About our last lesson on Nato Thompson's curator work "Living as form, socially engaged art from 1991-2011.

1. Course of Site Specific Public Art
Lesson #6
LIVING AS FORM
SOCIALLY ENGAGED ART FROM 1991-2011
By Nato Thompson
And
GUIDELLINES FOR THE EXAM
JANUARY 22nd 2013
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Politecnico di Milano (Campus di Piacenza) School of Architecture and Society

2. Course of Site Specific Public Art
Lesson #6
THE COURSE ON THE WEB
Instructions to follow the course:
-Blog http://art-as-playground.blogspot.it/
Facebook page: Course of site specific public
art Politecnico di Milano- Campus Piacenza
#publicartpiacenza
I send you a reading in pdf format.
This is my adress: ornellacostanzopolipc@gmail.com
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Politecnico di Milano (Campus di Piacenza) School of Architecture and Society

3. Course of Site Specific Public Art
Lesson #6
EXAM 18° FEBRUARY 2013 H 10.15
ORAL DISCUSSION OF YOUR CHOICE ON ONE OF THE
FOLLOWING TOPICS AND ESSAYS:
From MAPPING THE TERRAIN-NEW GENRE PUBLIC ART (SUSANNE
LACY)
-An unfashionable audience by Mary Jane Jacobs p.50-59
-Success and failure when art changes by Allan Kaprow p.152-
158
- Selected Artistic projects : Vito Acconci, Judith Baca, Joseph
Beuys, Judy Chicago, Christo and Jeanne Claude, Group
Material, Jenny Holzer, Allan Kaprow, Barbara Kruger, Susanne
Lacy.
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Politecnico di Milano (Campus di Piacenza) School of Architecture and Society

4. Course of Site Specific Public Art
Lesson #6
EXAM 18° FEBRUARY 2013 H 10.15
From RELATIONAL AESTHETICS BY NICOLAS BOURRIAUD
- L’arte degli anni novanta p. 25-42 versione italiana)//Art in
the 90’s (second chapter english version)
- Gli spazi-tempo dello scambio p. 43-49)//Time-spaces of
exchanges (second chapter english version)
-Artists selected: Rirkrit Tiravanija, Vanessa Beecroft, Maurizio
Cattelan, Brinch and Jacobsen, Christine Hill, Andrea Zittel,
Carsten Holler.
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Politecnico di Milano (Campus di Piacenza) School of Architecture and Society

5. Course of Site Specific Public Art
Lesson #6
EXAM 18° FEBRUARY 2013 H 10.15
From LIVING AS FORM-SOCIALLY ENGAGED ART FROM 1991-
2011 by Nato Thompson.
- Living as form by Nato Thompson p. 17-33
-Selected artists: Ala Plastica, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo
Calzadilla, Basurama, Tania Bruguera, Election night, Fritz
Haeg, Complaint Choir, Land Foundation, Park Fiction, Pedro
Reyes, Laurie Jo Reynolds, Tahrir Square, Women on waves, The
Yes Men, Rick Lowe.
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Politecnico di Milano (Campus di Piacenza) School of Architecture and Society

6. Course of Site Specific Public Art
Lesson #6
KEYWORDS:
LIFE- FORM – LOCAL – GLOBAL – CULTURAL PRACTICES –
PARTICIPATION – NEW SOCIAL ORDER – POLITICAL REALM
– TYPES OF COMMUNICATION -
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Politecnico di Milano (Campus di Piacenza) School of Architecture and Society

7. Course of Site Specific Public Art
Lesson #6
A speech on his work for the anthology Living as form by Nato
Thompson
https://vimeo.com/27289754
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Politecnico di Milano (Campus di Piacenza) School of Architecture and Society

8. Course of Site Specific Public Art
Lesson #6
Key points of Nato Thompson’s study:
-Difficulty to categorize these types of projects, they testify to
the growing array of complex cultural productions all over the
world
- common background: socially engaged art that goes
beyond the traditional border of art
- It is not an art movement in the traditional meaning of the
term
- They are cultural practices that indicate a new social
order( concerning participation, challenge power, dealing
with different disciplines from urban planning and community
work to theatre and visual art
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Politecnico di Milano (Campus di Piacenza) School of Architecture and Society

9. Course of Site Specific Public Art
Lesson #6
Key points of Nato Thompson’s study:
-Not only related to the world of contemporary art but includes
various cultural phenomena (i.e critical mass, guerrilla
gardening, micro-granting community etc) ;
- desire to merge art and life ( see all the previous movements
of the last century) ;
- to look at them not only through the lens of western art history
but considering also specific historical and local entities ;
-It describes the temperature of what is happening around
public practices worldwide in the last two decades ;
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Politecnico di Milano (Campus di Piacenza) School of Architecture and Society

10. Course of Site Specific Public Art
Lesson #6
Key points of Nato Thompson’s study:
- The meaning of LIFE within the Living as form research:
-anti-representational: participation and sociality on one hand
and genuine interpersonal human relationships;
- a reaction to the two-dimensional state of the art;
- a reaction to the alienating state caused by the society of
the spectacle;
- participation;
- a work situated into the “real” world: intendend as a spatial
place or public realm;
- operating in the political sphere;
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Politecnico di Milano (Campus di Piacenza) School of Architecture and Society

11. Course of Site Specific Public Art
Lesson #6
Key points of Nato Thompson’s study:
- The meaning of FORM within the Living as form research:
-People coming together is a form as well;
- Affinities in methodology and political issues they face;
- Focusing on how the work approaches the social issues;
- Type of gatherings;
- Type of media manipulation: media stunts as part of political
realm;
-Research and its presentation: share your knowledge also in a
performative way;
- Structural alternatives: DIY ethic, slow food, critical mass,
community garden, all the forms of new civic life, alternative
economics, schools and work as well;
- Types of communication: the art of listening instead of
speaking;
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Politecnico di Milano (Campus di Piacenza) School of Architecture and Society

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