Playing with Clay: Art Video as Documentary, as Story, and as Satire

Abstract

The AoMO conference in Bled, Slovenia in early September, 2016 engaged attendees through a variety of unique experiences. In addition to traditional academic conference paper presentations, participants relished Slovenian dinners in a town square and a castle, watched an artist in residence crafting a chair from indigenous materials from the local countryside, were treated to a poetry slam, were captivated by an address by a Sarajevo based artistic director sharing reflections on producing a play during the early 90s occupation, heard a music/leadership performance while sitting within the orchestra, watched a play about capitalism, took part in morning stretch activities and for some, attended a session entitled "The Art of Doing Nothing".

One unconventional, yet compelling shared experience was the creation of art using claylike plasticine. Individual models were created and then displayed on a table in the public space. Over the 4 days of the conference, participant/artists could move/arrange their individual pieces on the table as they saw fit. From individual creation to finding one's place in the emerging three-dimensional collage, participants engaged with the art both actively and passively over time as maker, placer, mover, and observer.

This commentary is a review of the video produced about this art experience. This reviewer was an attendee at the conference and a participant in the art experience. As a professor of management, I also design and use art and nature based experiential activities in the classroom and consulting engagements. The challenge is to answer the question did the video capture the experience? And, is it art?