HALF THE SKY: INTERSECTIONS IN SOCIAL PRACTICE ART BY SHERRI CORNETT
In March of 2013, WCA International Caucus member Jing Deng, through her friend and artist Zhao Yin Ou, who lives in Beijing, arranged for the International Caucus of the Women's Caucus for Art to be invited by the Wei Er Shen, President of LuXun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China to create a cultural exchange and exhibition between artists and essayists juried through WCA and women artists curated in China by LuXun Gallery Director Wang Yi Gang and Zhao Yin Ou. This unprecedented opportunity for women artists and essayists in the US to exhibit and share their work and perspectives with women artists in China, followed on the heels of Woman + Body, our October 2012 collaboration with Hye-Seong Tak Lee and women artists in Seoul and Gwangju, South Korea. Half the Sky: Intersections in Social Practice Artoccurred at the Academy from April 15-30, 2014. LuXun Academy is one of the premier art academies in China and is located in the major metropolitan area of northeast China.
In addition to the exhibition and the bi-lingual catalog of essays and artists' works, a delegation of selected WCA members, traveled to Shenyang for the opening of this exhibition and to participate in several days of interactive events with the Chinese artists as well as students, professors and staff of the Academy.
Social Practice Art
Social practice art encompasses a wide range of art forms - public art, interactive media, performance, dialogue, activism, community practice, community building, interventions, and collaborations that cross art, public and social arenas. This project's cultural exchange is in itself a social practice form of art. In the exhibition, artwork from our juried process and the curated Chinese artists created a powerful environment in which the delegation and Chinese women artists and students participated in a variety of community and cultural events created by the Half the Sky delegation and members of the Academy: collaborative art making, a roundtable discussion, interactive examples of social practice art and a sharing of how each of us hold up "half the sky" in our communities.
NCWCA members Laurie Edison, Kay Kang, Mido Lee and Priscilla Otani were among the artists and participants of the Half the Sky project.
In addition to the exhibition and the bi-lingual catalog of essays and artists' works, a delegation of selected WCA members, traveled to Shenyang for the opening of this exhibition and to participate in several days of interactive events with the Chinese artists as well as students, professors and staff of the Academy.
Social Practice Art
Social practice art encompasses a wide range of art forms - public art, interactive media, performance, dialogue, activism, community practice, community building, interventions, and collaborations that cross art, public and social arenas. This project's cultural exchange is in itself a social practice form of art. In the exhibition, artwork from our juried process and the curated Chinese artists created a powerful environment in which the delegation and Chinese women artists and students participated in a variety of community and cultural events created by the Half the Sky delegation and members of the Academy: collaborative art making, a roundtable discussion, interactive examples of social practice art and a sharing of how each of us hold up "half the sky" in our communities.
NCWCA members Laurie Edison, Kay Kang, Mido Lee and Priscilla Otani were among the artists and participants of the Half the Sky project.
HALF THE SKY VIDEO BY MIDO LEEThe Half the Sky video was created by Mido Lee, NCWCA member, in collaboration with International Caucus Chair Sherri Cornett and WCA Past President Priscilla Otani. Click here to view the video: Half the Sky Video
|
SLIDESHOW OF HALF THE SKY PROJECT |
