Matt Hern: Art and Community Reading Group #3

Tuesday April 19, 7pm
UNIT/PITT, 236 E Pender St., Vancouver

Matt Hern will lead a discussion exploring the ethical, political, and aesthetic issues tied to the production of community-based art.

This is the third in a series of monthly reading discussions on the problematic relationships between “art” and “community”. This series is part of 2055 Project programming, using the 40th anniversary of the Helen Pitt Gallery’s founding to pose questions about the next 40 years: What kind of future do we want for our organization, and our city? What would a future that takes into account social and cultural diversity, community history, and social and environmental justice look like? What is community? What are the social and political responsibilities of artists and cultural workers?

Reading: “On the (cutting) edge of the global city” by Jean-Paul Addie & Rob Fiedler.

Everyone is welcome. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the reading ahead of the discussion. Participants are also asked to come prepared to share one resource they know of about the suburbs.

Matt Hern is a community organizer, writer and activist known for his work in radical urbanism, community development, ecology and alternative forms of education. He founded and directed the Purple Thistle Centre, Car-Free Vancouver Day, Groundswell: Grassroots Economic Alternatives and now is a Co-founder/director of 2+10 Industries, among many other community projects. His books and articles have been published on all six continents and translated into twelve languages. His forthcoming book is called What A City Is For: Remaking the Politics of Displacement (MIT Press, 2016).