NEWS & PRESS

Review of UnHomeless NYC in Frieze

"Not only does ‘UnHomeless NYC’ call into question the exceptionality of artistic practice – the making of art for art’s sake – but, by inviting a broad spectrum of participants, it goes to demonstrate how collective and cross-disciplinary collaboration is necessary to ensure that no one is without a place to call home." By Andreas Petrossiants. Pictured: Miguel Robles-Durán and Cohabitation Strategies, How to Begin Again, 2021. Courtesy: Kingsborough Art Museum, New York; photograph: Brian Edward Hack.
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UnHomeless NYC reviewed in Hyperallergic

"Public collaboration is the show’s greatest strength," writes Billy Anania in his review. The exhibition includes the work of current Queens College MFA Sachigusi Yasuda and was curated by artist Maureen Connor (Queens College Professor Emeritus and co-founder of Social Practice Queens), SPCUNY Faculty Fellow Midori Yamamura, and former Queens College MFA Tommy Mintz along with Jason Leggett and Rob Robinson. Photo: Detail from Willie Baronet, "We Are All Homeless" (2022). Credit: Billy Anania/Hyperallergic.
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Work by Rie Osogoe, 2021-2022 Student Fellow, in the Tokyo Shinbun Newspaper

(Article is in Japanese. Click here for English translation.) "On the afternoons of the second and fourth Saturdays, food is distributed to those in need at Higashi Ikebukuro Chuo Park in Toshima Ward. In May, a small art space was set up in one corner of the park where anyone can participate. Among those who hold a brush are welfare recipients and people living on the street." By Masaaki Nakamura. Photos: Tetsunori Sato.
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On Pre-Sale: The Art of Activism and the Activism of Art

SPCUNY co-director Gregory Sholette's new book, The Art of Activism and the Activism of Art, is available for pre-order. The book maps, critiques, celebrates and historicises activist art, exploring its current urgency alongside the processes which have given rise to activism by artists, and activist forms of art. Use code ACTIVISM22 for free worldwide shipping (valid until September 1, 2022).
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Podcast Indoor Voices, Episode 70: The intersection of art and social justice, featuring Social Practice CUNY

Indoor Voices was co-founded in 2017 by two CUNY librarians to curate interesting CUNY conversations. For this episode, Cynthia Tobar, 2021-22 SPCUNY Faculty Fellow and Bronx Community College librarian, talks with SPCUNY co-founders/directors Chloë Bass and Gregory Sholette.
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Memes Are Dominating Attention Spans and Clicks Like Never Before. So Why Is Serious Socially Engaged Art Also Thriving?

A mohawk-topped black man defiantly marches forward across a public plaza as a weaponized water cannon blasts him back, creating a visceral spectacle recalling civil rights confrontations in 1960s Birmingham, Alabama, but the year is really 2014, and the place is New York City.
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Art As Social Action
10 Years of Social Practice Queens

The phrase “Art As Social Action” is both a philosophy and a call for activity. It emphasizes the potential for artistic engagement to support positive political change beyond art for art’s sake, and creativity as a tool for connection and celebration.
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ART AS SOCIAL ACTION AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF TEACHING SOCIAL PRACTICE ART

Art as Social Action is both a general introduction to and an illustrated, practical textbook for the field of social practice, an art medium that has been gaining popularity in the public sphere. With content arranged thematically around such topics as direct action...
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Mellon Foundation Supports Social Practice CUNY at The Graduate Center to Cultivate Diverse Artists and Leaders in NYC

An innovative program based at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York aims to create a new generation of cultural leaders in New York City who represent the city’s diverse population and are committed to bringing social change through art.
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