Callout: Open Engagement: Art After Aesthetic Distance

Call for submissions: Open Engagement: Art After Aesthetic Distance
will take place October 11, 12, and 13 in Regina, SK. Hosted by the
University of Regina

With keynote artist: Harrell Fletcher
www.jendelosreyes.com/openengagement
About:
Artists continue to challenge our traditional ideas of what art is and does.
A recent emphasis on art as service, social space, activism, as interactions
and art as relationships may signal a paradigm shift. These practices raise
many questions: what is the social role of the artist? What should art do?
Who is art for? Writers such as Nicolas Bourriaud, Suzanne Lacy, Carol
Becker, Grant H. Kester, Miwon Kwon and Claire Bishop are among those
thinkers who have described and investigated the trend toward art works that
open spaces, invite in the everyday and offer to create new and temporary
communities and structures. Art after aesthetic distance implies that we are
now in an age of aesthetic nearness in which art and life are considered
less as inhabiting different spaces, and more as roommates.

Open Engagement: Art After Aesthetic Distance is a three-day conference
focused on relational art practices. We will strive to find new models of
communicating the work, theory and writing that surround relational art.
This conference is situated in the space between theory and practice, where
participants will also engage in artworks. Among the self-reflexive topics
to be explored include: How can art openly engage with public space? With
art audiences? With everyday life? How can we openly engage with one
another? Working together can be difficult, trying and fraught with
conflict. Working with a group can be simultaneously the most challenging
and rewarding experience one can have in life. Making sincere connections to
each other can be just as hard, but those relationships are the foundation
of our personal lives and social networks.

The goal of Open Engagement is to bring together like-minded individuals to
confer on subjects of common interest and forge lasting connections. This is
an intense, immersive, around the clock experience. It is a conference,
mini-residence and workshop. Participants can partake in experiences that
connect them with each other, artists, art institutions and the local arts
community. All aspects of this event contribute to the discussions and
explorations of the themes of the conference. Out-of-town participants will
be billeted with a member of the local arts community. Hosts will take
participants to and from the conference and participants will make meals
together, share meals together, and are encouraged to thank their hosts by
leaving a created trace.

This is relational aesthetics, post-Bourriaud: striving for art that desires
for something real to happen, not just the imitation of something real;
something that is everyday, rather than just implies the everyday;
communities that are sustainable, as opposed to the temporary and momentary.
What happens when two people really connect? What happens when art really
connects? What could we do in our daily lives to form connections and build
communities? What can we do in our practices? What could we do in the
environments that we inhabit, and work in, in addition to the spaces we
exhibit in? Can artists in their daily lives show possible ways of living?
Can art be the alternative? Can art be the answer? In a time when it is easy
for people to feel disconnected, what can art do??

You are invited to contribute to Open Engagement by submitting your project
and paper ideas that find a place for the integration of relational art
practices as part of this conference. Each day of this three-day conference,
hosted by the University of Regina, will explore in-depth issues raised
within relational art practices and post-relational practices. Your proposal
can include interventions, ways of living, and imagined spaces. You are
encouraged to think of ways to connect peers and colleagues at this
conference as well as to connect and engage a greater community.

Submission:
Part 1: Propose a project, paper, discussion or intervention that touches on
one or more of the three themes listed below. You could also think about
re-interpreting the notion of conference, or intervene in to its traditional
structure.?
Part 2: A short bio (100 words or less).
Part 3: Fill out the brief questionnaire and application form. We want to
help you make interesting connections at this conference, and this will help
us facilitate that!

Each day of the conference will focus on different areas of investigation.
Listed below are the three streams, related questions and sentiments that
your proposals should address:

A.You are all that I see: Art and everyday experience
B.It takes two: Collaborations, collectives, other team relationships
C.I'll Call you: Long term relationships, communities, and connectivity.

Deadline March 31

Successful applicants will be notified no later than April 7.
Submissions are accepted in PDF format and are to be emailed to
jendelosreyes@gmail.com, email subject: OPEN ENGAGEMENT SUBMISSION. If there
are any questions or concerns do not hesitate to send us an email.

More Information on Open Engagement visit:
www.jendelosreyes.com/openengagement