“Are we there yet?”
To answer this question, we might respond with several questions of our own, such as: “who is WE?” or “where is THERE?” It is a question that can be either simple or loaded. We might think about career or personal milestones that we have set (and whether we have been successful in checking them off the list); places we have gone to (perhaps as a child you asked this question to the adults on long car rides); or social, emotional and cultural viewpoints (i.e. are we truly a democracy?). The answer to “are we there yet?” is completely subjective and largely depends on individual and/or group experiences and perspectives.
On Saturday, March 23, my wife, myself, and several others, joined the artist, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, on an artist’s walk between the Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Central Library. We began our discussion on the steps outside of the museum, where Rasheed’s I AM POROUS. TODAY, I LEAK PREPOSITIONS. SO, I WILL ASK AGAIN, DO YOU HAVE A SIEVE? (2018) is installed. The installation is composed of several vinyl words affixed to the concrete steps, which read (to name a few) ‘after’ ‘before’ ‘above’ ‘along’ and ‘below.’ Rasheed prompted us to pick a word that spoke to us and stand next to it, and have a conversation with the other people who chose the same word. We were in the group that chose ‘after.’ Collectively, we came up with definitions, syntax, concepts and intersectional relationships for the word. We then regrouped with Rasheed and the rest of the participants and discussed how all vocabulary derives meaning in regards to how we think about and experience different cultural narratives and social constructs.
After this activity, we went into the museum and gathered around Rasheed’s A QUESTION IS A SENTENCE DESIGNED TO ELICIT A RESPONSE. TODAY, WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE SLOPPY FUTURE HOLDS (2018), an installation of four large textile banners. The artwork’s intent is to prompt individuals of all ages to coalesce and elicit responses to problem-posing questions (a method designed by Paulo Freire where teachers and learners partake in non-hierarchical listening, dialogue and action, in order to solve problems together) including: “Are we there yet?” “After hope, then what?” “Is this the last time?” and “Did you think it would get easier after this?”
We were invited to congregate around a question that we felt was most pertinent to our own lives and discussed it with others in our group who chose the same question. The responses addressed social, emotional and political themes. We spoke about what we thought the future might hold in relationship to our sense of self, society and the environment. In times of flux and ambiguity (which largely define our contemporary culture), it is helpful to come together and share feelings, aspirations, assessments and ideas about how we can address pertinent societal issues going forward.
After several people shared their responses to the questions, we walked roughly six minutes down Eastern Parkway towards the Brooklyn Central Library, where Rasheed’s interactive project Scoring the Stacks (2019) is installed in the main lobby. The participatory installation instructs visitors to select cards (possibly referencing card catalogues of yesteryear) with ‘scores’ that direct and elicit specific actions. For example, one card tells the holder to go to the reference ‘Society, Sciences & Technology’ section and choose a blue book, read the last page and choose a word that you would like to use in future conversations. The participant answers the prompts and deposits a carbon copy (they take home the original in a folio) into a box, which is then utilized for other participatory projects, which include: collaborative flash fiction writing, songwriting and choreography.
Scoring the Stacks is symbolic of how we can learn through noticing deeply and making connections to past and present information, while thinking ahead to the future. As I went through the library on the de facto scavenger hunt, I became more aware of other things, such as the library’s special collections; other interactive exhibitions on view; and the diversity of the people who utilize the library’s breadth of resources. Sharing my own insights and hearing the insights of others made the experience incredibly fulfilling and efficacious. Throughout the two-hour artist’s walk, I enjoyed listening to all of the thoughtful responses from each individual and opening my mind to new perspectives and information.
Participatory-centered artwork benefits how we express and receive information in a collaborative environment. We learn from actively listening to one another share our prior knowledge, ideas and experiences. We construct new knowledge from our collective discussions and through the creative process. Rasheed’s installations at the Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Library encourage inquiry and exploration. Questions and actions become the impetus for the creation of knowledge and new social, cultural and cognitive experiences. Her practice embodies an experiential form of pedagogy, centered on formulating understandings through socialization and collaboration. She realizes that making subjects personal, challenging and rewarding, are principles to developing lifelong learners. Prior to becoming a full-time artist, Rasheed was a high school history teacher.
Scoring the Stacks is both an engaging activity and a problem-posing method of education, where we co-create new knowledge in collaboration with the artist, in order to make insightful realizations about our unique relationships with history and public spaces. The Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Library are ideal environments for an artful activation of public space, because they function as pedagogical institutions for the community at large.
On the atrium of the library is a quote from Rasheed, which reads like a mantra for self-discovery and interconnectivity with the world around us: “having abandoned the flimsy fantasy of certainty, i decided to wander.” This quote brings to mind the idea of playful and experiential learning, which makes building knowledge a worthwhile lifelong process. When we allow ourselves to let go of convention in favor of exploration and embrace ambiguity (both studio habits of mind that the arts teach us), we gain a wide range of metacognitive and critical thinking skills, while exhibiting empathy and expressing ourselves through multifaceted means. American educational philosopher, Maxine Greene (1995) states that the arts empower our minds to examine and interact with the unknown and uncertain. Therefore, I don’t think the question “are we there yet?” can ever be fully answered, because we are always learning and creating new personal and communal experiences each and every day.
References, Notes, Suggested Reading:
Freire, Paulo. 1970. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder. Pg 12.
Greene, Maxine. 1995. Releasing the imagination: Essays on education, the arts, and social change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Springgay, Stephanie, Irwin, Rita L., and Kind, Sylvia Wilson. “A/r/tography as Living Inquiry Through Art and Text” Qualitative Inquiry. 2005 11: 897. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rita_Irwin/publication/258181966_Artography_as_Living_Inquiry_Through_Art_and_Text/links/00b7d5323b351ac803000000.pdf
Artfully Learning 
“The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.” ― Albert Einstein
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Love this quote!
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