BY BLEU CEASE

From my perspective, the visual art scene in Rochester seems to be growing in many directions. Despite general economic woes, it is a particularly exciting time.

Healthy art scenes are made up of a diversity of institutions, makers, and viewers that support varying aesthetic approaches and philosophies. Rochester offers significant museums, independent art centers, university and commercial galleries, student-run spaces, DIY venues, and one-night art events and arts and crafts festivals, all with substantial, though overlapping, constituencies and audiences. This diversity allows for cross-pollination, differing opportunities for artists, and hopefully, a healthy drive to bring important new ideas to the mix and into the Rochester community as a whole - not just the art community.

For the city's size, the amount of activity really is remarkable. Considering this diverse current moment, a constant influx of talented students, and a rich and ready-to-be-tested history, Rochester has the potential to be a visual-arts leader in the region.

This anniversary is an important time to consider the past and future of art in Rochester, but we should also remember to look elsewhere for inspiration. All around the world artists are given - and claim - agency to examine, address, and propose solutions for the most important issues facing their communities. Specific art projects should play an increasingly important role in discussions about Rochester's next 175 years.

PLANT, an acronym for Place, Land, Art & Agriculture, Neighbors and Technology, is an exhibition that attempts to bring this home. PLANT is a collaboration between Rochester Contemporary Art Center, George Eastman House, the Los Angeles-based Metabolic Studio, and numerous other local groups and organizations. PLANT challenges institutions to work together, and individuals to imagine and utilize the gallery as a social zone and resource center for sharing ideas and actions.

The PLANT exhibition and its Sunday coffee hours simultaneously present and constitute an example of "participatory art practice," a loose category of cultural initiatives that brings people together to share in creative production and action. PLANT doesn't simply exhibit framed images, documenting an action. It IS an action. PLANT fosters discussions about the boundaries between art and the actions taken by a number of inspirational individuals and groups, those who are doing important work to improve our city. PLANT is as much about public health and urbanism as it is about aesthetics and white gallery walls.

It is imperative that Rochester develop unique solutions for its most pressing issues, and art institutions must continue to respond. The notion that art is to be passively observed as entertainment will apply less and less to Rochester in the future. Art today can serve as a point of entry into many complex topics, and established artists regularly collaborate with leaders from a variety of different fields. It is within this swirl of possibilities and real-world need that the tired boundaries between different artistic styles and disciplines (and their dedicated institutions) quickly dissolve. Rochester can simultaneously support and challenge the diversity of its art community by asking more of it.

Though I am overwhelmingly optimistic about the art scene and art community in Rochester, I am genuinely concerned that significant dialogue about the visual arts is not being promoted enough. The amount of insightful writing on local topics does not represent Rochester's plentiful art scene and smart citizenry. City Newspaper should be applauded for its consistently thoughtful articles, yet a weekly publication cannot completely represent the local discussion. The clear need and desire for improved print and televised dialogue might be considered evidence of Rochester's art abundance. However, this should also be seen as a ceiling, above which the art scene will not develop. If art in Rochester is going to grow and increase in vitality, it must be nurtured by knowledgeable and challenging public conversations. Let's do this!

Bleu Cease is executive director and curator, RochesterContemporaryArtCenter. A native of the Finger Lakes area, he moved to Rochester in 2002, has worked for both the George Eastman House and the International Center of Photography in New York City, and has been an adjunct instructor at the University of Buffalo and Visual Studies Workshop.