Justice Through Art

I can’t count how many friends and teachers scribbled in my childhood and adolescent yearbooks: “I’ll vote for you for president someday!” It’s a silly memory now, but a good reminder that my passion for justice has been alive and well since my playground days. For years I bragged that I would be the first woman president… and I believed it. It wasn’t until my first art history class that I was able to put the broader scope of my passion into language. I learned about artists that changed politics by inspiring social movements and spiritual revivals through their work. I was about 20 when I realized that I am about 2 parts artist and only 1 politician.

Through a facebook post I just learned about an awesome film project called, “The Candy Shop.” It is a 30-minute film that functions as an allegorical fairytale about the child sex trafficking industry in Georgia. In video and film, one of my primary goals has been to explore the blurred boundaries between documentary, fictional and experimental film. Though I have not seen the film in its entirety, the trailer excites me in that the film is a fictional story that addresses a real issue in an experimental way. Another thing that I want to research about this film project is that it was produced in association with 12 Stone Church. I am stoked on the idea of churches supporting films that will reach people… and then funneling the profits of those films to the cause itself.

 All of this leads me back to the familiar question: Why do I avoid creating art that’s overtly tied to a cause (especially if it’s what first got me excited about art)? My gut response is that I’ve been so discouraged by the cultural stigma to “push religion on people through art.” Many artists create work that overtly expresses their social and political values, but it seems to me that if anyone tries to create art that overtly demonstrates that Jesus is God it can no longer be called art. It’s hard to not get discouraged that others can freely create art for their “cause of choice,” but what if my only cause to create is Christ crucified and risen?

Transforming Spaces

 I would love to witness a glorious collision between the genius of modern installation artists and the rich community and audience of the local church. We can all remember when sometime around Sophomore year of high school we were exposed to about a million odd paintings of Jesus. He looked like a mature 30 year old that had been shrunk in bath water and came out all gangly, pruned and distorted. And who can forget Bernini’s orgasmic nuns? All of that is to say that even if in another century, we’ve seen painting and sculpture in the church. And now with awesome film communities like Hillsong’s Exchange Festival, we’re watching the emergence of film and video art in the church. There’s also a large presence of graphic designers in Christian communities (though their work seems mostly aimed at marketing).

The one thing I have not witnessed in all its glory is installation art in the world of the church.

 I love the work of artists like Tara Donovan and Cornelia Parker. Both of these women take simple materials, sometimes numbering in the thousands, and they beautifully arrange them to create fresh landscapes. Parker has worked with ammunition to blow things up and then reassemble it in the gallery. I saw Donovan’s exhibit at MCASD in 2009 and it was breathtaking. Thousands of Styrofoam cups created a dreamlike ceiling. Both artists craft landscapes from raw materials that become a blank canvas for light to pass through and people to walk through.

I go crazy over well done installation art because so often the experience is immersive. My senses are activated and I begin to think about the world in a new way. Now imagine if the building called the church could be a transformative gallery for installation art. The art could address what’s being taught in service, but still function as art that’d open-ended… leaving freedom for the people to explore the meaning for themselves.

By Benjamin James

There are a few Christian stage designers whose work I really admire. They do an incredible job at designing dynamic, media-centric stage environments. The work they do encourages me that the church is increasingly more open to visual creativity. I just pray that it moves from the stage to the seats, then to the hallways, parking lots and hearts of churchgoers.

An Installation Proposal

One of the things that frustrates me so deeply about some things that people call "Christian art," is that it's no more than a cool-looking marketing design (that happens to be made by a Christian). I want more. I want to create art that evokes a visceral response, that makes us all rethink an aspect of our world. I want to make art that brings people together, both inside and outside of the church.

This week I've decided to share my own installation proposal. I'm at a stage where looking high and low for conceptual Christian art is not enough. I need to dream up my own, and in this case, share what I've been dreaming up for a while.

The diagram of the installation is below... and below that I explain it step by step. Do you best to imagine walking through the installation yourself.

THE SITES: Placed Simultaneously in Various Areas of San Diego

1. Barrio Logan- in Chicano Park

2. Rancho Santa Fe- inside a church

3. Downtown San Diego- inside MOCA

4. UCSD- outside 2^nd story of Geisel Library

5. Fashion Valley- in the mall parking lot

LAYOUT & MATERIALS

The installation will take place in long, rectangular room or portable trailer space. There is an entrance and exit space at either side. The inner cooridor consists of 3 8x8’ glass cubes. Cube A is clear glass with a 4’ door. On the floor inside Cube A, these words are printed in official text: “Exit from this cube will not be granted until you say something you have never told anyone before.” Cube B is made of thick, matte glass that one cannot see through. There is no door. Cube C is clear glass with a 4’ door raised 2’ off the ground. The inside of the cube is filled with 8” of water. The entry wall and exit wall are mirrors. The wall facing the exit wall is asphalt with hundreds of nail pegs sticking out of it in rows.

THE EXPERIENCE

As the participants walk in they are asked by an attendant to remover their shoes and socks before entering the inner cooridor. They pass through a narrow room with mirrored walls and enter the exhibit. Once inside, participants can choose to traverse the space around the cubes or to enter a cube.

CUBE A: An attendant stands at the door, only allowing one individual to enter at a time. Inside Cube A, the participant must say something they have never told anyone before. There are small microphones in the corners of the cube. The participant’s secrets are broadcast live to Cube C at another one of the 5 installations. There is no way for the participant to know if anyone else hears them or where their voice is being transmitted to.

CUBE B: Candle-like light glows from within the cube but participants cannot see inside. Indistinguishable sound effects play from inside the cube.

CUBE C: An attendant stands at the door, only opening the door for entry every 5 minutes. Participants crowd into the small, glass space, ankle-deep in luke-warm water. They wait to hear the secrets of individuals from another undisclosed installation. The door is to remain shut for 5 minutes to cause the glass to fog.

EXIT: As participants exit they find their shoes hanging from nails on an asphalt wall.

So, can you see it? How do you think this would function as an installation in San Diego? For Christians? Or people of all faiths? I dream of the day that I'm ready to materialize these ideas.

Subject Matter and Audience

("Liberty Outside the Lines"- One of my first tries at "adjusted" art)

I learned a valuable lesson on language and culture during my first major mission trip to Mexico. At the mighty age of 18 I was preparing to preach to a church in Tijuana. A few hours before the evening service our team leader, a seasoned missionary pastor, asked me to talk through my message with him. The short of it was, "That's great but you're not relating to their culture at all." All of my illustrations were personal stories, most of which were from the paradigm of prosperous American culture. In his wisdom, Pastor Steve helped me adjust those illustrations to relate to the daily lives of the people in Tijuana.

All of this leads me to the question, should Christian artists also adjust their art for their intended audience? If I'm creating art to be shown in the church should it be different than the art that I'm creating for the gallery? 

From the "Yes" Side..

In the logic of communications and mass media, I would say certainly. I would say that there's no harm in adjusting your message to reach your audience. The primary problem with that is that it supposes the art is didactic, that its intentions are to communicate or persuade. If it needs translation does that make it a dishonest work? This is a problem I run into regularly with my own art-making. In my first couple quarters as a UCSD Visual Arts major I was told by a few students and professors that my art was "preachy," "didactic," and that communicating my religious beliefs through art was in fact not art at all. Can you say, identity conflict? The foremost aspect of my identity is my devotion to Jesus. One of the aspects that falls in line right under that is "artist." 

From the "No" Side..

I do believe that my journey at UCSD over the past 2 years has taught me how to be honest to who I am while not turning them away from my art. But I will not lie, there are still some conflicting perspectives. In the core of my values, it's problematic that I would ever compromise the genuineness of my heart and mind to tailor fit my work for someone else. In the Bible Paul says, "I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." But in terms of art, will people really enjoy the art if they sense you're not being true to yourself for some underlying motive?

Thank you for letting me spill my conflicts. I'd love to hear what you think. Your thoughts would be very valuable to this ongoing conversation in my brain.

Some Happenings in Christian Artist Movements

So yes, there is a considerable divide between the avant-garde and church art, but it is inspiring to see Christian communities making place for the arts. My own experience has reinforced the belief that Christian artists are not rare but rather the spaces for those artists to build community and share their work. So for all of you that have been searching like me,  I want to share 3 opportunities for art-sharing.

In Film

Hillsong Church in Sydney has a congregation of about 20,000 people and provides opportunities for people all around the world to share their art. They host the annual “Exchange Film Festival,” which encourages submissions of works with Christian themes. Not only do they make room for arts in the local church but they’re using their expansive influence to include the worldwide body of Christ. The submission window for the 2011 film and arts festival is still open until February. I plan to enter a piece or two.

Performance & Installation

Eric Samuel Timm’s organization, No One Underground, has a mission I’m excited about: “We work to mobilize the arts within the church & the church within the world.” Eric travels to various churches, concerts and conferences performing live painting installations. The videos of his performances that I’ve watched online are all definitely directed at a Christian audience. Though they may not function as well in avant-garde venues they certainly stay right on target with the mission to mobilize the church.

Community & Learning

This year I learned about CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts) from a friend. In perusing their website I learned about an upcoming conference they are hosting at Biola University: Matter and Spirit: Art and Belief in a Digital Age. A few of the sessions that stood out to me were Art and Design, Art and the Church and Art Education. The conference will be June 16-19, 2011.

Now that I’m learning more about existing opportunities for art in the church, I’m anxious to delve into the debate of subject matter and targeted audience. Check back next week to grapple with those issues!

Girl [in context]

 

This video piece is one of the first things I created while grappling with my own context. It's a novice stab at art-making from a Christian perspective. I've got a long way to grow, but I thought I'd share.

In Search of Christian Artists

Artwork by Jim LePage

 In one of his first blogs of the new year controversial Christian author Donald Miller tackled the question: “Is Church Life Stifling Your Creativity?” He hypothesizes the uproar that might occur if Solomon wrote his biblical text, “Song of Songs” in a modern church context, supposing that people would be outraged by the erotic nature of the poetry. In the end, the bottom line was that Miller encouraged his readers to do what God tells them to do and not what the church tells them to do.

Miller’s advice is not bad. In fact it’s downright biblical, but it begs the question, what if God’s telling you to use your creativity to make art in the church? All of the creativity drowning influences that often come with large organizations must be overcome to accomplish the call of God. You can’t shrug them off as an unfortunate circumstance. (I’m incredibly blessed to be in a church that inspires creativity.)

As the Media Director for a large church I’ve studied the leadership structures of many multi-thousand-member churches in America. In doing so I’ve discovered that contemporary art as we know it in these structures may very well simultaneously hit on religious, political and cultural stigmas. Art says things that people are afraid to speak; it’s often subversive in nature. But what does today’s great Christian art look like? I believe I am yet to discover it.  I have discovered professional quality video ministries and sharp design, but have not yet witnessed a thriving community of artists in the local church.

So I’m kicking off this blog with a thirst to discover just that. Have you seen art embraced in a church? I’d love to hear about it here.