While ANTART hosted a panel at EASA 2020 (P023): ‘Anthropology and Art: on the dynamics and polemics of situating definitions of art’ convened by the Network Convenors (Clarke, Laine, and Le Calvé), the Network also played a special role at the 2020 EASA conference, by initiating and curating an exhibition organised in collaboration with local (Lisbon) institutional partners and artists. The exhibition was curated by Jennifer Clarke, Anna Laine, and Maxime Le Calvé, in collaboration with a local partner Fernando Dias and Jorge dos Reis from FBAUL ((Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon). Initially intended as a physical exhibition, we successfully transitioned to a virtual exhibition and events in July 2020, which is still available to view. The exhibition was primarily funded by EASA (covering artist fees and small design costs) as part of the EASA2020 conference. With design students from our partner FBAUL, and the support of EASA’s organisers, nomadit, we created a new website to present this exhibition, which is envisioned as an ongoing platform for the current network.
For anthropologists and artists “doing fieldwork” in contemporary worlds, art can be much more than an object of investigation. Curation and creation through visual, audio, or performing arts are at the heart of our work, extending the established anthropological interest in writing as a medium of thought and knowledge sharing. Our exhibition invited and presented works by anthropologists and artists who break disciplinary boundaries, and whose practice foregrounds experimental, and open approaches to the theme “field/works”.The opening event was advertised on the EASA conference page and had more than 100 guests. The social media page (Facebook) reached around 900 people. The website shows the work of 17 artists and anthropologists (and interdisciplinary collaboration modes) in a virtual exhibition, including 2 artists who are part of the seminal collective Ethnographic Terminalia. (AAA), which Field/Works has been inspired by.