I recently interviewed the artist Liza Cucco for an October posting on CIVA’s “Making” blog.

We talked at length about making more room in our art practice for skepticism, accessibility, representation, change, rest, and dialogue, but it was a challenge to get that into a mere 1700 words.

For me, there was a strong connection between what I was hearing in our conversation and my experience at the recent Creative Time Summit in DC, Occupying the Future. There, artist Tania Bruguera announced that she will be running for President of Cuba. I witnessed the premiere of her announcement, and also observed presentations by Peter Svarzbein about his creative projects as an elected city councilman of El Paso, Pedro Reyes, Carrie Mae Weems, and, quite notably, Alicia Garza who is the co-creator of the Black Lives Matter movement, among others.

Ultimately, I hope that in sharing Liza’s words, readers might also be inspired to continue to push the limits of what art can “do” in their communities.

Here is the exclusive, full interview transcript from our Skype conversation on August 16, 2016:

MAKING MORE ROOM IN OUR ART