Author Description

Art should be an integral and natural part of the community. In Australia, four art facilities - the Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney), the Casula Powerhouse Arts Center, the Penrith Visual and Performing Arts, and the Campbelltown Arts Center - stand alone as prominent cultural institutions. But when four artists - Craig Walsh, Sylvie Blocher, Ash Keating, and Jeanne van Heeswijk - collaborate with these institutions, a new dynamic erupts. The community is everywhere: in the artwork, at the sites of artistic expression, and in the reactions to the works produced. The Art of Engagement reveals such unique collaborations while exploring the aesthetic, political, and economic dimensions of each project. The result is a collection of essays that invites the reader to rethink contemporary art in Australia.