Fear of Failing While Doing Something Worthwhile (Art As Social Practice Is Dead) 

A performance and installation at the Pacific Northwest College of art by me, Gary Wiseman. The letters above the painted silhouettes read, “ART AS SOCIAL PRACTICE IS DEAD”. The obelisk in the center of the gallery was originally shown in public space in August of 2010. At that time it was not painted black. It was raw lumber with 1000 names I had etched into its face with a wood burning tool. The names are representative of the people I worked with in my art practice from 2005 to early 2010. I did not consider myself a Social Practice artist—I prefer the term Co-Relational—however there were areas where our work overlapped and I often cooperated and worked with those who consider themselves social practice artists. When I erected the original obelisk it was as a monument to the people I had worked with and a headstone for the practice (mine) it represented. One can still see the names and wood grain on the surface of it even after it has been painted black. Following from Ad Reinhardt when he signaled the completion of the history of painting by creating a series of entirely black canvasses, I painted my monument black to signal the completion of art as Social Practice and the death of Co-Relational art. As Reinhardt once stated, “In the end is the beginning”. When something dies something is born. One critiques the things about which he cares. There is power in the form of Social Practice. I sincerely hope it isn’t completely lost as it is re-absorbed into the institution from which it sprang.