Touchy Feely

SARAH RODIGARI: Can provocation feel good or when I touch you here does it hurt?

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 01:19:00 -0400

SARAH RODIGARI: Can provocation feel good or when I touch you here does it hurt?:

Read Sarah Rodigari’s blog post about Touchy Feely and hear a podcast of her Pecha Kucha talk here.

The art of trying to please everybody

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 06:05:00 -0400

Soon after Pip and I held the Touchy Feely talks in Hobart I was asked by Next Wave Festival to write something about their keynote project, Wake up and wait for the sun to rise: 500 methods for a new beginning, which will be presented at this year’s festival. It’s worth posting a link to the piece here because my reflections on the project were influenced by our talks at Touchy Feely. My article appears on pages 56-7.

In a few weeks I’ll also be able to post an interview I did with Live Art List Australia about Touchy Feely.

Until then,

Amy.

Touchy Feely talks… All photos by Pip Stafford

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:03:00 -0500

Touchy Feely talks…

All photos by Pip Stafford

Culture Vulture: Optimism

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:22:36 -0500

Culture Vulture: Optimism

Feelgood art: the pick-me-up to get us through an age of anxiety | Art and design | The Observer

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:06:00 -0500

Feelgood art: the pick-me-up to get us through an age of anxiety | Art and design | The Observer:

Melbourne-based artist Dan Koop couldn’t make it to Hobart for Touchy Feely but he thought we might like to check out this article.

Did you pop in looking for some documentation?

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:48:00 -0500

It will be here soon. We promise. Just as soon as we’ve had a kip and a cuppa and can make the technology behave itself.

There are photos, video and audio to be had.

In the mean time, join the conversation on twitter: #touchyfeely

Or go read Sally Rees’ thoughts on our first couple of nights:
sallyhasblog.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/touchy-feely-thoughts-to-date

- Pip

Relational art with a heart | Rebecca Fitzgibbon | The Mercury

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:51:29 -0500

Relational art with a heart | Rebecca Fitzgibbon | The Mercury

http://www.lucazoid.com/bilateral/touchy-feely/

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:10:40 -0500

http://www.lucazoid.com/bilateral/touchy-feely/

Sally Rees - Duet for Friends: Alive and Dead

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:10:20 -0500

Sally Rees - Duet for Friends: Alive and Dead

Photo

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:53:49 -0500

Touchy Feely - Artist Talks and Exhibition

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:31:00 -0500

Curated by Amy Spiers and Pip Stafford
25 – 29 January, 2012
Inflight ARI, Hobart, Tasmania

Touchy Feely is five days in January packed full of artist-led talks, workshops and presentations held at Inflight ARI, Hobart, Tasmania on 25 – 29 January, 2012. Bringing together a number of interstate and Tasmanian artists – including Lara Thoms, Liz Dunn, Nancy Mauro-Flude, Sally Rees and Elizabeth Woods – it aims to be a rigorous and lively discussion on central issues facing socially engaged, participatory and relational artists today. The questions we hope to address include:

Should the “skill set” of art be instrumentalised to make a better world?
Is there a role for hope, compassion and optimism in art, without having to take an evangelical or moralistic position?
In our current situation, is it actually politically irresponsible to creatively express despair, unease and tension?
Is contemporary art marked by a facile cynicism, heartlessness and nihilism?
Or is relational and socially engaged art in Australia too sentimental, ethical and uncritical?

In recent decades there has been a “social turn” in contemporary art, here in Australia and internationally. This turn is characterised by art projects that emphasise participation, dialogue and community engagement to activate the public. It has given rise to an optimistic notion that art can be marshaled to tackle wider social issues and create emancipatory social relations. These relational and socially engaged practices take a variety of forms, some more politically overt than others, however what they all have in common is that they are artistic attempts to offer new social models of being and living together.

In an effort to re-humanise and re-connect a society rendered atomized and alienated by capitalism, increasingly artists adopt socially ameliorative strategies. But has this resulted in a sentimental and convivial artistic impulse, that is at the expense of complexity and criticality?

For more information email: amyspiers@gmail.com