Aaron Gach and Elizabeth Mangini Discuss "Can Art Change the World?"

Aaron Gach and Elizabeth Mangini Discuss "Can Art Change the World?" November 3

Can Art Change the World?
Speakers: Aaron Gach, Elizabeth Mangini

Series:
The New New Masses
Discussions About Art and Politics

Location
San Francisco Art Institute Café
800 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, CA 94133

November 3 at 7:00pm
free and open to the public

Brecht said that art is not a mirror to reflect the world but a hammer to shape it. How effective is this hammer? Should artists use their art as a propaganda vehicle? How can this work? Are artists obligated to make politically engaged work given the current situation in the world?

Aaron Gach is a performance, installation, and media artist whose work consistently addresses public space, social politics, and community issues. His commitment to exploring disparate arts (martial arts, magical arts, fine arts, among other creative endeavors) has led to the creation of numerous collaborative projects designed to analyze existing forces and activate latent energies. Inspired by ongoing studies with a private investigator, a magician, and a ninja, Gach formed the Center for Tactical Magic—an organization dedicated to the coalescence of art, technology, magic, and positive social transformation. Embracing magical thinking and unconventional uses of technology, Gach and the Center for Tactical Magic continue to engage public space and social concerns while building new strategies for creative engagement.

Elizabeth Mangini is a San Francisco-based scholar and critic whose current work focuses on Italian art and politics circa 1968. A former curatorial fellow at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mangini currently teaches a course on Spectacle and Revolution: European Art in the 1960s–70s at California College of the Arts.