Seventeenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

A prequel to the paper presented by this author at the 2020 Arts-in-Society Galway conference (“The democratic praxis of AiOP”), this study is the first academic profile of the obscure but seminal Atlanta arts collective, 800East. Based on participant observation, interviews, and archival research, this ethnography presents a case study of the limits of representation and boundaries of narrative. The group produced hundreds of shows and thousands of visual and performance artworks over its eight year tenure, but it is the overall narrative arch of art as communicative action that comprises its social practice. Established on a sketchy dead-end street in Atlanta’s fourth ward in 1990, 800East quickly became the premier underground arts space in the city for most of the 1990s; an open laboratory for a generation of artists to investigate the nexus of art and life. Working off the grid, with no official status or sponsorship, the collective -by necessity and then conviction- engineered a DIY aesthetic, leveraging goodwill, creative vision, and the hunger of Atlanta’s socially and artistically marginalized communities to foster a safe space for creative exploration. Despite its hardscrabble beginnings, the collective was prolific, producing monthly, large-scale art exhibitions from 1990-1998, as well as a variety of offsite initiatives. Over its eight-year tenure, hundreds of artists exhibited and performed in the space and tens of thousands passed through its gates. By renegotiating local space, responding to community needs, and leveraging local resources, 800East developed a praxis of artistic vision and community engagement with global implications.