NYU’s Grey Art Gallery, the contemporary art organization Creative Time, and NYU Florence host a two-day retreat on campus this week, November 30-December 1, to discuss art that is embedded in life and social issues within urban spaces, entitled ‘Socially Engaged Art Practice’.

Artists engaged in "social practice" respond to the most pressing political and social issues of our times. While socially engaged art and political activism can overlap, many artists strive to blur boundaries and disciplines. Socially engaged art projects encourage audiences to confront specific issues, shaking up the foundations of art discourse, and sharing techniques and intentions with fields far beyond the art world. A group of approximately 25 artists, arts professionals, and NYU professors will gather at La Pietra to discuss current issues and new developments in socially-engaged artistic practice. In particular the group will address the complex questions of the impacts and implications of this work in urban spaces. The retreat is a closed meeting, but New York University Florence students are invited to participate as student rapporteurs, taking notes on the sessions, which will contribute to the drafting of a final report.