Acts of transfer: Connecting socially-engaged practice

Lloyd, Lizzie; Beinart, Katy

Abstract

This paper will present our recent practice-based artistic research project ‘Acts of Transfer’, which involved revisiting and reactivating artworks from the recent past, all of which were developed or enacted through some form of social engagement or public participation. Our focus was on what the afterlife of such projects might be: how might they be meaningfully represented? How can the documentation of such projects enact emotional, physical, psychological or conceptual transfer to engage or impact future audiences? We used mixed methods – audio recording, film, photography, drawing, design and experimental writing – to generate new artworks that retained some sense of the original artworks.

To reflect on the experience of thinking about an artwork from the past, and consider its ongoing effect in the present, we reunited a series of artists and original project participants. This exposed the complicated processes and relationships inherent in practices that rely on participation, highlighting the key question of how such projects signify to those involved, and how that meaning develops beyond the life of the project. We wanted to render the complications tangible: how could we retain the emerging, fragmented, nature of conversations and shared social experiences? How could we register the social, emotional and artistic transfers at stake in such encounters while going beyond self-congratulatory narratives of ‘strengthening the social bond’ (Claire Bishop).

The paper will reflect on this research through a performance presentation, encompassing experimental writing, images, audio and short film excerpts, to interrogate our findings.

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: Connective Symposium
• Start Date: Nov 17, 2022
• End Date: Nov 19, 2022
• Deposit Date: Oct 10, 2022
• Keywords: socially-engaged practice
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10020430
• Related Public URLs: https://www.ietm.org/en/news/members/connective-symposium-17-19-november-2022-call-for-contributions