This week: The first in our series of interviews from the Open Engagement conference that took place in Portland this past May. We start off with an excellent discussion that Randall Szott, Duncan, Brian and the occasional Incubate person had with artist, writer, lemon tormentor Ted Purves. Topics include; Ted’s work, the past present and future of Social Practice and what it means to be an artist today.

This series of interviews (thusfar, I’ve only gone through the first two) are some of my favorite discussions that (the royal) we have had in the 5 years of the show. Great stuff!

Ted Purves is a writer and artist based in Oakland. His public projects and curatorial works are centered on investigating the practice of art in the world, particularly as it addresses issues of localism, democratic participation, and innovative shifts in the position of the audience. His two-year project, Temescal Amity Works, created in collaboration with Susanne Cockrell and based in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland, facilitated and documented the exchange of backyard produce and finished its public phase in winter 2007. His collaborative project Momentary Academy, a free school taught by artists over a period of 10 weeks, was featured in Bay Area Now 4 in 2005 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

Ted recently received a visual arts grant from the Creative Capital Foundation and a Creative Work Fund grant from the Elise and Walter Haas Foundation.

His book, What We Want Is Free: Generosity and Exchange in Recent Art, was published by State University of New York Press in 2005.

The Open Engagement conference is an initiative of Portland State University’s Art and Social Practice MFA concentration and co-sponsored by Portland Community College and the MFA in Visual Studies program at Pacific Northwest College of Art and supported by the Cyan PDX Cultural Residency Program. Directed by Jen Delos Reyes and planned in conjunction with Harrell Fletcher and the Portland State University MFA Monday Night Lecture Series, this conference features three nationally and internationally renowned artists: Mark Dion, Amy Franceschini, and Nils Norman. The conference will showcase work by Temporary Services, InCUBATE, and a new project by Mark Dion created in collaboration with students from the PSU Art and Social Practice concentration.

The artists involved in Open Engagement: Making Things, Making Things Better, Making Things Worse, challenge our traditional ideas of what art is and does. These artist’s projects mediate the contemporary frameworks of art as service, as social space, as activism, as interactions, and as relationships, and tackle subject matter ranging from urban planning, alternative pedagogy, play, fiction, sustainability, political conflict and the social role of the artist.

Can socially engaged art do more harm than good? Are there ethical responsibilities for social art? Does socially engaged art have a responsibility to create public good? Can there be transdisciplinary approaches to contemporary art making that would contribute to issues such as urban planning and sustainability?

Open Engagement is a free conference May 14-17, 2010, in Portland, Oregon. This annual conference will be a focal point of a new low residency Art and Social Practice MFA that PSU hopes to launch in Fall of 2010.

This years conference will host over 100 artists, activists, curators, scholars, writers, farmers, community organizers, film makers and collectives including: Nato Thompson, The Watts House Project, Linda Weintraub, Ted Purves, Henry Jenkins, Wealth Underground Farms, Brian Collier, Anne E. Moore, David Horvitz, Chen Tamir, and Parfyme.

Separd Fairey Mural on Houston and Bowery via Bowery Boogie

Last month artist Shepard Fairey who is single handedly putting a team of lawyers children through college erected a mural at the Elizabeth Houston Associates construction barriers on the corner of East Houston Street and the Bowery. This happened to be in advance of Fairey’s Mayday exhibition at Deitch Projects and the City of New York has decided that the work is in fact an advertisement that violated zoning laws prohibiting advertising and that Elizabeth Houston did not have the permit to erect a structure in the area. The city has issued a stop work order on the building being constructed behind the barriers until this has been resolved.

It would be interesting to have someone up to speed with public art zoning laws in New York City hash out the fine differences between the two. A hearing is in the process of being set for the violation. If found guilty of violating zoning laws, Elizabeth Houston Associates will be issued a fine and ordered to remove the mural.

As reported on Abitare a group of cyclists dumped 13 gallons of water soluble different colored paint in the various lanes of traffic on the busy Rosenthaler Platz in downtown Berlin. In a mater of seconds the entire plaza became a mix of pink, blue, yellow & purple with the group putting up signs that the paint would easily wash away with little water.

The Gothamist (which reportedly recently sold for 5-6 Million) has posted the latest gag by The Trustocorp Group, a anonymous group that places humorous mock products, signage & messages in as many public places as possible.  The latest is just in time for Kickball season at McCarren Park in Brooklyn where signs have been placed reminding park-goers to avoid feeding the Hipsters.

Trustocorp has also done works that promote: a brand of cereal called Banko$ “Eat the Rich”, Street Signs that say “yield to peace – until then war turns profits” & various other works of a similar nature.

The Dubai Fountain which was announced in June of 2008 by developer Burj Dubai has officially been opened. At an estimated cost of $218 Million USD or 800 Million AED the fountain is the largest and most complex of it’s kind. Surpassing the Fountains of Bellagio at Las Vegas by at least 25%.

The fountains which are over 300 yards in length can shoot to the maximum height of 150 meters, which is equivalent to the 50-story building or 1/5th of the way up the nearby Burj Dubai super-skyscraper that is set to be completed by January of 2010.