2007-05-0503-006.

txt 5/3/2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Jamaica Flux Inaugural Seminar: On the Boundary of the Freedom Between the
Practical and Aesthetic Practices
JAMAICA, N.Y. - May 3, 2007 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- The Jamaica Center for
Arts and Learning (JCAL) is pleased to present the inaugural seminar of
Jamaica Flux 2007, inviting Kathleen Goncharov, Independent Curator, and Tom
Finkelpearl, Executive Director of the Queens Museum of Art. The seminar takes
place Saturday, May 12, 2007 5 - 8 pm.
Jamaica Flux: Workspaces & Windows 2007 is a contemporary public art project
which includes the commission, creation, and exhibition of approximately 30
multidisciplinary, site-specific artworks. These works will be displayed at a
variety of locations along Jamaica Avenue, including banks, stores,
restaurants, street corners, phone booths, parks, and other public spaces from
September 29 - November 17, 2007. A companion on-site exhibition will be
presented in JCAL's landmark gallery from September 29, 2007 - January 12,
2008. The gallery exhibition, which includes participating artists' sketches
and models as well as historic examples of site-specific artwork, is designed
to give context to site-specific art practices and provide visitors with a
behind-the-scenes look at artists' creative processes.
Participants include a diverse array of both established and emerging artists
working in a wide range of media. Jamaica Flux 2007 assumes the point of view
that an exhibition is not just a show representing an idea or an entity, but a
programmatic action with factual effects and consequences. Jamaica Flux 2007
also challenges ideas about where art should be displayed and explores the
relationship between art, commerce, urban renewal, and community. Through
Jamaica Flux 2007, JCAL, a multi-disciplinary and community-based
organization, performs its vital function to serve the NY art world and the
community by promoting contemporary art culture and providing seminal aids to
improve social, political, and economic conditions of urban renewal.
The upcoming seminar is organized as a part of the project's
public/educational program. In the informal format of an open conversation,
the seminar will discuss the theme, "Artists' Voices in Public Spaces,"
focusing on issues involved in controversy and censorship. The core issue
concerns both artists and the public (community). For artists, it raises the
question how far they can bestow creative vocabularies in the public realm
under the doctrine of artistic freedom and aesthetic autonomy. For the public
and community members, it questions how far they can contend over emotional
discomfort and daily disruptions under the doctrine of religious/democratic
freedom and shared autonomy. Touching upon a few exemplary cases of
controversy and censorship in the history of public art, the seminar will
illuminate how the realm of freedom and autonomy can be shared between ethical
standards and aesthetic challenges. It will also provide practical advice and
strategies for negotiating public policies and regulations in order to help
practicing artists and administrators who are involved in a public art project
in one way or the other.
Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning is located at 161-04 Jamaica Avenue,
Jamaica, NY 11432. For more information and directions, call 718-657-7400 ext
123 or visit http://www.jcal.org.
Jamaica Flux is supported by many generous contributors, including the Jerome
Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, JPMorgan Chase
Foundation, Peter Norton Family Foundation, Elizabeth Firestone Graham
Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts.

The Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning is housed in a landmark building owned
by the City of New York and is supported, in part, with public funds from the
New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; the New York City
Department of Cultural Affairs with support from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg;
Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin; the New York City Council;
Council Speaker Christine Quinn; the Queens Delegation of the Council;

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2007-05-0503-006.txt 5/3/2007

Majority Whip, Councilman Leroy Comrie; and Queens Borough President Helen M.
Marshall.

Send2Press(R) is the originating wire service for this story -

www.Send2Press.com
NEWS SOURCE: Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning

# # #
/END/

MEDIA CONTACT(S):

[ not for publication online or in print ]

April Peters, Project Manager

Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning )JCAL)
+1-718-658-7400 ext 152
apeters @ jcal.org

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May 2007 // Press Release / St-NY