ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ

Growing up, the word ‘social’ to me meant church socials — fundraisers for the Samoan choir that parents, aunties and uncles would attend on a Saturday night. With that is also the memory of bring-ing home suppers, a treasure trove of various cuisines including potato salad, chop suey, chicken curry, corned beef and taro.

Today, in an art context, the term social has taken on various new meanings and new ways to navigate the everyday. ’Social practice’ and ‘socially engaged art’ are not new terms for artists, curators and critics. A century ago the surrealists were creating hands on events attempting to liberate imagination. Recently more closer to home, the Auckland based collective FAFSWAG have been creating important self determining spaces for the queer brown body through art and their now iconic balls.

Social Matter is an exhibition not necessarily interested in ‘social practice’ but the idea of social as material — how ‘the social’ reveals itself and is shaped in different ways by various artists and their practices. The social will always be an integral part of art and the everyday as we as producers seek to engage with and create platforms for the communities around us.