Learning to Love You More
Learning to Love You More is a web site and series of physical exhibitions comprised of art made by the public in response to assignments given by artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher. The site is designed and managed by Yuri Ono. The propelling mechanism behind this work is http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com. Visitors to the site will find a growing list of assignments such as:
-Re-create three minutes of a NPR Fresh Air interview.
-Make a documentary video about a small child.
-Start a lecture series in your town.
Anyone can go to the site, accept an assignment, complete it by following the simple but specific instructions, send in the required report (photograph, CD, video, etc), and see evidence of their work posted on-line. With energetic outreach the website reaches people and institutions that are not usually called upon to create or are under-funded with regard to art: schools, prisons, senior centers, corporations, etc. The project ideas reflect the sensibility of Fletcher and July, but ultimately provide clear and simple channels through which the participant's own life experience can be channelled. Like a recipe, meditation practice, or familiar song, the prescriptive nature of these assignments allows the participant to focus less on creativity and more on feeling and experience. The resulting art is surprising and good.
LEARNING TO LOVE YOU MORE EXHIBITS
In addition to the assignments given by Fletcher and July, the web site has several different sections which are updated every few months. We invite you to visit the site and investigate the sections entitled FRIENDS, HELPING, and LOVE. The section called DISPLAYS will document Learning to Love You More exhibitions in museums, galleries, schools, senior citizens centers, radio shows and film festivals. The shows are comprised of work that July and Fletcher select from the web site for the particular exhibit. Chosen artists are asked to mail their piece to the site of the show (with a self-addressed stamped packaging for return.) All exhibits will be unique; the project allows for an unusual amount of flexibility. Here are just a few possible approaches:
-Assignments can be given in advance of the show which ask participants to respond to some detail of the region where the show will be.
-Assignments can be given in advance of the show which are only available to a specific demographic: residents of a particular town or treatment facility, employees of a chosen institution, people of a certain age or race. These limitations may or may not be relevant to the exhibiting institution.
-Some exhibits may be sponsored by an art institution but are installed at a non-art facility. For example MoMA presents Learning to Love You More, hosted by Public School 65.
-Some exhibits may be all video (a screening or installation) or all sound (a broadcast), or may draw from just one or two assignments.
-Some exhibits may be curated by guest curators, such as yourself, or Julie Hecht.
The variations are limitless and all of them are simple to facilitate. In some cases Fletcher and/or July can administer the exhibition remotely; in other cases the show will be presented in conjunction with a residency, lecture, screening, performance or exhibit of Fletcher or July's own work. A pilot for this project was launched in June 02, in connection with an exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Maine. The project has received generous support from the Creative Capital Foundation and has been redesigned for unlimited use. Exhibitions are now being scheduled. For more information contact Miranda July [email protected] or Harrell Fletcher [email protected] .