• Upcoming TASKS: 2013

    TASK BOOK:
    The first TASK Book is here!!!!
    Published by Illinois State University
    176 pages with hundreds of images, 4 essays as well as texts and recollections submitted by you.
    (For more info please check the NEWS section)

    The first TASK blog for the Midwest is open:
    http://taskmidwest.weebly.com

    SPRING 2013:
    2nd NAEA TASK: March 9, 2013; organized by the National Art Education Association, for their annual conference, Fort Worth, Texas

    UAEA TASK: February 22, 2013; organized by the Utah Art Education Association, for their annual "Art In The Sun conference", St. George, Utah

    UWO Art Jam! TASK 2013; February 23, 2013; organized by University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; Titus Underground, Oshkosh, WI

    FALL 2012 :
    Mini TASK: August 21, 2012; organized by the Teen Advisory Council of the North Carolina Museum of Art, North Carolina Museum of Art, NC

    Faculty Wide TASK Party: August 22, 2012; as part of the Professional Development Series; Chapel Hill High School, Chapel Hill, NC

    TASK Party: August 23, 2012; 4 consecutive art class TASKs; Spanish Fork High School, Spanish Fork, Utah

    TASK Party: August 29, 2012; Oregon Elementary School, Oregon, IL

    stART TASK Party 2: September 2012; as part of stART on the street, Worcester, MA

    IPLU/VSA TASK Party: October 4, 2012; organized by Idaho Parents Unlimited and Idaho Art Education Association; This TASK Party will include visual [non-written] tasks; Boise, ID

    Potluck TASK: October 10, 2012; Kyoto City University for the Arts, Kyoto, Japan

    October 12, 2012; Edinboro University, Edinboro, PA

    WVAEA TASK Party: October 2012; organized for the annual West Virginia State Art Educators Conference; Fairmont State University, Fairmont, WV

    TASK Party: October 2012; as part of Citizenship Day for 8th graders from the State of WV, West Virginia

    TASK Party #2: October 20, 2012; Central Magnet School, Murfreesboro, TN

    NYAEA TASK Party: November 2012; organized for the annual New York State Art Educators Conference; Rochester, NY

    Pot Luck TASK: October 10, 2012; Kyoto City University for Arts; Kyoto, Japan

    Kyoto TASK Party: November 18, 2012; organized by Kyoto Art Center and University of the Arts Kyoto; Kyoto Art Center, Kyoto, Japan

    TASK Party: November 30, 2012; organized by SBFA (Student BFA), Hanes Art Center, Room 226; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; NC

What is TASK?

TASK is an improvisational event with a simple structure and very few rules. TASK can be a planned, more formal set-up with an application process and a pre-determined number of selected participants (TASK Events); A more open structure without any limitations of size or divisions between viewers and participants (TASK Parties); Or tailored for the use in classrooms (TASK Workshop).

All TASK structures, the events, parties and workshops rely on the same basic infastructure: a designated area (usually but not necessarily made from construction paper), a variety of props and materials (cardboard, plastic bags, pencils, tables cling wrap, tape, markers, ladders…) and the participation of people who agree to follow two simple, procedural rules: to write down a task on a piece of paper and add it to a designated “TASK pool,” and, secondly, to pull a task from that pool and interpret it any which way he or she wants, using whatever is on (or potentially off) stage. When a task is completed, a participant writes a new task, pulls a new task, and so on.

TASK’s open-ended, participatory structure creates almost unlimited opportunities for a group of people to interact with one another and their environment. TASKs’ flow and momentum depend on the tasks written and interpreted by it’s participants. In theory anything becomes possible. The continuous conception and interpretation of tasks is both chaotic and purpose driven. It is a complex, ever shifting environment of people who connect with one another through what is around them. It is also a platform for people to express and test their own ideas in an environment without failure and success (TASK always is what it is) or any other preconceptions of what can or should be done with an idea or a material. People’s tasks become absorbed into other people’s tasks, objects generated from one task are recycled into someone else’s task without issues of ownership or permanence.

Please check out TASK news and new videos in the folders above this introduction, and images, etc, on the right side of the screen. 

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12 Responses

  1. Hello Oliver!

    I met you at SF.Camerawork during your task event. I recently re-discovered this blog site that you wrote on a receipt from the bar Daves in San Fran.

    Hope all is awesome, let the tasks keep on rolling and great new art being created.

    Cheers!

    Ivan

  2. Hey Ivan,
    That was a fun night at Daves. I haven’t been even close to something like a dive bar since. Oh well SF, one of last grand vestiges of American Bohemia.
    Hope you’re well too.
    Best,
    Oliver

  3. Hi Azra, I’ll send you an email from my regular address. Best, Oliver

  4. Hi Oliver!
    Raquel here! I met you in the task experiment in Tulsa. I’m sorry I’m just now seeing this! I don’t use Myspace very often anymore. I hope that you are smiling and that everything is going great with the book! I’m afraid I may be too late but I would be Happy to assist in anyway I can. Although I haven’t participated much after we met. It was definitely an experience that me and my family will NEVER forget!!

    TAH!
    Raquel

  5. Hi Oliver,
    This is Jethro, the bearded guy from Utah, we met this summer in NY through Art21 Educators. Anyway, I was hoping to communicate with you about some things, would you mind giving me your email address?
    I’m working on getting you to come and visit us out here-
    Thanks!
    Jethro

  6. Hi Oliver,
    My friend Frank and I met you at Gallery 210 at UMSL this fall. I wanted to tell you that we’re playing TASK with our students tomorrow as part of our pre-term Writing Seminar at Principia College. We look forward to seeing the results of using TASK in our pedagogy, and we will let you know how it goes.

    Best,
    Erica Popp

  7. Dear Oliver,

    I am in the midst of hosting a TASK workshop for my high school students. Where can I send you images and videos?

    Thanks!

    Rebecca Longley

  8. Hello Oliver,

    My high school students are in the mists of a multi-day TASK workshop. How can I send you photos and video?

    Thanks!

    Becky Longley

    • Hello Becky,
      That’s great! Where is your school located?
      you can send me stuff to my email address, which is oliverherring@earthlink.net, or if too big, let me know via email and I’ll send you my mailing address. that way you to send me a disc or small zip drive. looking forward to finding out more about what you and your students did. A big Thank you for letting me know :)
      All the best,
      Oliver

  9. We stumbled over here from a different web address and thought I should check things out.

    I like what I see so i am just following you.
    Look forward to finding out about your web page repeatedly.

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