How do artists
use touch, tactility,
and tacit knowledge
in their practices?
Issue 5
Listening with Artists
“There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.” – Octavia Butler
“There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.” – Octavia Butler
1–2 minute experience, or the time it takes to water a houseplant.
Thank you for taking part in the poll!
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LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
In recalling that the second issue, Seeding Care, centered around formations of kinship, this issue foregrounds the role that touch plays in sustaining connections to ourselves, each other, and the present moment. We invited contributors to reflect on their approach to physically and metaphorically “feeling” something out, and asked them: How do artists use touch, tactility, and tacit knowledge in their practices?
Scan of dye infused gelatin with dandelion.
[ID: Scan of a dye-infused gelatin bubble-like form. To the side is a dandelion’s texture. Various blue shading, water-color-like, appear in the translucent material. It holds burgundy truncated tube-shaped structures. To the bottom side, wrinkles reflect a shimmering pearlescent surface indicating the material is squishy.]
Their responses vary, but each person identifies the importance of interfacing with a material, audience, or environment; of listening with one’s hands or whole body. These artists appreciate the sensing capacity of our skin and how the information it gathers plays a major role in the way we navigate both private life and public spaces. They recognize that our current conditions remain unsafe for the kinds of platonic touch humans tend to crave, and have instead created new ways to connect with themselves and their communities. And maybe most importantly, they argue that a touching approach is a fully-feeling approach, an approach that’s especially useful in bringing our racing minds to a gentle (or abrupt!) halt to insist on the now and not-yet-known.
In spending time with these artists’ musings, we hope you are reminded of the value of both feeling and feelings as you move through time.
Waving,
Kate Blair and Jessica Ferrer
Editors
A publication of commissions, experiences, and stories from artists responding to life and the world around them.
Editor-in-Chief: Jessica Ferrer | Issue Editors: Kate Blair, Allie Linn
Contributor: Zoë Wallace | Designer: Nadine Nakanishi
Web Development: Matt Arbogast, Leadtooth Inc.
Typefaces: Karla, Sporting Grotesque, New Suns
With special thanks to Descriptive Video Works and Zoë Wallace
United States Artists, 200 West Madison Street, Fl 3, Chicago, IL, 60606
unitedstatesartists.org