O que le preguntamos Iván y Yo a Lacy

GETTING PEOPLE TO TALK TO EACH OTHER

1.WHAT ART SHOULD DO/WHAT AN ARTIST SHOULD BE?
- Premed, and psychology and then you work two years for VISTA (Volunteers in Service Training to America)… then you find Faith Wilding and both together went to Fresno State and try to get in the Judy Chicago feminist art program right?... And Chicago told you that your background was not the one to become a “professional artist” …(at the same time the sixties was the decade of the social movements, anti-war movements, students movement, feminists, civil rights… the Black panthers, the Brown Berets) The streets were full of activists moving for their rights! … (did the radical feminist movements in your country influenced you most than the art world…. –Ti-Grace Atkinson, Simone de Beauvoir, Emma Goldman-…

So, in that environment with the galleries full of pop artists, some still abstract expressionist’s artists, conceptual and minimal artists... Don’t you think that in a way the Art World was kind of obsessed with it self? I mean, don’t you think the Art World needed a change and, of course, the idea of what an artist should be?

2. FIRST PERFORMANCES AND ALLAN KAPROW
- so you said that most of the students in the Chicago´s program turned to performance almost intuitively, in an “organic way”, you made art out of your personal experience (“the personal is political”), you were more influenced by the activists on the street (ref. above question)… in a way feminist art has more to do with social movements than art history)

Why did you chose performance art, so the mixture of Heather, dance, writing,…? Did you feel that the “staging” was more politically effective or were more in tune with your idea of what art should be? (or what is “aesthetics”)…. Art as a Communications process, a link, a crossover ...
-Is there any clear influence from the FLUXUS movement in Europe, whom where trying to make art out of daily life ?
-In a way you are always trying to make visible and audible “private or veiled stories”? Relation between inside-outside and private and public?
- Are you looking for a healing process ? (as Gablick also said, the healing of the world starts with the welcoming of two people)

3. AFTER YOUR SECOND CONVERSATION WITH JUDY CHICAGO I WILL BE AN ARTIST, I MEAN WHEN SHE TOLD YOU STOP DOING SIX MILLION OTHER THINGS, YOU HAVE POTENTIAL, YOU SHOULD BE AN ARTIST…
-What do you think an artist should do to do? (or should not do)… (moral responsibility as an artist)
(RATIONALITY/LOGICAL)…Kaprow or Baldessari…

BELONGING NOT BELONGING:
Talking about your hometown you referred to an inner conflict between belonging and not belonging, and all the energy you put on that, do you think is a something that has been with you, in a sense, in your artistic career?... a kind of “living in-between”???

4. YOUR FIRST PERFORMANCES AROUND THE “VISIBILITY”, THE OLD WOMEN, … 1976, “INEVITABLE ASSOCIATION”, DINNER PARTIES, FREEZE FRAME, INTERNATIONAL DINNER, WHISPERS… CRYSTAL QUILT…
-Why this recurrent issue?

5. IMAGES:
- Your concerns about the final image of your work, the “translation of the metaphor that you are working on” deals with color and structure, with form and the generation of a “stage”, the participation of the audience, the process. But always finishing in a clear image, just one, with a clear message dealing with a clear metaphor...
What is the importance of the image in your political commitment?
In the Moira´s interview you tell about some expensive chairs for the “Crystal Quilt” and also that you didn’t have enough for “bagels” for your staff…. Is the image so important?

6. DIFERENT ELEMENTS IN YOUR WORK THAT ARE ALWAYS THERE:
CARS: “Route 126”, Underground, Cinderella in Drugstore,…
MAPS
COLORS
RECORDED STORIES (CONVERSATION-COMMON KNOWLEDGE)
BODY: sacred space
CONVERSATION
COLLECTIVE RELATIONSHIP

7. 1987, CODE 33… THE ROOF IS ON FIRE … is a work not dealing with feminisms but with some other concerns that, on the other hand, are always in your work. Education, class relationships, sense of community, social problems, political commitment… But it did not have the same “repercussion” as the others, why? … Do you think the art world puts you in more in the feminist art tradition than in the “new genre public art” tradition?

8. YOU HAVE THINK A LOT ABOUT AUDIENCES, … (the democratization of art)
how do you think about audience? Do you want them to be transformed after
In the first performances you said “the audience was shock”, (Ablutions), but in your career you have been thinking about the role of the audience in a very different way, you are integrating it in the very same process, in a “dialogical sense”, the audience is part of the project and the process the real work
(recomposition of the social body…. Body politics??)

9. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MEDIA, IS SOMETHING LINK WITH ALL THE IDEAS IN YOUR WORK, ABOUT ART, ABOUT THE ARTIST RESPONSIBILITY, THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS, THE RESULT OF YOUR ACTIONS…. THE GOING OUT TO THE PUBLIC PLACES, MAKING CITIZENSHIPS OF YOUR AUDIENCE, …. (3 Weeks in May… and “In Mourning and in Rage”…. “The crystal Quilt”…)

10. TRANFORMACIÓN, THIS IS ANOTHER WORD, IN A WAY YOU WORK WITH THE AUDIENCE TO DEVELOP A PROJECT, THEY ARE THE WORK, THE CONVERSATIONS ARE THE WORK, BUT THE TRANSFORMATION CAN ONLY HAPPEN WITH THE MEDIA SUPPORT, I MEAN, THE COMMUNICATION PROCESSS… RIGHT?
How can you measure the influence, the “life” of your works? The real transformation? Is it possible? …. Is it worth?

(RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOUR GENERATION AND THE NEW FEMINISTS, THE NEW GENERATION:
Can you tell us about your relationship with the new feminists, the new generations?)

LAST THINGS MIGHT BE AROUND MAPPING THE TERRAIN, … audiences, social strategy, effectiveness... But still visual art!
The relationship between public and art might be the art
social change possibilities
public art history; art in public places, art in the public interest, calls to action making culture with as many people as possible, responsibility, continuity, collaborative practice, public and private, engaging multiple audiences, community, new role for the artists, The question of Beauty and the Relevance of Invention, Artists intentions and Effects, Art and Meaning

“From the discussion among artists and critics at the “Mapping the Terrain” retreat emerge the following related themes –of social analysis and artist’s roles, responsibilities, and relationship with audiences – that may contribute to a formal language for this type of public art”.... Integral to the art work: writing, media appearance, exhibition, discussion groups, public demonstrations, consultations, …. They are NOT separate activities.

GGP: “artists are media pirates, border crossers, cultural negotiators, and community healers”…

When the PUBLIC begins to figure prominently in the ART-MAKING equation, the STAGING arena for art becomes potentially ANY PLACE – from newspapers to public restrooms, from shopping malls to the sky… For a MORE INTEGRATED ROLE FOR THE ARTIST IN SOCIETY…