Social Strategies: Practice, Reflection, Archive

How can we collect, preserve, and learn from art practices that aren't primarily "objects" — projects that live in relationships, events, conversations, care work, and civic collaboration? This panel will open with a brief introduction to social practice as a contemporary art form and consider why archives, memory, and data are central when the work is ephemeral, community-based, or resistant to being "captured." In a moderated discussion, participants will consider what counts as evidence, who gets to tell the story, what gets kept or lost, and how physical archives and digital collections might support community accountability — not just institutional storage.

Discussants will include Chloë Bass, Jen de los Reyes, Pablo Helguera, Abigail Satinsky, Daniel Tucker, Dan S. Wang, and Stephanie Smith. The event will be introduced by Rebecca Uchill and Stephanie Smith, and moderated by Beth Saunders. For bios and other information about the participants, please visit here.

This program corresponds with "Social Strategies," a collaborative research project organized by Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture, and is hosted and co-sponsored by the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery.

Attendees can enjoy the exhibition in the Library Gallery, Mary Ellen Mark: Ward 81.

Admission is free. For driving directions and parking information, please visit here.