Public Art as Social Space

Jon Rubin, Associate Professor of Art, Carnegie Mellon

Thursday, April 8, 4:30 PM, Adamson Wing (Baker Hall 136A)

Overview

Jon Rubin will be presenting a series of his public projects that take the form of quasi-institutions that catalyze new forms of social participation. His solo and collaborative projects include creating a game show for ideas, opening a fake store in an indoor shopping mall, starting a restaurant that secretly runs via take-out from its double across the street, operating a radio station that only plays the sound of an extinct bird, developing a hypnotized human “robot” army, and running a free nomadic art school. Recently, as leader of the Center for the Arts in Society’s "Public Art as Social Space" project, Jon has been continuing a public project and class called The Waffle Shop. The Waffle Shop is a cultural mash-up of art, education, entertainment, and business. The project is a neighborhood restaurant that produces and broadcasts a live-streaming talk show with its customers, operates a changeable storytelling billboard on its roof, and runs a take-out window that sells food from countries engaged in conflict with the U.S.