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Bob and Roberta Smith, MoMA WILL BE FREE (2011) and CREATING THINGS (2011), installed as part of Framing Fraktur at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Questions of Practice: Artist Bob and Roberta Smith on Art as Advocacy

Questions of Practice: Artist Bob and Roberta Smith on Art as Advocacy

“Objects are very vulnerable when people have forgotten their stories,” says artist Bob and Roberta Smith, when asked to speak on art and advocacy. Known for his use of slogans and campaign tactics, Smith explains that when artists extend the life of an artwork through storytelling, “that story can be the artwork.”

Artist Bob and Roberta Smith, also known as Patrick Brill, speaks on art and advocacy in conjunction with Framing Fraktur at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Filmed at The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage on March 3, 2015.

Bob and Roberta Smith, also known as Patrick Brill, is a British contemporary artist working in text, persona, and public space. He is a trustee for the National Campaign for the Arts, and an Associate Professor at London Metropolitan University. Smith’s work is part of the Center-funded Framing Fraktur at the Free Library of Philadelphia, which exhibits contemporary text-based art alongside historical Pennsylvania German fraktur.