First Friday as a Social Event
One of the most important notes I made while conducting my research was that art is becoming a more social event in today’s society. I noticed that half of the conversations I overheard weren’t even about the artwork. It was people that haven’t seen each other in a while catching up. Many of these conversational topics included work, family, friends, or what was happening in their lives in general. Also, I somehow wandered into the back of a bar and found hundreds of people inside listening to bands, drinking, and socializing. Likewise, there were people all over the streets just enjoying the upbeat, exciting atmosphere.
Even though I have attended several of these events before, I was surprised that half of the people were outside congregating in the street or in bars. It also shocked me how upbeat and energized the area was with bands and other live performers (i.e. a man carving totem poles in between two buildings.) Usually I don’t think of art as being exciting; this could be because of my two classes in art history that I had to take, which both seemed to consist of boring analysis of various pieces. Instead, the art created a reason for people to gather in the area whether they were interested in it or not.