What’s Next for WAFD, and How You Can Help
When we got started with We Are From Dust, we had a clear vision. We would mount exhibitions of participatory art in public spaces for people to enjoy. But beyond that, the specifics — what, where and how — were a bit to be determined, depending on how this whole thing rolled out.
And as things are becoming more clear, we could use your support. Here’s why …
As we’ve been working this last year on our inaugural exhibition at Point San Pablo Harbor — which has effectively become the testing ground for our venture — people have taken notice. We hadn’t quite expected it, but turns out lots of folks would love to have art in their backyard. And lots of people have art to offer up. So as the opportunities started piling up around our feet, we wrapped a strategy around the possibilities.
A 3-Pronged Plan
Here’s our plan, and how you can help.
Our next step, close on the heels of PSPH (a public/private location), is to mount exhibitions in a civic space and in a formal art space (museum or gallery). We believe having a 3-pronged exhibition strategy (public/private, civic, and professional spaces) makes good sense, because each has its challenges and opportunities to learn about, and a variety of exhibition types will demonstrate what we can do, and with whom.
We have been in ongoing discussions with the city of American Canyon, at the foot of Napa Valley, about putting art in a few different locations for public display. We hope that will be our first civic exhibition.
Simultaneously, we’re talking with folks to put some of Paige Tashner’s Purr Pods on an estate in Bristol, UK. And there’s a beautiful farm and distillery in Hudson Valley, New York that will be getting a stunning piece of art (no spoilers) this Spring. Those are the publicly-accessible private spaces we’re currently working on.
Each of these opportunities presents its own unique challenges, whether it’s working with government bureaucracy (bless its heart), handling liability of working in a public/private space, or the various logistical requirements of working in different environments. Those are manageable problems. But the most challenging thing is that our team is only so many people, living in only so many places.
To be able to share art as broadly as we want to, we needed a better way to go about it.
Participate!
So while we continue to do our own exhibitions, we’re going to create playbooks describing in exhaustive detail how to create these kinds of exhibitions, and we’re going to delegate the installation and management of certain exhibitions to skilled local production teams. This will give us way more reach, and heck, taken together, WAFD’s team has over 100 years of accumulated experience doing this kind of work, so why not share the wisdom, right? We’re also going to work with local groups to activate community around the art at these sites, creating opportunities for people to engage and connect.
One thing’s for sure: the art’s not going to show itself! If you’d like to be part of our exhibition or activation team — no matter where you live, or your skill set — or would otherwise help us realize WAFD’s mission to get interactive art out into the world, do reach out to us. And of course, in lieu of sweat equity, we’ll always be happy to accept (tax-deductible!) financial and material donations that help our cause.