Cristina Ferrigno Combined Media
Social Practice | Social Distance
Spring 2020
Please note! This archive is still in progress and in the interest of giving insight to my process, I will keep these pages up and visible to the public as I work on them.
Project Statement:
This online project, Social Practice | Social Distance, examines different facets of social engagement in relation to characteristics of Social Practice Art while in isolation. Using accumulated materials from public online forums like Facebook, Instagram as well as my own images, diagrams and other original content made while living in the time of this pandemic. I hope to paint a picture of what it looks like in the eye of the hurricane, and to distill a mass of media intake during a world-wide crisis.
Dissecting 6 topics of interest in chapter-like parts, this project investigate issues like the labor force of essential workers, collectivity on the internet, introspective space and studio practice (including self care), academia's transition to distance learning and the Art World's reaction, neighborhoods in community and mutual aid, healthcare & housing as human rights and the and the Government's role in access to food, supplies and testing. This is curated with the different elements that make up Social Practice in mind.
I’m looking at these examples through the lens of Social Practice Art. These things are not inherently art or Social Practice in and of themselves, but they share some characteristics or central elements including activism, public art, skill sharing or teaching, independent practices, and community building and altruism. To help illustrate some of these elements I've been trying to identify this past year in SPQ, I made this quick venn diagram, which visually helps me organize how I see the overlap in practices. It's a draft based on my thoughts and all of these elements are totally up for debate, things might shift or change depending on how my understanding of social practice evolves.
