A Public Commons
Artist
Talk and Discussion. Ft. Mike
Miller & Brian
Gillis
Wednesday, September 13, 6:00PM (Brookens Auditorium)
Mike Miller and Brian Gillis
will engage in a presentation and discussion that explores their art practice
and A Public Commons, a project where the UIS Visual Arts Gallery is
transformed into a replica of the 1970’s era non-hierarchical classrooms
employed by Sangamon State University. This “classroom” space will host
discussion and/or mediation sessions that bring together crucial community
stakeholders connected to social issues and employ a variety of mediation and
communication methodologies, models, and strategies to facilitate productive
discussions in a neutral, safe space. The artists will discuss the project as
an experimental service platform focused on inquiry into the basic capacity for
information and dialogue to contribute to social good, and how those
discussions impact individuals’ and group’s lived experiences. A Public
Commons is site-specific and site-responsive, drawing from past histories
and the current work of local and regional communities, and is rooted in
concepts of social equity and social cooperation.
Mike Miller and Brian Gillis have worked together as an artistic
team since 2006, creating projects ranging from editioned multiples to
site-specific installations and actions. Notable exhibitions include Across the
Divide: Reconsidering the Other at the Illinois State Museum, Free Radio at the
Cue Foundation for the Arts in New York, and Mapping Harbin at the Academy of
Art and Design, Heilongjiang University, China. Gillis and Miller met as
colleagues in the Visual Arts Program at the University of Illinois Springfield
in 2005.
Gillis is currently a Professor of Art and Director of the Center
for Art Research at the University of Oregon. Miller is a Professor of Art at
the University of Illinois Springfield.
