Curatorial Perspective
Why Participatory Art Now
by Micheal Hooker
On a spring evening in Tampa, Florida, a
warm breeze carried Sarah Howard, Curator
of Public Art and Social Practice at USF’s In-
stitute for Research, onto a patio of one of the
city’s many foodie spots. Wearing rose-tinted
glasses and a generous smile, Howard met
with Micheal Hooker, an arts-based psycholo-
gy writer and performance artist. The follow-
ing is an excerpt of their conversation about
the importance of space, social justice, and
why participatory art is so relevant today.
Micheal Hooker: Wow, those glasses are
spectacular!
Sarah Howard: Well, they are rose-tinted, an
appropriate fi lter for all the traumatic events
happening in the world.
have to be accessible. You deal with this
at USFCAM; what are you seeing?
A lot of the messaging from activism in the art
world and beyond fi nds power in the spaces
where the messages are portrayed. Is it an in-
stitutional voice—is that voice free from the
sponsorship of the institution? How does that
voice compare with those found in civic spac-
es? Is it a protest/intervention into private/
public space? I’m seeing a lot of transitions,
exchange and overfl ow between these spaces,
amplifying the voices.
Right, because art and propaganda have
a sordid love affair, especially when it
comes to conventional platforms and cu-
ration. That’s why performance art, with-
in a public sphere, lends itself so easily to
social justice issues. Artists and activists
are wise to this, which is exciting.
And we have a new generation that is more
predicated on experiencing art in these ways,
an integrated approach to incorporating art
into their lives. Art is not separate, but it’s so
much more about how our lives are designed
and performed. Perhaps there’s this divide
now between your digital life and your…
are performative in that medium, and the real
life performance provides them with a unique
way into experiencing the arts.
If I’m understanding you right, as a cu-
rator you see the digital world as creat-
ing new spaces to navigate and occupy
through the imagination. It offers new
facilities for participating with art.
Yes, precisely. Plus the digital world has ex-
panded engagement with physical spaces,
extending our notion of bearing witness.
Through virtual or augmented technologies,
our understanding of physical spaces we ha-
ven’t visited can be informed. So, there’s a
potential for expectation about a space that
other people who haven’t accessed this info
might not have.
And online reviews offer an ekphrastic
version of a space. I agree that technology
offers another creative outlet, but inter-
acting with it can seem like giving away
something precious, a piece of one’s soul,
when work suddenly becomes dispos-
able. Painters and photographers lament
the pressures of posting on Instagram for
this reason. Participatory art is immune
to this problem. By nature it is temporal,
pedestrian, more accessible.
True, how does our online world align with
the public/performative space? The lack
of expectation is what interests me about
working in the public realm. The unexpect-
ed encounter. People often
Pour Blue, inkjet photographic print on silk
happen upon public art,
outside the institutional
space, going about their
daily lives, without precon-
ceived notions about spe-
cifi c behavior or response.
Art in the public sphere
provides accessibility to the
viewer both physically and
spiritually and I think there
can be something magical
discovered in those en-
counters and interventions.
Way to use your curatorial lens for self-
care. Seriously, it takes stamina to main-
tain a level head these days. There is so
much momentum (in public art and social
justice) right now that must be sustained.
With the collective trauma being experienced
presently, our society has become more pub-
licly activated, both online and in reality,
about marginalization and social justice is- “Real Life?”
Yes, it feels like it’s become a duality. We are
sues.
able