‘Social Art Project’ aims to inspire crowd participation at Fowler Out Loud concert

October 15, 2019

The Fowler Museum's Fowler Out Loud concert series continues with Social Art Project, a group of unfixed members who vary with each performance. 

The music group “Social Art Project,” which includes alumna violinist Jennifer Cho, fourth-year financial actuarial mathematics student Alena Abella and singer and guitarist Matthew Gilbert, a fourth-year musicology student, uses a rotating cast to make its performances feel authentic. (Liz Ketcham/Photo editor)

"Members of “Social Art Project” hope to use music and collective participation to foster community.

The music group, composed of UCLA students and alumni, will perform Wednesday as part of the Fowler Museum’s ongoing Fowler Out Loud series. Singer and guitarist Matthew Gilbert, a fourth-year musicology student, said its name is influenced by real-life social art projects that invite audience participation.

Gilbert was partially inspired by installations such as large chalkboards asking people to write their biggest fears – people’s participation is integral to the final art piece. Gilbert said “Social Art Project” follows this format as it hopes audiences participate in the musical performance by dancing or singing along.

“I’m a big fan of … trying to obscure who’s the writer and who’s the audience, and make it more community-oriented,” Gilbert said.

More than 30 people have been a part of “Social Art Project,” Gilbert said, as it consists of unfixed members who vary with each performance. At the show Wednesday, performers of the group will mostly cover folk songs – like “Indiana” by Adrianne Lenker and “Wildfire” by Mandolin Orange – as well as a few original songs, Gilbert said."— Alexsandra Coltun , Oct. 15, 2019

This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Daily Bruin website.

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