All Posts By

Scott Burkholder

Aug 08
0

A Human Project

By | Art & Social Change, Of Love and Concrete | No Comments

JR is an international street artist who uses portraits to tell stories. His work is not only big in the sense that his canvases are typically measured in meters but his statements are huge!

Portraits of a Generation: Byron, Paris, 20ème arrondissement, 2004

In his early work, Portraits of a Generation, JR captured images of the overlooked population of  youth in the projects of Paris and posted them in highly visible locations throughout the city. In his later work Face 2 Face, he captured images of both parties to the Israel-Palestinian conflict and posted them side by side on the Separation Barrier. His most recent work, The Inside Out Project, is an open invitation to the world to tell their story through portraiture. The Emmerson Collective is using the project as a tool to highlight the stories of the newest residents of the United States.

Inside Out Baltimore: Kristin Stith, Scott Burkholder, Bonnie Schupp photo by Theresa Keil via What Weekly

JR’s work touches upon some of the most divisive topics: poverty, human dignity, the middle east, war, immigration and the list goes on. However, JR refuses to get political and professes that his work is apolitical. How can he do that? JR does so by looking at these circumstances through the lense of values and not as “issues.” He sees his work as telling the story of humanity

“This artistic act is first and foremost a human project”

JR: Women Are Heroes Action in Kibera Slum, Train Passage 5, Kenya, 2009

JR has tapped into the most powerful and important attribute of art. Art is about values!

When art is a place for society to explore our values, it is extremely powerful. By focusing on human story, JR directs our attention to our universal axiom of being human. He gives us dignity and causes us to explore dignity without regard for condition because we all have a story. JR and successful art gets to the root of humanity by using issues not for the sake of an agenda but for the sake of reminding us of the most important things about being human.

Exploring our values is extremely important! In a society, and world, that is hung up on the fleeting nature of issues, we have become overly divided. I dare say that there are values that all people will claim. Life, liberty,  love, the pursuit of happiness … to name a few. There are very few issues or interests that a significant majority would claim (see the current Habor Point TIF issue in Baltimore Maryland.). It is in our values that we will have the opportunity to not only work together, but to live together. The divided world needs to consider the values behind our thoughts and actions. In that exploration we might possibly find the ground big enough for all of us to stand on.

JR is not a politician, but his work is making big bold statements as if he were one. And his work is likely doing more to change the world than politics as usual.

IMAGE CREDIT. [Scott Burkholder June 2013 NYC].
Jul 24
0

Silo-Breakers: Scott Burkholder

By | Art & Social Change, Of Love and Concrete, Silo-Breakers | No Comments

Editor’s 0714_WVanthem …

At ChangingMedia, we love playing around with new technologies. One of our core beliefs is that tech has the potential to break down barriers and create meaningful social change. That pixelated sense of playfulness extends to ChangeEngine, where we’re always looking for new ways to send grand schemes and new ideas into orbit. Our most advanced technology, of course, is the genius of our contributors. But we also know that those new tools can push the debate and the work of social change forward. And so, without further ado and through the magic of Instagram video, we present the latest installment in our Silo-Breakers series — our very own bard of love and concrete, Scott Burkholder, on his work with GBTC at the intersection of art and tech.

Thanks to Scott for agreeing to be our pioneer (and a shout-out to ChangeEngine’s chief booster, the irrepressible Colin Seal, for suggesting the idea.)

[Want to join in the fun? Create a short Instagram video telling us what your silo is and how you’re working to break out of it. Share with us at changeengine on Instagram, @ChangEngine #breakoutchallenge on Twitter, or at facebook.com/ChangingMedia.]

 

Jun 27
0

The Real Adventure

By | Art & Social Change, Of Love and Concrete | No Comments

The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

             –Marcel Proust

One of the most powerful changes for humanity is to see the world with new perspective. Yes there is tingling excitement in experiencing the momentary splendor of aesthetic beauty but growth comes from changing preconceived notions. Art possesses the powerful ability to give humanity new eyes. It is with this in mind that Michael Owen, the creator and visionary behind the Baltimore Love Project, is working on a new series called “Explore”.

Although not a native of Baltimore, Michael is very much a product of Baltimore. He has made the city his home for the past 12 years, having landed here, like many others, for higher education and not quite able or ready to leave upon graduating. For the past decade, Michael has been working on the streets of Baltimore. He is not hawking something illegal, nor is he a vigilante with spray paint. Michael is commissioned to express ideas on wall-sized canvases. Michael is a professional mural artist. He has hustled enough that he is now implementing his own visions like the Love Project and Explore.

With a studio on the streets and the ambition to make provocative statements, Michael has experienced Baltimore in ways that few others have. Michael has taken flight from “Smalltimore.” He has expended his understanding beyond MICA, the Inner Harbor, Bolton Hill, and Station North. He has even gone beyond Canton, Fell’s, Mount Vernon and Hampden.

Michael knows that the city is not just the areas around the water and the Charles Street Corridor. He has seen beautiful pockets of greenery. (Anyone heard of Leakin park on the west side? Bigger than Patterson and Druid Hill combined.) He has seen that Pittsburgh is not the only town to have produced steel. He has seen that as a caucasian male he is actually a minority in Baltimore. He has seen that his emerging artist income far exceeds that of many in Charm City. Through experiencing the vast landscape of Baltimore, Michael knows himself differently and he knows the city differently.

“Explore” is an effort to share the city of Baltimore. Explore is an effort to share landscapes that many would not experience on their own. Explore is an effort to help people birth new eyes.

Much like the Love Project, Michael is seeking out walls spread geographically across the city. Once a wall is found he creates depth and nuance in the image by layering numerous brilliant colors in a graffiti-esqe fashion on the surface. The patches of vibrance appear to be revealed by peeling away the surface as he utilizes much of the native background in the canvas.

Each wall has an ethereal human figure created in the vibrant hues that seems to be floating in a vast unknown. Finally, to draw connections to the larger project, each wall contains one of the letters from the word “explore”. The combination of the colors, the technique, the content and the concept put out a strong appeal to look deeper.

Michael has put out a call to experience a city that he has come to know. His work is birthing not only new aesthetic gifts to Baltimore, but quite possibly something far more valuable — new perspective.

IMAGE CREDIT. [Michael Owen].
Jun 13
0

Art to Stand On

By | Art & Social Change, Of Love and Concrete | No Comments

There are many attributes to art. Art can have aesthetic quality. The work can be satiating to the eye, and beautiful in a very traditional sense. Art can have a purpose. The work can be functional and exceptionally well designed for human interaction. Art can have meaning. The work can challenge the mind and change our perspective. A work of art that captures all three attributes well is likely to have great impact.

Flux Foundation knows how to make work that leaves an impression. The foundation, most well known for their monstrous work at the mecca of bohemian culture that is Burning Man, recently did an installation for the Coachella music festival in Coachella Valley California. The Sidewalk’s End was a powerful work that considered aesthetic, purpose, and meaning.

With thoughtfulness about the community, Flux created a piece that was simple yet provocative in aesthetic. It played with Shel Silverstein’s title that was likely very familiar to the younger audience of Coachella. The Sidewalk’s End literally and tastefully looked like the end of a sidewalk.

The work served a powerful purpose without distracting from the event. It was a man made grassy knoll that offered a better view and means to enjoy the tunes. It also offered respite from the heat with a semi enclosed outdoor room with misters. The work challenged perceptions. The Polo Grounds venue is a flat expanse that one would think is already ideal for a concert. The piece added a physical dimension, it was 80 feet long and rose up 12 feet from the ground. It also provided an opportunity to experience Coachella in a unique way with sweeping vistas of the grounds not previously experienced.

2013-04-12-18.14.54-w1280-h1280-795x263

To accomplish work that embodies such meaning, the foundation leans heavily on process. Their mission is “to build art with community. To build community with art.” Their work starts and ends with the community, which requires a process that goes beyond just the creator. The implementation requires a team of designers, carpenters, fabricators, programmers and neighbors to bring a piece to life.

For “The Sidewalk Ends” building with community and for community was a process of considering heavily the context of the work. Coachella is a HUGE outdoor gathering around alternative music. The work could not be the end itself. The work had to enhance the experience of the younger audience enjoying music.

The Flux Foundation is onto something with their thoughtful creative process. They recognize that art has many values. When all the potential of art is explored, not just the aesthetic, we have the opportunity to change how people experience the world around them. Now imagine if the multiple values of art were applied beyond a weekend festival devoted to music. We might find that art is a solid foundation to build meaningful change.

IMAGE CREDIT. [http://fluxfoundation.org/blog/coachella-loves-flux/].
May 30
0

Literacy Beyond the Book!

By | Art & Social Change, Of Love and Concrete | No Comments

Change is a result of access to information. The accelerated rate of societal change from the middle ages to present is likely a result of access to written information. During that period we experienced the invention of the printing press, increased rates of literacy, and greater emphasis on individual pursuit of knowledge. Today we see the manifestation of accelerated change with the torrent of information available along the information superhighway. Access to information is a means to level the playing field of opportunity for humanity. As social change makers, access to information should be a top priority.

Art in all forms is a medium to convey information. As noted above, we certainly recognize that art packaged in the written word is information, but do we understand that rhythm, color, and choreography also convey powerful messages? Literacy with respect to written words is important, but what about literacy in visual art, performing art, and music? Do we miss an amazing opportunity to convey ideas that go beyond the spoken word when we neglect other forms of “literacy”? I think as social change makers we must consider access to art a fundamental right.

What does making access to art a fundamental right look like?

We must first consider where “art” presently resides. It is everywhere but stereotypically speaking art resides in buildings. More specifically art resides in museums, galleries, music venues, and theaters. How do we provide greater access to these buildings? We must remove barriers to entry. Many of our Baltimore institutions have realized one of the barriers as economic. As a result their visionary leadership has made the collections accessible for free at various times. This model may seem flawed, but historically speaking admission fees are not what keeps the lights on at cultural institutions. There is opportunity to explore new business models that make art more economically accessible.

A static location is also a barrier. Despite living in the age of automobiles, many cultural venues are not accessible to the audiences most in need of their information. It is not reasonable for an institution to regularly move their collection, scale their operations, or worry about the next venue for their performance. But what would happen if we re-imagined how an institution shares its work? What would happen if we went beyond the walls? The Walters Art Musuem in Baltimore is exploring that question with their “off the walls” exhibit. They have placed replicas of their collection in public places beyond the museum walls. Another example of beyond the venue thinking is Performance Kitchen. They are exploring what heightened audience engagement is, including bringing art to audience instead of bringing audience to art.

Most importantly, artistic literacy is a barrier. I do not propose to be an expert on education, but I do see a flaws in our educational system. One of those major flaws is the lack of value placed on art. This manifests in many ways. It is the cutting of arts programs in schools but it is also reinforced on our streets. If you look around at our opportunity for art in public places it is as if we have settled for Dick, Jane and their dog spot. All too often we expect our public art to be cute, aesthetically pleasing, and easy. We expect that the art empowers the community for a moment in time but never allows them to grow. We need to challenge society and let them achieve Mark Twain and maybe even James Joyce level art work on our streets. There is opportunity to expand conversation by pushing artistic bounds.

There are barriers to making art a right for all populations. But the opportunity for change through artistic literacy and access to art should make it a top priority of anyone in pursuit of impact.

IMAGE CREDIT. Off the Walls.
May 15
0

Building Bridges

By | Art & Social Change, Of Love and Concrete | No Comments

Art is a bridge. It connects the mind to reality.

One of the most powerful connections that art can make is between people. Art can bring the CEO next to a hipster in a stank bar to indulge in some tunes. Art can reach deep into our soul as we explore the fallacy of our thoughts on material things. Art can even connect us to people we may not know. Art that tells the story of the unknown is among the most powerful in creating change. When we bring light to mystery it allows us to see and navigate.

In 1999 multidisciplinary artist Alfredo Jaar sought to bring to light a dark issue in Montreal. He used the amazing canvas of the Copula of the Marche Bonsecours to tell a story of homelessness in the city. “Lights of the City” thoughtfully considered how to draw attention to an issue that society would rather ignore. On many occasions portraits have captured the story of overlooked people, but “Lights of the City” sought to maintain the dignity of the subjects and not exploit their current circumstances. With respect, the instillation drew attention to the situation and suggested that it is only temporary.

As a monumental part of the sky line, the canvas was a beacon for much of the city. Jaar installed a hundred thousand watts of red lights into the copula. The lights could be flashed on with audience participation at several strategically located switches. The switches were placed in the office of an organization that serves the homeless, and several missions located within 500 yards of the copula.  Every time a homeless person entered any of the institutions they were welcome to flip the switch. This allowed the individual to be recognized without being humiliated.

Jaar created a connection for society. Just as a bridge cannot deliver us to our destination, his installation alone cannot eradicate homeless. It is on society to press onto our goal of a better life.

As a final thought I wanted to share some words from fellow Baltimore artist Gaia, on how to take this installation to the next level:

“Eventually all the shelters for homeless people in Montreal could be wired and connected to the Cupola. This way, a major landmark and historical monument in the city would be acting as a non-stop lighthouse, producing endless, painful distress signals to society.

With enough media coverage and public outrage and support triggered by these ongoing distress signals, homelessness could be completely eradicated from Montreal.”

IMAGE CREDIT. Wikimedia Commons.
May 01
0

Rise from the Rust: Art and Economic Development

By | Art & Social Change, Of Love and Concrete | 2 Comments

Grand Rapids, Michigan — an urban town — is becoming the envy of American metropolises. Forbes magazine just cited it as one of 15 cities to watch. ArtPrize is likely a significant factor in the rise of this emerald city in the heart of America’s rust belt. The five-year-old event is shaping the mini-metropolis’ economy and the global dialog about art.

ArtPrize began as an experiment of visionary entrepreneur Rick DeVos. As a third-generation entrepreneur and Grand Rapidian, DeVos knows something about vision and cared deeply about his home town. In 2009 he devised an event to crown the largest prize awarded in art in Grand Rapids. The novelty of the idea went beyond the size of the prize and the non-art-mecca location of small-town-America. The award was open to any artist from across the globe. Any venue or public space within the boundaries of downtown Grand Rapids could serve as a gallery. Finally, and likely most risque, the award was to be decided by popular vote of the people physically present in downtown Grand Rapids during the event.

The event proposes some interesting questions:

What happens when anyone can identify themselves as an artist?

What happens when any venue can be declared a gallery?

What happens when anyone can be a critic?

The answer is twofold: economic impact in a post industrial city and rich dialog!

The event was an economic force in it’s first year! It was obvious to the restaurants in the heart of the event, many ran out of food to serve during the first weekend of the two week extravaganza! In post event reports, the second competition had economic impact of over $7 million. Data for 2012 event has not yet been published but 2011 saw $15.4 million of economic activity and brought over 300,000 visitors to the urban town!

With an additional “Christmas” type retail season in the early fall, the event has attracted many new restaurants, bars, and boutiques to the downtown area. One of the more interesting additions was a “pop-up” storefront for Wolverine, an international shoe brand with offices in Grand Rapids. The brand opened up a store in downtown for what was anticipated to be a short-term during ArtPrize 2011, but in the end has held onto the spot. The success of the “pop up store” inspired the brand to open up their first store in New York City.

Beyond the economic success, the event has created conversation. ArtPrize is devoted to Art! The previous four events have attracted over 5,000 creative installations and hundreds of thousands of visitors. New thoughts are certainly formed and voiced with the presence of new minds in the town; add art, good or bad, and conversation abounds.

ArtPrize is a jackpot! ArtPrize awards $200,000 to an artist for a single work. To put that in perspective, Baltimore’s own Sondheim prize and Baker’s artist awards are $25,000. Even the prestigious Turner Art Prize awarded annually by the Tate in London is only 40,000 pounds ($62,300) and the Guggenheim’s Hugo Boss award is $100,000. ArtPrize is a large boost for the “starving” artist.

The ArtPrize is awarded democratically. The popular vote of the prize suggest that anyone has the opportunity to express their thoughts on art. This has attracted more “attention” than any other element of the prize. For quite some time the art establishment has been a tight community with prolific educational or economic hurdles as barriers. ArtPrize is leveling the playing field. By allowing the vote of anyone in the community to count, art is now something anyone can talk about. The metropolitan socialite, the hipster, the farmer and the homeless man can all voice a statement. In 2012, ArtPrize added a $100,000 juried award, suggesting a desire to be serious about the art but still placing the emphasis on accessibility of art to the general population. It will be interesting to see if ArtPrize ever awards both prizes to the same work.

ArtPrize is creating change. A small city in west central Michigan is on the minds of city planners, events organizers and the global art community. The interesting thing about ArtPrize is that it does not have to be confined to a geographic area. Many elements of the concept could be exported and the future may hold a global movement of democratically awarded art prizes that foster the economy and expand thought.

IMAGE CREDIT. “Open Water No.24” by Ran Ortner; Photo by Flickr user Haunting Notions.
Apr 17
0

Why Change Can’t Be Built In A Day

By | Art & Social Change, Of Love and Concrete | 2 Comments

Creating social change is not easy. Creating social change within the confines of cultural norms today is near miraculous. In my previous two posts, I have explored the challenges culture throws at social change makers. In part one, I explored the larger picture through the perspective of a national non-profit fund raising expert, Dan Pallotta. In part two, I explored the challenges on a personal level through my experiences using public art in Baltimore to create social change. In my final post in this series, I hope to suggest things that we can do as a society and as social change makers to make the process of lasting impact easier.

Compensation: Know what it is worth and ask for it.

Pallotta points out that society sees nothing wrong with compensating the developer of a violent blockbuster video game tens of millions of dollars, yet struggles to pay the guy ridding the world of malaria several hundred thousand dollars. Society knows how to keep score for the video game developer. Society has the company’s balance sheet. Society does not know how to keep score for the guy curing malaria. There is no balance sheet. Culture needs to consider that value goes beyond a bottom line. Change makers need to do our part to describe that value. On the personal front, Love Project artist Michael Owen and I had no idea how much work it would take to complete our “simple” project. We now know and as a result we understand better the value of such monumental tasks. We need to share this information with other folks: funders, artists, community developers and anyone working in the area of adding social and economic value through art. We need to help set the “appropriate” market rates for this type of work and ask for the appropriate rate.

Advertising and Marketing: There are more efficient methods than development.

One of Pallotta’s over-arching themes is how society perceives overhead in non-profit work as evil. Society needs to know that overhead may actually work to fight evil. The current methods of non-profit fundraising are ripe for corruption and cronyism. Development, the protocol for traditional non-profit fundraising,  is about relationships with people who already value you or your work. This mindset is supposed to reduce the amount of effort (dollars) spent on raising money as you are not working to find new supporters, but rather expanding the “charity” of the current supporters of the cause. This sounds great but not only does it lends itself to support coming from family, friends and the business acquaintances of the executive director’s spouse, it suggests the pool is only so wide and yet infinitely deep. In for-profit business, a development mindset would be ludicrous. It suggest that the pool of customers never expands; it just grows in depth. Business does marketing because it is easier to make the market wider than it is to make the market deeper. We as change makers need to make some noise on this issue. We need to fight for the opportunity to market and let our funders know that expanding the pool alleviates financial stress on them.

Risk: Failure is a part of learning even in social change.

A trend in start-up business these days is to “fail fast” and change. The notion is that it is better to figure out early that an idea is not going anywhere and move onto the next thing than to linger and waste resources on it. Mr. Pallotta points out that in for-profit that failure is seen as a pivot point, or learning opportunity. In non-profit, failure is viewed as a moral lapse of judgement. Society needs to understand that failure is still a learning experience in non-profit just as it is in for-profit. We need to accept and encourage risk, meaning failure might happen, so that we can grow. If social concerns are still with us, there is still opportunity and a need to try new methods of change. We must learn in order to create change.

Time Horizons: Be real about achieving social change.

Adding value that goes beyond the bottom line requires long-time horizons and there is always someone else behind you ready to take the money from the funder. Society (funders, the public, and organizations) needs to grow in our understanding of realistic expectations for change. We know that Rome was not built in a day, but do we know that the social ills of Rome were never solved? Change makers need to be realistic about the change that they can deliver and over what time. We need to do our part to demonstrate progress whenever possible. We need to embrace accountability and be able to clearly articulate the progress that IS being made. We need metrics and we need to know what they mean. It should be the goal of every organization to make their “balance sheets” available, and I do not mean financials. Funders also need to do their part to express realistic expectations and commit to the long term with organizations. Change will come but it will likely not happen tomorrow.

Social Capital Markets: Ownership of doing good.

When a non-profit organization wants to grow its infrastructure so it can deliver more services or products it relies on the same pool of dollars as it would for programming. Operations and build money are treated as one and the same. For-profit business would find this inefficient. Society needs to rethink the financial opportunities for social change makers. Yes, we are doing that with crowd funding platforms but these are limited by imagination and regulations. Could we imagine a platform that allows for distinctive “ownership” of social good? Could we create reasonable regulations that open up funding for social change? These are in the works but we must again accept some risk and allow for learning and growth so that our efforts to deliver social change can be made more efficient.

Social change is hard. I do not think that will ever change. But as a society, we can rethink our perspectives on delivering that social change and make it far easier. Many hands can lift a far greater weight when we don’t hold ourselves back.

IMAGE CREDIT. Aaron Logan/LIGHTmatter Photography via Wikimedia Commons