Artist as Activist

Stephen Surlin

As an artist, I engage with several conceptual frameworks. First, an examination of the Artist as activist, which acts as a catalyst that informs the extensive research I do on contemporary methods of socio-political activism, especially that which utilizes new media and contemporary technologies. I also explore the ways in which the artist interacts with the viewer/audience, since my focus on interdisciplinary art practice places the artist in various positions and roles in relation to the viewer or audience; either allowing for a passive experience or one that promotes interaction between the viewer and artist or the viewer with other viewers or any number of combinations. It is also important for my artistic practice to engage with the conceptual importance of the use of technology to increase social equality, especially that of third world economies or disempowered peoples or groups. This last concept will ultimately lead me to engage with various people, groups and/or communities (potentially, around the world).

Some of the areas of research I focus on include: Methods of contemporary socio-political activism, contemporary methods of installation and public/community based artworks, contemporary open-source technology and programming, the potential for the “democratic” dispersal of this technology, philosophical and sociological concepts that address the morality attached to activism and the “wests” roles in globalization, and the search for like-minded researchers, designers, artists and activists that may help in my research.