CSA, Art & Care series: Panel Discussion on Social Engaged Art during and after Covid

Contributions:
Prof. Paula Gerstenblatt (University of Southern Maine, USA) Collage Portraits as a Representation of Complex Narratives: Utility in Research, Pedagogy, and Community and Artistic Practice; Dr Costanza Meli (Art historian, IED, Rome), Public/Art in the time of Covid; Ian Nesbitt (socially engaged artist, filmmaker, and pedestrian based in Sheffield, UK) A trajectory of unlearning as a result of the pandemic; Natalie Pace (Curator co-founded Pier Projects Art Agency , Felixstowe, Suffolk) Commissioning and delivering artist-led projects with a socially engaged approach within the context of covid19 and social distancing: Alisa Oleva and Idit Nathan.

The session is chaired by Dr Elena Cologni (ARU) and Dr Merel Visse (Drew University US) By referring to the importance placed by care ethicists on relationality and interdependence, these are discussed in the context of social engaged art practices and research strategies. In particular, we want to reflect on Meli’s research question investigating: ‘what happened when, due to the pandemic these approaches were no longer possible, and whether the phase of social distancing that we experienced during the pandemic, and which could constitute a repeatable scenario in the future, represented only a moment of pause in activity, of waiting, or if it favored a more complex and lasting rethinking of the forms of social involvement, participation and democracy social engaged practices are based’.

The panel discussion will present case studies by artists, curators, and researchers within a process of redefinition in the relevant overlapping professional and research contexts, and attempt at contextualising these within the socio-political international landscapes.

The event is part of a series including examples of best practices impacting society, through the lens of creative research and care ethics.

The series is led by Dr. Elena Cologni, Artist and Senior Research Fellow, Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University, and Dr. Merel Visse, Director Medical and Health Humanities at Drew University (US) and Associate Professor at the University for Humanistic Studies in The Netherlands