Three days of exchanges and social research in North Carolina’s Triangle and Triad.
For a full decade, Open Engagement has brought together artists, activists, and scholars for an intensive yearly conference in a wide range of cities like New York, Chicago, Oakland, Portland, and Regina. Founded by artists and characterized by its grassroots self-organization, OE has stood out as a key context for socially engaged practitioners and theorists alike. Participants have ranged from the local to the international, including people like Angela Davis, Suzanne Lacy, Lucy Lippard, Mel Chin, Rick Lowe, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, J. Morgan Puett, Tom Finkelpearl, Claire Doherty, Michael Rakowitz, Pablo Helguera, Paul Ramirez Jonas, Emily Jacir, Julie Ault, and Theaster Gates.
As part of Open Engagement’s research year to re-assess its future and evaluate the needs of the field, they will be hosted in the NC Triangle and Triad (Sep 13–15, 2019) by the FHI Social Practice Lab at Duke, UNC Greensboro, UNC Chapel Hill, and various local organizations. The OE team will keynote the weekend, sharing their trajectory and making space for conversations on local needs, followed by an emergent strategy training. Led by Alexis Pauline Gumbs to assist in thinking about possible futures, the training is based on the work of adrienne maree brown and has been arranged with the Emergent Strategy Institute (ESII). North Carolina partners will present a series of programs and events highlighting the work of socially engaged artists, activists, students, scholars, community members, as well as organizations working within the area. This event has been organized by Pedro Lasch (Duke) and Lee Walton (UNC-G), in collaboration with all listed individuals and groups.
