Open Engagement: An Introduction

By Jennifer Delos Reyes

Open Engagement: Art After Aesthetic Distance was a hybrid project that used a conference on socially engaged art practices as its foundation and incorporated elements including workshops, exhibitions, residencies, pedagogy, curatorial practice and collaboration. The event was hosted by the University of Regina, the Dunlop Art Gallery, The Mackenzie Art Gallery and various local Regina residents from October 11-13, 2007. The three days of the event each focused on a theme of exploration; October 11, You are all that I see: Art and everyday experience; October 12, It takes two: Collaborations, collectives, other team relationships; October 13. I’ll call you: Long term relationships, communities, and connectivity. Over 40 national and international contributors were present during Open Engagement.  The contributors were selected from a response to a call for submissions and a selection of three invitational individuals who could best represent one of the three themes. This was an around-the-clock experience. It was a conference, an exhibition/performance venue, a mini-residency, and a workshop. Each out-of-town presenter was billeted with a member of the local community. Participants shared meals with one another and members of the local community, commuted together and were encouraged to thank their hosts by leaving a created trace.

The structure of each day began with Three Cheers! a collaboration between Maiko Tanaka and Open Engagement. On day one each participant was introduced to the group and cheered for. For each day of the event a cheer was written that addressed the theme of exploration for the day. Following the morning cheer was a group activity that was centered on the day’s theme. After this was group lunch. Proceeding lunch the conference broke out into 5-8 parallel sessions. This was followed by a panel addressing the day’s topic and discussion. Each evening highlighted a different social event. On day one was a potluck and artist talk by Harrell Fletcher, on day two a small group dinner in the home of a local resident, and on day three a game of bingo followed by a dance party. Throughout Open Engagement connections were made to local individuals, local arts institutions and focused on projects that were made possible through the work of groups of individuals as well as projects that expressed support and solidarity, such as the airport pick ups. The goal of Open Engagement was to bring together like-minded individuals (artists and audience) around socially engaged art and forge lasting connections, disseminate information, share knowledge, and create networks and connections, and foster the creation of work.

What does it mean to be open? What does it mean to be engaged? What if one were to be both open and engaged simultaneously? Openness is honesty, generosity, a sense of possibility, freedom, free of boundaries and restrictions. To be engaged is a promise. It is a commitment, an obligation. It is also a sense of involvement and participation. To have an “open engagement” implies a commitment that is potentially limited or short lived. But what if the two terms once united could keep their respective definitions making openly engaged a term that would embody an obligation to honesty, sharing and possibility?

It is important to note that this website is just one aspect of a large project that had many contributors and elements. Open Engagement should be looked at as a paratext. This is just one part of a larger text that is made up a variety of sources from  the call for submissions, contributor blogs, the conference program, the post-conference publication, promotional materials, interviews, the conference archive, essays and reviews written on Open Engagement, collateral events, and more. All of these external elements each play a significant and specific role in informing this project.

For more information on Open Engagement please read this:

Be Real. Play Nice: An Introduction to Open Engagement Art After Aesthetic Distance by Jeff Nye

Thank you,

Jen Delos Reyes

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT JENNIFER DELOS REYES: jendelosreyes@gmail.com or 306-737-5256