Create, in partnership with Fire Station Artists’ Studios, Age & Opportunity, University of Limerick, Fingal Arts Office, and the Engagement and Learning Dept of IMMA, is delighted to share this In Conversation event with renowned US-based art historian and educator Grant Kester, and Gráinne Coughlan, Independent Researcher and PhD candidate TU Dublin. The event was chaired by Professor Kerstin Mey, President, University of Limerick.

As Professor of Art History at UCSD and the founding editor of Field: A Journal of Socially Engaged Art Criticism, Grant is one of the leading figures in the critical dialogue around socially engaged art practice today. Taking place in the context of ongoing work Create and the above partners are undertaking to devise a new evaluative register and framework for collaborative / socially engaged arts practice, this conversation delved into the question of the critical coordinates for collaborative and socially engaged arts practice, exploring alternative ways to analyse and understand the complex processes and relationships inherent to socially engaged art and which lay the foundations for change.

A full resource page with examples and links mentioned throughout the conversation can be found here:

https://www.create-ireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Resource-list-Grant-Kester.pdf