Description
Consistent with the tenets of inclusion, community art, and education through feeling that are central to his work, 'A Problem Smile: Workshops, Tours and Discos' bring Stuart Ringholt's PhD text out of the university vault, available to a wider audience.
In 'A Problem Smile', Ringholt surveys the imperial personality of his works – 'Anger Workshops' and naturist tours to name two – and in characteristically candid fashion, reveals a blindness to his own subjectivity and the subjectivities of others. Despite aiming to create work that is cathartic and a source for liberation, Ringholt brings awareness to his 'imperialist smile' and treats the body as neutral rather than sites of prejudice, sexism, racism, discrimination, abuse and violence, under imperial, patriarchal control.
'A Problem Smile' is a result of Ringholt's investigation and introspection, and ultimately mediates the design and staging of his future participatory works, serving as a platform for his broader practice.
