Thoughts on A critique of social practice art:

Instead of using art to show people what the already know, such as an idea that show people how the emission of greenhouse gases are harmful, It is good to think harder to achieve an artwork that enables others to act. such as the Project Row Houses which Lowe had initiated in 1994 which was described in the article in which it seemed to me more of a community project rather than an artpiece. Also it was states in the article that this “artwork” or activism has caused a higher poverty rates than that before the project was started.  In my opinion the project itself was for a good cause but failed to be a practical and logical project which may have come from the fact that it was an “artwork and not a true solution to the problem or was deemed as “experimental”. (Note to self: an artwork which lets the audience contribute to the solving the issue presented would be good as an artwork that enables the audience to start acting.)

However, social practice itself seems to not be defined by any bounds of traditional artistic aesthetic but rather focus on experimenting and the actions and feelings presented and experienced through the artwork. I can understand the thrive for an art form that “makes a difference” but while traditional art making methods remain to be a more “niche” area which people tend to appreciate and not act on, one must reconsider how social practice art is presented and the real world impacts it gives.

Thoughts on Digital Age:

Chapter one is mainly about how you should go about initiating a project and what the article defines as Goal Directed design.  In a way this reminds me of the fact that design and programming/ engineering are very similar where you define a problem you want to solve, then solve the problems using  methods.  Design must serve a human need and goal. It is stated in the paragraph that “all designed artifacts have a purpose” which makes it different from art and more in the middle of engineering and art. ( It makes me question though: what about Fashion Design? Haute Couture usually is impractical for daily use and doesn not have an actual purpose for solving particular problems but serves to make a statement about a certain topic or explore the use of a new medium and material.) Goodwin has given a table of the Goal Directed process of design, which in the end goes to the step named implementation support which is when you have to start experimenting with the actual thing. It is important to note that the goal directed process is not a standalone process, it consists of most of the steps you have to take to start planning and researching on a project but does not specify the steps needed for implementation. I’m pretty sure that there are more steps needed to implement the project since the amount of testing, research and replanning is actually more vigourous than the planning process itself, there is and importance to focus more on getting to project to actually work than just the pen and paper work of planning or modelling out the project.