This interdisciplinary discussion moderated by Artists in Context will address the role that art and artists play in the commemoration of war and the new spaces that are being created for citizens, veterans and soldiers to traverse the complicated territory of war and its implications for society.

The panel will include artists Matt Mitchell, Krista DeNio, and Susan Oetgen ; Carole Anne Meehan, founder·of Art at Main and a public art curator; Blake J. Ruehrwein, an Air Force veteran from Bridgewater, MA.; Tyler Boudreau, author and veteran of the war in Iraq; Nicholas Chavez, alumnus of Holyoke Community College and UMASS and sailor in the US Navy; and Dave Raymond, Director of Business Development at a Cambridge MA-based healthcare IT startup. View the full bio of each participant here.

The conversation will occur after a performance of Contact, an interactive performance installation created in collaboration with Matt Mitchell’s 100 Faces of War Experience. Directed by Krista DeNio, Contact includes performances by veteran and civilian performers. Mitchell's work, having already laid the groundwork for an evolving dialogue space between viewers and the portraits of veterans, becomes a powerful space for live action. The interactive performance space begs the question: How do we see one another, directly and indirectly? This interactive performance is an effort to create a dialogue in which veterans and civilians can engage with one another in a conversation, acknowledging both what we have in common and what we don’t.