CIVA Conference: Between Two Worlds

Between Two Worlds: Contemporary Art And The Church
June 11-14, 2015, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI

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Today, more than ever, the Church needs art, and the Art World needs the Church. This four-day CIVA conference is an excellent opportunity to consider the ever-present tension that persists between artists and the church and to learn from leaders and practitioners who are working to overcome this divide. Through keynote presentations, exhibitions, workshops, and cultural outings, we’ll explore the role of art and the church. Artists and curators, educators and church leaders, and everyone in between are invited to celebrate the vital relationship of art and the church.

Conference Theme
It is an understatement to say that the church and the contemporary art world find themselves in an uneasy relationship. On one hand, the leaders of local congregations, seminaries, and other Christian networks don’t know what to make of works by artists like Banksy and Chris Ofili, or Marina Abramovich and Barbara Kruger. Not only are these kinds of artist mostly unknown to church leaders, they and their work cause them to regard the world of contemporary art with quizzical indifference, frustration, and even disdain. On the other, many artists lack any meaningful experience with the contemporary church and are mostly ignorant of her mission. Not infrequently, these artists regard religion as irrelevant to their art practice, are disinclined to trust the church and its leaders, and have experienced personal rejection from these communities. Clearly, misunderstanding and mistrust abound.

CIVA’s 2015 Biennial Conference at Calvin College will host a conversation between these two worlds. During our four days together, we will explore the misperceptions that we have about each other, create hospitable space to talk and listen, and imagine the possibility of a renewed and mutually fruitful relationship. With these lofty goals before us, this conference will provide a range of case studies that exemplify the kinds of programs, partnership, and patronage that might serve the greater good. Meanwhile, where the difference between these two worlds is too great to overcome, this conference seeks to build a bridge that facilitates understanding and mutual respect. In other words, we seek to find common ground for the common good since we — Christians at work in the visual arts — believe this is what God, in Christ, would have us to do.

Contemporary Art
The world of contemporary art is alternately drawn in by and resistant to the considerable influence of the artworld. Works of art that are regarded as “contemporary” often find as their focus narratives that feature marginal voices, transgressive activities, and under-represented communities. In some instances, these creative acts seek to alert viewers or participants to certain perceived injustices. On other occasions the focus of these efforts is to reveal contradictory, banal, and even exotic-seeming conditions. Suffice it to say, in the contemporary art scene, what counts as serious artistic practice and the subsequent purpose of this practice remains highly fluid. In this regard, there is considerable interest in exploring social practice. Nonetheless, a strong interest in making material objects remains though, like its modernist precursor, the resulting practices and processes that these makers call on generally exist in reaction to the Western art canon.

The Church
In its broadest sense, we understand the Church to be the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church, that church which stretches across time and space, and with whom we share communion in Christ by the power of his Holy Spirit. More concretely, we mean local congregations who regularly engage in acts of worship, discipleship, community, mission and service. The church in this sense occupies a specific place in neighborhoods, cities and rural areas, endowed with specific capacities and opportunities to manifest the kingdom of God to a particular people, that is, our actual neighbors. In an equally significant sense, by “church” we mean the community of Christians who are engaged in all sectors of the marketplace: professional societies and arts centers; educational institutions and business ventures; para-church organizations and denominational headquarters; museums and galleries; the home and the government, and so on. Wherever a Christian may find him or herself, there we discover a member of Christ’s church. With these three senses, our hope is to capture both the specificity and breadth of the Body of Christ, taking advantage hereby of the kind of language we discover in Scripture. In all senses, moreover, the visual arts play an important role. This is true whether individual churches or Christians are fully aware of that role and of the good work which the visual arts play in the world which God so loves.

Christians in the Visual Arts (a non-profit 501(c)3 organization) exists to cultivate an incarnational presence in culture, equip artists in their vocational calling, and nurture the relationship between the visual arts and the Christian faith. Founded in 1979, the organization’s longstanding vision is to help artists,collectors, critics, professors, historians, pastors and arts professionals explore the profound relationship between art and faith. With this as a point of beginning, CIVA’s broad range of conferences, exhibits, programs, and publications exists to help the art and faith movement flourish both in the Church and in culture. CIVA encourages Christians in the visual arts to develop their particular callings to the highest professional level possible; to learn how to deal with specific problems in the field without compromising our faith and our standard of artistic endeavor; to provide opportunities for sharing work and ideas; to foster intelligent understanding, a spirit of trust, and a cooperative relationship between those in the arts, the Church, and culture; and ultimately, to establish a Christian presence within the secular art world.