{"id":1106,"date":"2012-02-08T07:07:35","date_gmt":"2012-02-08T12:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=1106"},"modified":"2012-02-08T07:07:35","modified_gmt":"2012-02-08T12:07:35","slug":"pop-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/02\/pop-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Pop-Ups"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Coming from a performing arts background, I’m always especially fascinated to read about cool stuff going on in the visual arts. Recently I’ve seen a couple of posts about “pop-ups.” Letitia Fernandez Ivins<\/a>, a civic art project manager with the Los Angeles County Arts Commission<\/a>, describes these as “artwork that ‘pops\u2013up’ in unexpected places” in her ARTSblog post Emerging Ideas: Pop-Ups for the Populi<\/strong><\/a>. As I understand it, these are intentionally ephemeral visual art “happenings.” Short-term visual arts experiences, they often intentionally address an issue of importance in the communities where the “pop-up” takes place. Ms. Ivins had recently been to Art Basel Miami Beach and described “Transformer: Display of Community Information And Activation<\/a> <\/em>led by LA-based artists Olga Kouramoros and Andrea Bowers. . . . Invited by Christine Kim, curator of Art Basel\u2019s Art Public, Koumoundouros and Bowers engaged three local social justice nonprofit organizations in dialogue with the Art Basel fair-goers and led political t-shirt printing and sales. . . . [T]his living artwork was aesthetic, civically minded, functional, and shielded from commoditization . . . .” She sees the phenomenon of pop-ups as being, at least in part, a pragmatic response to economic conditions:<\/p>\n

During these lean art market times, I\u2019ve observed many artists direct their creative prowess toward the democratization of art. Many work in the realm of social practice, play the role of community catalyst and in doing so, \u201cset up shop\u201d and spend time in dialogue with a community so that they might create a work that responds to a need or simply speaks directly to the community\u2019s beat.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Connecting with the community is then attractive to these artists for practical reasons. She cites a Los Angeles-based artist collective, Fallen Fruit<\/a>, that organizes “nocturnal forages in which participants pluck and share public fruit” often culminating “in a ‘jamming session’ in which the fruit is converted to jam and given for free to participants. . . . The artwork flourishes as it is passed along and consumed.” Ms. Ivins concludes with three observations about these phenomena: they emphasize accessibility, they are temporary and mobile, and this is how many artists are working today.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite sources for information on engagement and the visual arts world, Nina Simon, has written about pop-up museums (A Radical, Simple Formula for Pop-Up Museums<\/a>). She defines these as either (or both) 1) a short-term institution existing in a temporary space; or 2) a way to catalyze conversations among diverse people, mediated by their objects. Here are her illustrations to explain the concept:<\/p>\n

There was Jaime Kopke’s Denver Community Museum<\/a>, which existed for nine months in a Denver storefront in 2008-9 to celebrate visitors’ creations. Maria Mortati runs the wonderful SF Mobile Museum<\/a>, which roams the Bay Area showing mini-exhibits on evocative themes. The never-quite-opened National History Museum of the Netherlands created an innovative vending machine<\/a> for historic objects, which traveled to festivals and urban centers for people to add their memories.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of particular interest is Ms. Simon’s mention of Michelle DelCarlo, whose work is in designing participant-centered history pop-ups. In her Fool-Proof Guide to the Pop-Up Museum<\/a>, she presents basic principles:<\/p>\n

1) Choose a theme<\/em>
\n 2) Invite\u00a0people to bring an object that is meaningful to them, based on the theme<\/em>
\n 3) Invite them to write a label describing why their object is meaningful, or a story they want to tell about their object<\/em>
\n 4)\u00a0At the pop-up, people mingle with others, view objects,\u00a0have conversations<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The pop-up is a vehicle for encouraging interaction among attendees based on things (museum-speak would be, I guess, artifacts) of importance to them. Ms. DelCarlo described her second pop-up on\u00a0 “the theme of ‘Favorites.’\u00a0 People could bring anything they considered their ‘favorite.’ One man brought his skateboard, as it was a favorite gift from his French friends. A young child brought in two drawings of his favorite dog, Leory.” The event was then the conversations and relationships that developed as a result of this framework.<\/p>\n

These ideas flow from an understanding that not only are the visual arts (and with Ms. DelCarlo’s examples, museums) entities with important content, they can also be vehicles through which things, in this case relationship-forming\/building, can be accomplished. Push-back to these concepts is going to be based on the question of “What good is that?” If the art or the object is more important than the audience or participant, then the answer would probably be “None.” If people are more important, then the answer is “Vitally important.” And, if is likely the case, the answer lies somewhere between\u2013that both art\/historical object and<\/em> the viewer\/participant\/perceiver are important\u2013then the pop-up is an interesting tool for expanding the art\/museum world connection with the community.<\/p>\n

What might this look like in the performing arts? I think the flash mob arts experiences I’ve discussed earlier are in the ballpark. I also think that participatory practices (e.g.<\/em>, community choirs and programs like the Baltimore Symphony’s Rusty Musicians at the Meyerhoff<\/a>) are of like intent and, perhaps, result.<\/p>\n

The point is, ultimately, to be seen as vital to the community. To that end,<\/p>\n

Engage!<\/p>\n

Doug<\/p>\n

Jack in the Box: \"Attribution\"\"Share<\/a> Some rights reserved<\/a> by timlewisnm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coming from a performing arts background, I’m always especially fascinated to read about cool stuff going on in the visual arts. Recently I’ve seen a couple of posts about “pop-ups.” Letitia Fernandez Ivins, a civic art project manager with the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, describes these as “artwork that ‘pops\u2013up’ in unexpected places” in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-examples","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-hQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1861,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/07\/civic-practice\/","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":0},"title":"Civic Practice","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"July 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Michael Rohd, the Founding Director of Portland (OR)'s Sojourn Theatre has recently posted an extremely thoughtful reflection on community engagement and theatre: The New Work of Building Civic Practice. As I've said before, I am aware of the danger of echo-chambering in the blog world, especially in this case since\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Overview"","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5638,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2019\/06\/deep-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":1},"title":"Deep Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"June 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Lessons in community engagement from South America","rel":"","context":"In "Examples"","block_context":{"text":"Examples","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/examples\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/GAM-International-Presenters-e1560788143714.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2287,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/12\/what-is-the-arts-business\/","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":2},"title":"What Is the Arts Business?","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"December 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The problem with unconscious assumptions is that they are\u00a0 . . . unconscious. Even for me, spending time as I do questioning the status quo in the arts, the basic nature of the arts enterprise\u2013deeper even than\u00a0 the \"business model\"\u2013often remains unexplored. But the arguments for and against community engagement\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Overview"","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Rel-Kaaba-Commons-500x123.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1201,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/02\/shut-up-and-listen\/","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":3},"title":"Shut Up and Listen","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"February 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"In this blog I attempt to highlight essential principles of effective community engagement work. 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