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Creative Time and The powerHouse Arena invite you to a book launch party for:

Living as Form:

Socially Engaged Art from 1991-2011

Monday, March 12, 7–9 pm
Drinks will be served

The powerHouse Arena · 37 Main Street (corner of Water & Main St.) · DUMBO, Brooklyn
For more information, please call 718.666.3049
rsvp: rsvp@powerHouseArena.com

Public art presenter Creative Time explores art and activism in Living as Form, a survey of over 100 socially-engaged projects, art, and otherwise from across the globe. Chief Curator Nato Thompson will offer a brief talk on the history of contemporary social practice.

About Living as Form:

Living as Form: Socially Engaged Art from 1991-2011 features descriptions and illustrations of over one hundred socially-engaged art projects from the past twenty years that signal, according to Thompson, a "new social order—ways of life that emphasize participation, challenge power, and span disciplines." In their essays included in Living as Form, six acclaimed theorists and cultural producers each look at the phenomenon of social practice from vastly different global and critical perspectives. Thompson's introduction presents a history of this work over the past 20 years, while Teddy Cruz calls on artists to more aggressively take on social justice issues in the future. Claire Bishop questions the tendency to privilege ethical standards over aesthetic ones, while Brian Holmes provides a four-step process for activism that values each of these standards equally. Carol Becker describes the uniqueness of artist-designed "microutopias," while Maria Lind recounts numerous projects across Europe that demonstrate long-term investment in the messy realities of life outside of the artistic context. Finally, Shannon Jackson frames our understanding of institutional critique by recalling a time when institutions themselves led the promotion of social change, specifically the Federal Theater Project launched by the WPA.

Artists whose projects are featured in Living as Form include: Ai Weiwei, Ala Plástica, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, Lara Almarcegua and Begoña Movellán, Alternate ROOTS, Francis Älys, Appalshop, Julieta Aranda and Anton Vidokle, Claire Barclay, Barefoot Artists, Basurama, BijaRi, Bread and Puppet Theater, Tania Bruguera, CAMP, Cemeti Art House, Paul Chan, Mel Chin, Chto Delat?, Santiago Cirugeda, Cambalache Colectivo, Phil Collins , Céline Condorelli and Gavin Wade, Cornerstone Theater Company, Alice Creischer and Andreas Siekmann, Minervas Cuevas, Decolonizing Architecture Art Residceny, Jeremy Deller, Mark Dion, J., Morgan Puett, and collaborators, Marilyn Douala-Bell and Didier Schaub, Election Night, Harlem, New York, Fallen Fruit, Bita Fayyazi, Ata Hasheminejad, Khosrow Hassenzadeh, Farid Jahangir, and Sassan Nassiri, Finishing School, Free Class Frankfurt/M, Frente 3 de Fevereiro, Theaster Gates, Alonso Gil and, Federico Guzmán, Paul Glover, Josh Greene, Haha, Fritz Haeg, Helena Producciones, Stephen Hobbs and Marcus Neustetter, Fran Ilich, Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen, Amal Kenawy, Surasi Kusolwong, Bronwyn Lace and Anthea Moys, Suzanne Lacy, Land Foundation, Long March Project, Los Angeles Poverty Department, Rick Lowe, Mammalian Diving Reflex, Mardi Gras Indian Community, Angela Melitopolous , Zayd Minty, The Mobile Academy, Mujeres Creando, Vik Muñiz, Navin Production Studio, Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK), Nuts Society, John O'Neal, Oda Projesi, Park Fiction and the Right to the City Network Hamburg, Pase Usted, PiratByrån, Platforma 9.81, Public Movement, Pulska Grupa, Pedro Reyes, Laurie Jo Reynolds, Athi-Patra Ruga, The San Francisco Cacophony Society, The Sarai Programme at CSDS and Ankur, Christoph Schlingensief, Florian Schneider , Katerina Ŝedá, Chemi Rosado Seijo, Michihiro Shimabuku, Buster Simpson, Slanguage, SUPERFLEX, Apolonija Ŝušteršič, Tahrir Square, Taller Popular de Serigrafia, Temporary Services, Torolab, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Ultra-red, United Indian Health Services, Urban Bush Women , U.S. Social Forum, Jeanne van Heeswijk, Bik van der Pol, Wendelien van Olderborgh, Eduardo Vÿsquez Martín, Voina, Marion von Osten, Peter Watkins, WikiLeaks, Elin Wikström, WochenKlausur, Women on Waves, and The Yes Men.

Living as Form: Socially Engaged Art from 1991-2011 will be available for purchase at powerHouse Arena during the launch event or online for $39.99.

About Creative Time:

Since 1974, Creative Time has presented the most innovative art in the public realm. The New York-based nonprofit has worked with over 2,000 artists to produce more than 335 groundbreaking public art projects that have ignited the public's imagination, explored ideas that shape society, and engaged millions of people around the globe. Creative Time seeks to convert the power of artists' ideas into works that inspire social change and stimulate public dialogue on timely issues, while initiating a dynamic conversation among artists, sites, and audiences. A vanguard presenter of public art in New York, Creative Time recently began presenting national and global projects and initiatives, making it the only public arts organization with programs that have reached from New York to New Orleans, Haiti to Hanoi, Dubai to Denver, and beyond. These projects further Creative Time's belief in the importance of artists in society and the power of art to raise consciousness, expose injustices, and imagine a better world. For more information on Creative Time and its projects, visit www.creativetime.org.

Support:

Living as Form: Socially Engaged Art from 1991-2011 was made possible by the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Annenberg Foundation.

Lead project support for Living as Form was provided by the Annenberg Foundation, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo, the Danish Arts Council Committee for Visual Arts, Stephanie & Tim Ingrassia, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Bella Meyer & Martin Kace, the Mondriaan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Emily Glasser & Billy Susman



For more information, please contact Lena Valencia, Events Coordinator:
powerHouse Arena, 37 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
tel: 718.666.3049 fax: 212.366.5247 email: lena@powerHouseArena.com