Overview
With Sustainability Lab, artist-in-residence Jeff Hnilicka operated an investigatory 'think tank' in Transformer's project space, creating a venue for workshops and artistic actions that explored emerging models of cultural production, the sustainability of these models, and their impact within communities. Illustrating how experimental play can operate as critical investigation methods, Hnilicka engaged with DC artists, activists, cultural workers, and audiences to identify and analyze examples of local resources, human and otherwise, through a series of programs.
Punctuated with potluck dinners and lunches, programs directly involved audiences in shared experience as discoveries were made in the examination of how various entities sustain their work. Activities included: "Dreams and Schemes" – a workshop with Hnilicka and celebrated DC artist Jeff Spaulding about sustaining your practice as a working artist and the value of unrealized projects; "Mini Empire Builder" – a series of mini-adventures and guerilla style public performances on the DC Metro; and a "HIT BOOK! Workshop" – in which members of Hit Factorie (Brooklyn, NY) and participants in the DC community collaborated to create a free Sustainability Lab book.
On the opening day of Sustainability Lab, Hnilicka presented "The New Cultural Worker", in celebration of Beltane (marking the end of winter) and International Worker's Day. Audiences were invited to take part in Hnilicka's interactive presentation as he explored new methods of producing and consuming culture: "Dream who you'll become this growing season and imagine new ways of organizing our communities."
Additionally, audiences were invited to engage with Hnilicka's Sustainability Lab installation within Transformer's project space on an on-going basis. For the past 2 years, Jeff Hnilicka has been investigating the question, "What is sustainable?" In his participatory presentation/installation of suspended, note-laden visqueen panels, Hnilicka shares numerous models, projects, programs, and communities that are answering his query. Sample subject matter includes: Our Goods - a peer-to-peer artist barter network; Artist-Run Benefit Society – a collectivist credit league for independent art groups; Seeding the City – a public art project that hopes to install 1 square foot of green roof on 1000 roofs in NYC; and Community Supported Art – a group of art-collectors who fund artists' up front costs inspired by the organic farm-share model. Along with documenting sustainable community projects from around the country, the installation recorded ideas and feedback from the DC community, as Hnilicka shared his notes with audience and encouraged them to offer their own ideas about what is going to last. Contributions to this portable, aggregating collection of histories, dreams, and schemes travelled with Hnilicka this spring to his projects in DC, Philadelphia, Portland, Chicago, Minneapolis, NY, and many points in between for further information sharing and gathering.
Information and experience Hnilicka garnered from Sustainability Lab this May were to be shared via Empire Builder – an epic train voyage to Portland, OR in which nearly 30 participants would join along the way, creating guerilla public programs for fellow train-riders, and also at Open Engagement – a conference in Portland exploring similar themes (May 14-17, 2010) (www.openengagement.info). While Empire Builder was active (May 9 – May 20), Transformer's website linked to its participants' blog, where the artists shared their experiences as they unfold. Hnilicka was then back at Transformer in June, further investigating and interpreting the outcomes of these experiences with DC audiences.
Jeff Hnilicka is an independent aesthetic practitioner currently exploring the national landscape of sustainable cultural production. He is co-founder of FEAST - Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics. He has worked at Walker Art Center, MASS MoCA, J Mandle Performance, Minnesota Public Radio, and is a founding member of Revolting Queers and Hit Factorie. He recently completed residencies at MASS MoCA and West Bank Social Center and will be in residency at Elsewhere in October-November 2010. Hnilicka served as panelist for community artist funding at Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and is featured in Temporary Services Art Work. In 2009, Jeff was awarded a Future Leadership Fellowship by National Arts Strategies. Jeff will be leading participatory projects this year in DC, Philadelphia, New York City, and Portland.
