Event 1 : John Halpern's Talk – Leveraging Community and Media Assets: A Look In and Out

     Attending John Halpern’s talk, Leveraging Community and Media Assets: A Look In and Out, was a powerful reminder of how art and media can reshape collective perception. One of the main ideas Halpern emphasized was that artists can use media not just to share work, but to shift social narratives, steering them away from fear and towards hope and connection. 

This idea connected directly to the course topics we’ve studied about media's influence over public consciousness. It also made me think of Walter Benjamin’s argument about mechanical reproduction, how art, when widely spread, can lose its "aura," but can also gain new political meaning. Hearing Halpern talk about artists orchestrating high-profile events to "wake people up" made Benjamin’s theories feel much more alive and relevant to today. Halpern’s concept of "pushing the limits of reality" also inspired me for my midterm. I want my project to create an experience that doesn’t just show environmental displacement but makes viewers feel that shift emotionally, much like Halpern’s Bridging project used real-world spaces as symbolic stages. It made me realize how important it is to design work that isn't just informative but transformative. 

I would definitely recommend this talk to classmates. Halpern’s ideas about identity, vulnerability, and community-building through art offer great insight for anyone interested in how creative work can move beyond galleries and into real-world impact.

Works Referenced:  

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Translated by Harry Zohn, Schocken Books, 1969.

Halpern, John. “Leveraging Community and Media Assets: A Look In and Out.” Guest lecture, 23 Apr. 2025

Vesna, Victoria. “Towards a Third Culture: Being In Between.” Leonardo, vol. 34, no. 2, 2001