Artists today are becoming less interested in the representation of the image, or creation of the object. Instead they are re-considering the potential for the artwork to unfold, revealing itself as a series of events, stories or experiences to be lived in, interpreted and used. The questions artists are asking no longer focus on the self-referential quest of ‘what is art?’ instead they are asking, ‘where is art?’ Questions about the relationship between the work and the social, political and geographical situation in which it exists are all under new interrogation.
Within his presentation James Newitt will speak about his own practice from the perspective of working as a graphic designer, where he focused on interpretation design and the presentation of information, to his more recent practice of constructing new interpretive experience. As well as using his own work to exemplify his argument, James Newitt will survey a number of significant works by artists who work in the spaces in-between art, society and place.