition, Jahn will re-present everyday habits, stories and objects that trace the legacy of former regimes of thought; and, second, responding to her particular location in Khojand, a major staging point located on the former Silk Road, Jahn will explore the notion of this infamous road that threads together place and time. Jahn will be hosted by Naim Hakimov, Director of Scientific Research at Institute of Art Knowledge, Sogdiana Cultural Center (Khojand, Tajikistan).

Jerome Waag is a performance artist living in San Francisco who also works as a chef at Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley CA. He is currently collaborating with New Langton’s Arts on OPEN restaurant. OPEN restaurant is an experimental restaurant run by a collaborative of restaurant professionals as a way to explore the issues associated with the production, distribution and consumption of food. Set in an art context, it invites the creative participation of people interested in food and its politics to a discussion about the way we feed ourselves and cultivate our communities. Waag will be collaborating with Daniel Gallegos and Zhanara Nauruzbaeva and will be hosted by Tamara Kadyrbaeva.

Sep 24, 2009

At The Start!

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