Last week, we watched a Lunchtime Lecture (my last one...wow that's actually really sad) given by John Freyer. His main motivation behind his art is getting to interact with an audience, and his current project, 50/50, is inspired by his experience as someone who recovered from substance abuse. The sub-projects of 50/50, including Free Hot Coffee, Free Ice Water, and Free Hot Supper, all invite people (specifically young people recovering from substance abuse) to have conversations with each other while enjoying a cup of hot coffee or ice water, a hot meal, etc. He works especially with collegiate recovery programs in order to further his goal of helping formerly addicted young people through their recovery.
I found the lecture very engaging, especially when he passed the coffee grinders around and we all got to turn the handle a few times. (This is technically off-topic, but: I normally hate both the taste and smell of coffee no matter what amount of cream and sugar goes into it, but the coffee we got to grind up, which was a special mixture he created with the opinions of people who participated in his art projects, smelled great.) I loved hearing about how he was so driven to help communities all over the place, and how much he was motivated by interacting with people. Compared to his, my work is very individualized (I like making my work by myself, even if it can be applied to others, and I really don't have the energy to interact with people all the time like he does), but I love the depths to which it (and he) goes to help people. I would love to do that - help people - with my own work, but I wouldn't even know where to start except by actually interacting with lots of people (what a fun paradox that is).
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AuthorMolly Goodman Archives
May 2019
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