Social Practice EATS

July 2013: Social Practice and the Family Unit, Hosted by Jason Gaspar

Where do families and children currently fit into this practice in terms of participation, time, understanding and scheduling? How can this be different / same in the future?

 How do Social Practice artists with families create and manage their projects when the artist is taking time away from their family community to be with another?

How can families be included in the conversation?  

June 2013: Artist Run Spaces, Hosted by Charles Goldman

I'd like to focus the the next Social Practice EATS around GRIDSPACE, with a discussion into its future potentials. Simultaneously, exploring the relationships (both current and historical) between social practice and artist run spaces. 

GRIDSPACE is a curatorial initiative based in Crown Heights. The purpose of GRIDSPACE is to provide an architecturally and sculpturally specific outlet that engages the rapidly changing neighborhood of northern Crown Heights. The non-traditional storefront gallery is in the front window of Charles Goldman’s studio. The “space” itself is a wooden grid of 12 individually lit 2 foot square by 16" inch deep “cubicles,” custom built to fit into the specially designed storefront. GRIDSPACE is open during the receptions for each exhibition, where it exists as an expanded exhibition space. The exhibition continues to be visible through the window of the storefront gallery for the allotted period of time, 24 hours a day.

-Charles Goldman 

May 2013: How can institutions support SEA?, Hosted by Caroline Woolard

Following up on a conversation from Stephanie Diamond's Community of Community gathering at the Queens Museum last summer, I want to collectively dream up...

 I want to dream up institutions/formats that can support the development and production of these projects, not so much the dissemination of these projects, as that is a whole other can of words. The question of galleries and dissemination is not interesting to me right now.  Focusing on process is what I would like to talk about, not presentation.  –Caroline Woolard

Questions for the Evening 

February 2013: Ephemerality and Temporality, Hosted by Lisa Sikorski

This dinner will loosely take the form of one of Lisa's projects, "What We Remember", which is appropriately about food.  

 "What We Remember" is a collection of food memories, research for recipes and a new community for eating. The project consists of food memories collected through an informal, 10 minute, one-on-one interview process. Each food memory goes through a careful sifting and winnowing process post interview. Gleaning ingredients and sensory experiences, I reconfigure the stories into new recipes. Ultimately, I share these recipes and the associated memories with others at food memory dinners conducted several times a year. Through this project I aim to find a different way to look at our memories as well as food and the way it is consumed. http://lisasikorski.com/CURRENT.html -Lisa Sikorski

  Being that the work of social practice is often about relationships, community, communal/temporary actions how do you deal with the inherent ephemerality that is present in this type of work?

January 2013: Alternative Modes of Exchange, Hosted by Sol Aramendi

Questions for our discussion are inspired by the exhibition walkthrough of No Longer Empty’s “How Much Do I Owe You?” and the value of exchange in social practice:

What are some alternative modes of exchange and ownership generated by artists and groups of people?

December 2012: Ethics & Aesthetics, Hosted by Helen Park

How do you define ethics in your practice? If you are not a practitioner, how do you define ethics in the field of Social Practice?

To what extent does ethics define the field itself (for you)? 

The very first Social Practice EATS dinner was held in October 2012 at the home of Stephanie Diamond.

What is your Social Practice pitch? Using 2 sentences or less:

How do you define Social Practice to a non artist?