Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Deeply associated with the notion of democracy, the terms collaboration, inclusion, and participation permeate our current speech to help imagine our futures. Artist David Sanchez-Burr has been working on projects that help reveal the depth by which art can demonstrate the spectacle of our time, while simultaneously looking at democracy to find answers. Through site specific installations and performance, Sanchez-Burr creates a complex cacophony and set of harmonics that are stirred by the emergence of the audience: an itinerant community encouraged to navigate, modify, and help author the experience of the work. Through installations set in non-traditional art exhibition spaces as well as museums and community art centers, David Sanchez-Burr creates the conditions through which audience participation dictates the outcome of the experience. Artwork that is inclusive of and focused on important tenets of democracy can convey the characteristics of specific social dynamics such as choice, shared responsibility, and freedom of speech. In recent works “nowhereradio” and “new citadel” interactions have resulted in a wide array of audience expressions ranging from violently throwing elements of the installation across the room, to intense introspection and careful consideration of the materials. The ideas of individuals that form the general public are never in complete alignment with the ideas and concepts of the artist. The fundamental revelations that can occur through participatory art are as much an element of chance as they are representative of social behavior. Embracing this cacophony serves as a vehicle for art to express our moments of democratic crisis.