Impractical Spaces – https://www.impracticalspaces.org
Impractical Spaces
IMPRACTICAL SPACES is a collaborative national project and groundbreaking anthology of publications that offers a historical look at defunct and active artist-run projects throughout the United States.
Banner image credit: Platform Gallery, Baltimore, Crowd at Platform Gallery, Image courtesy of Abbey Parrish and Lydia Pettit.
Impractical Spaces supports the archiving of defunct and active artist run spaces
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https://www.impracticalspaces.org
A BOOK AND PUBLICATION PROJECT THAT CHARTS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ARTIST-RUN SCENE IN FIFTY CITIES AND FIFTY STATES.
IMPRACTICAL SPACES is a collaborative national project and groundbreaking anthology of publications that offers a historical look at defunct and active artist-run projects throughout the United States. To build this anthology, we partner with artists, arts professionals, and non-profits in states across the nation to produce publications documenting their local art scenes, and bring them together in the form of a book to demonstrate their overall impact. It is the first project to comprehensively chart the development of these spaces on a national scale.
Impractical Spaces’ advocacy for artist-run projects begins the work of building humane infrastructure for art across the country. We believe in creating meaningful support systems that ensure that the work we all feel compelled to do isn’t lost and forgotten as quickly as it is made.
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OUR PUBLICATIONS SHOW THE DIVERSITY OF ART MAKING ACROSS THE NATION.
While each city individually defines the scope of the project, our partners apply a broad lens in defining “artist-run” for the purpose of creating more comprehensive documentation and inclusive representation. On a national level, our project will both showcase the diversity of art making in America by illustrating how place shapes creative activity while connecting threads to more mainstream conversations about art across the country.
PUBLICATIONS
OUR PARTNERS ARE ART PROFESSIONALS WHO WORK WITH THEIR LOCAL COMMUNITIES TO PRODUCE AN AMBITIOUS PUBLICATION THAT DOCUMENTS ARTIST-RUN PROJECTS.
Partners connect to other like-minded arts professionals both locally and nationally. By working together we create a stronger network of art workers. We are currently working with Kansas City MO, Houston TX, Grand Rapids MI, Portland OR, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico.
On a local level, individual partners are artists and creatives who participate in the artist-run scene, ad hoc venues and community centers. We work with each partner to define the scope of their project, and encourage a broad-lensed approach when considering its perimeters. This breadth creates more comprehensive documentation and inclusive representation that is locally specific.