Participate Pilsen!

Participate Pilsen! Rod Northcutt (Miami Assistant Professor of Sculpture) and I (Helen Armstrong, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design) travelled to the Czech Republic in July to lead a Participatory Art and Design Workshop. Our students came from Slovakia, Syria, Mexico, Spain, Denmark and the Czech Republic. Over the course of a week, we asked them, working in groups, to produce event-driven work that invited the participation of Pilsen citizens.

To guide the students in this project, we introduced various formal strategies: modular systems including labor structures, template-oriented work, etc and helped them forage for appropriate materials. Simultaneously, we delved into contemporary life in Pilsen, asking students to identity vital issues that the projects could address. The majority of the students were new to the fields of art and design and eager to flex their participatory muscles.

The result:

 

http://youtu.be/lfSzCUEDldM

 

To find out more about our workshop visit participateplzen.org