EXPERIENCE ECONOMIES

Call for Interns and Volunteers, Winter/Spring 2012

EXPERIENCE ECONOMIES CULTURAL EVENTS & ART PROJECTS • BOSTON, MA

Experience Economies: Call for Interns and Volunteers, Winter/Spring 2012

Founded in 2010 by Gavin Kroeber and Rebecca Uchill, Experience Economies has rapidly established itself as a distinctive presentation platform within Bostonʼs cultural scene. An event- based art series presented at unique sites throughout Boston, Experience Economies supports work by an array of artists and cultural producers. Past events have featured projects by international figures such as Tania Bruguera, Theaster Gates and David Levine, as well as some of Bostonʼs most provocative artists, including Caitlin Berrigan, John Hulsey and Tomashi Jackson. Working across the visual and performing arts, the sciences, and the humanities, Experience Economies events are structured as experiments that encompass entire evenings, emphasizing works-in-progress, site-specificity, discussion, and conviviality.

Experience Economies seeks interns and volunteers to assist in the planning and realization of a major project during the 2012 Winter/Spring semester, presented in partnership with The Lab at Harvard. The project – the details of which will not be announced to the public until January – will be our most ambitious to date.

Interns and volunteers will work closely with Experience Economiesʼ co-founders in positions designed to target different types of work and professional development experiences. Assignments can be adapted to an individual volunteerʼs interests, background, skills and time commitment projects appropriate to undergraduates, graduate students, and recent graduates alike. Experience Economies deeply values the participation of team members and it is hoped that interns and volunteers will engage not only in the practical work of planning and running a project, but intellectually in the evolution of a cutting-edge cultural organization still in its youth.

Intern and Volunteer Positions Offered

Experience Economies seeks interns and volunteers in three primary (and non-exculsive) areas:

Production – Assist in the planning, research and/or fabrication for an artistʼs project. Work will be primarily divided between an intensive planning, research and design period in January and a fabrication and testing period in February (possibly extending into March). Volunteers with experience or serious interest in event production, visual arts production, stage design, audio/visual production, and exhibition design are preferred.

Project Coordination – Orchestrate the flow of a complex event. The project coordinator will oversee the unfolding of an artistʼs project and an audienceʼs experience, managing other volunteers and staff and ensuring that the project happens smoothly. Planning, site visits, and rehearsals will build over a 4-week period to the culminating event (exact date TBA, btw mid-February and early April). Volunteers with experience or serious interest in event production, stage management, or arts administration are preferred.

Event Staffing – Day-of assistance with set-up, audience interaction, run-of-show, and tear-down of project. No specific production skillset is preferred, but an ability to react quickly and strategically to the needs of an event and comfort interacting with the public are essential.

All interns and volunteers should have a high attention to detail and be very organized, motivated, and self-directed. An interest in contemporary art or performance, a familiarity with the field, a sense of humor, and enthusiasm for Experience Economiesʼ mission and programs are important. Credited internships will be coordinated through The Lab at Harvard.

What Past Volunteers Say

“Knowing the exciting projects that Experience Economies put together last year, I was thrilled - and a little intimidated - to jump on board for the 2011-2012 season. This program is even more daring. Gavin and Rebecca turn wild ideas into wild experiences with incredible speed, and everyone is expected to pick up their share of the work to get it done. Sometimes this means working behind the scenes on internal organizational documents, and sometimes it means speaking on behalf of Experience Economies. Somehow in the middle of this make-it-happen mentality, they always make sure that I’m getting a valuable experience as well. I wish every opportunity were this fulfilling.”

“Experience Economies really values your time, talent, and energy. They do quality work and are wonderful to work with. I felt like I was an integral part of the process. The hands-on work that I did directly helped the events. Working with Experience Economies was also a great way to meet like-minded artist/citizens from across disciplines. I would love to work with them again!”

Application Process

Please send a completed interest form (attached), including a 1-2 paragraph introduction, to experience.economies@gmail.com. A resume and the name and contact information for two references, while not required, is appreciated.

More About Experience Economies

Experience Economies is organized by Gavin Kroeber and Rebecca Uchill. Recently relocated to Boston, Kroeber was Producer at the New York public art presenter Creative Time from 2005 until 2010 and is on the board of Performance Space 122. Uchill is a doctoral candidate in MITʼs Department of Architecture and was previously Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

The second season of Experience Economies started in October, 2011 with a presentation of the artist Tania Brugueraʼs Immigrant Movement International, hosted in partnership with Artists in Context. Brugueraʼs five-year project, encompassing art and organizing efforts in cities around the world, is intended define the immigrant as a unique, new global citizen in a post-national world. In Boston, Bruguera engaged in a two-day series of workshops, discussions and meetings with members of the Boston community invested in immigration issues, culminating in a public presentation by Bruguera at Occupy Boston.

In its inaugural 2010-2011 season, Experience Economies presented four one-night event-based projects:

Experience Economies 1: Stockholm Syndrome Featuring a “double-lecture” by Kroeber and Uchill during which both simultaneously delivered separate talks over a single slide show. The audience wore headphones and heard each presenter in one ear. ExEc1 was held at the Design Studio for Social Intervention, a social design non-profit with a large space in Roxbury.

Experience Economies 2: Class Warfare Featuring Caitlin Berrigan’s work-in-progress Spectrum of Inevitable Violence, the evening included both a vastly complex sociological survey for the audience and a cathartic food fight in which participantsʼ actions were determined in part by their socio-economic status. ExEc2 was held at Meme Gallery in Cambridge, where the detritus of the event was left on display after-the- fact.

Experience Economies 3: Evil Twin Featuring Berlin-based artist David Levine’s CHARACTER ANALYSIS #3, for which 2 professional actors attempted to assume the character of members of the audience that they had just met. Punctuating a 3-hour dinner, the actors were interviewed by Levine, selected subjects from the audience, interviewed the audience subjects in front of the audience, and ultimately took questions from the audience in character. A third actor attended the event in character and was revealed at the end of the night. ExEc3 was held at Spectacle, a programming space and live- work studio in Bostonʼs Chinatown.

Experience Economies 4: Chamber Play Held throughout the historical parlours and back rooms of the Signet Society in Cambridge, MA, ExEc4 featured performance lectures, guided conversations and sing-alongs by artists Theaster Gates, Ian Wojtowicz, John Hulsey and Tomashi Jackson, and physicist/storyteller Ben Lillie. Themes ranged from art history and race to the everyday experience of science to the politics of artificial scarcity and presentations featured guest appearances by MacArthur Fellow Peter Galison and art historian Caroline Jones, among others.

A new website featuring photo documentation and video of events will go live in January, 2012.

About the Lab at Harvard

The Lab at Harvard is a new forum and platform for idea experimentation in the arts and sciences at Harvard University.

This year The Lab debuts as a part of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and continues to work to break down boundaries between the arts and sciences to accelerate learning. We catalyze the development of Harvard student and faculty ideas through work-in- progress exhibits, monthly Idea Nights, and annual experiments between leading international artists and Harvard University scientists.

The Lab is principally an exhibition and meeting space for student idea development within and between the arts and sciences, and serves as a forum for interfaculty and public creative expression and dialog. The Labʼs Artscience Exhibition program will invite leading contemporary artists and designers to develop works of art and design around science themes relevant to major science partners to The Laboratory. These works, developed in partnership with the Paris-based art and design innovation center Le Laboratoire, will be exhibited in the lobby and hall areas and frame the context for public exhibition evenings, conferences, and interdisciplinary faculty discussions around issues that bridge the arts and sciences.

Internship and Volunteer Interest Form Basic Information

Name:
Email:
Phone:
School:
Major:
Minor:
Year:
Extracurriculars:
Volunteer Interests

Which positions are you interested in? Please check all that apply.
____ Production
____ Project Coordination
____ Day-Of

How many hours a week would you be able to volunteer in the following periods:
____ January 2 – 22 (Production only)
____ January 23 – February 10 (Production and Project Coordination only)
____ February 11 – February 26 (Production and Project Coordination only)

Additional Materials

• Letter of Introduction: Briefly (1-2 paragraphs) explain your background and qualifications, your interest in Experience Economies, and your reasons for selecting the preferences you indicated above.

Suggested Materials (not required)

• Current resume.
• Work sample: Please include a small respresentative sample of the work have done to date that you feel is most relevant. Please send no more than 2-3 pages (for written work), 5-10 images (for visual work), or 1-2 minutes of media (video or sound).
• Two references: Names, phone numbers, and email addresses.

Please send completed application to: experience.economies@gmail.com. Thank you for your interest and good luck!

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