Acts of Transfer

This evening of conversation with artist Katy Beinart, writer Lizzie Lloyd and curator Marianne Mulvey will consider their shared interests in socially engaged or participatory art projects. The event accompanies a new publication developed by Beinart and Lloyd through a collaborative project called Acts of Transfer which also resulted in series of short films, an audio work, photographs, drawings, performances, and texts that document and reactivate a selection of artworks from the past that contain elements of social engagement or public participation. They worked with a selection of artists to develop this work including: Matt Stokes, Warren and Mosley, Eelyn Lee, Young In Hong, Benjamin Owen, Harun Morrison, Gil Mualem-Doron, and a place of their own (Paula McCloskey and Sam Vardy).

The focus of the evening will be on the role of socially engaged artworks and projects. We will ask: what is the afterlife of such projects? How do you meaningfully document socially engaged projects? How do you recreate the 'feel' of a moment in time to share with audiences who weren't there? And how can returns, re-enactments, repetitions and retellings help understand the experience of socially engaged artworks for participants, artists, and audiences?

Acts of Transfer has been generously supported by Arts Council England, the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics at the University of Brighton, Phoenix Art Space, Brighton Centre for Contemporary Art, SEAS, and Towner Gallery, and University of the West of England and the Social Art Library.