Statement of Work

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We are the ARGOT/NOTS, a two-person art collective working in digital media and critical writing. The starting point for our projects is to engage our practice and our community with generosity, humor, and criticality. Through a range of projects we are examining the ideas and language that structure the art communities and institutions we encounter.

•Critical Discourse is a web-based video series that uses the format of an art talk show. Each episode focuses on a different theme such as “jargon” or “community.” We seek to answer questions through interviews with participants within the arts and various other fields, both within Kansas City as well as in communities spread nationally. As the flagship program for the collective, Critical Discourse uses our visibility as practitioners as a platform for others to explain their perspectives.

•Fireside Chats is a video series in which we turn the lens towards ourselves to examine complicated aspects of the art world, such as power and visibility. Staged in a theatrical living room, the series is both ironic and explicitly critical as we use our own collective as a case study.

•Studio Stops is a video series of brief studio visits with artists. Both playful and short, these studio visits allow a glimpse into the spaces and minds of practicing makers.

•Gobbledygook is a print publication that plays with the encyclopedic format to explore specialized language within artspeak. Rather than presenting an exhaustive list of definitions, however, GBGK is associative and visual, intended to open possibilities and encourage readers to seek new connections.

As a collective we aim to bridge Kansas City with other places, provide a platform for artists and art professionals to explain their perspectives, and reconsider complicated ideas and language.