Operations Manual: a (good old) Manifesto

In this “sacred pdfs” series, Public Space One and Art Beacon invited a few of the artists we've connected with over the past decade+, asking them to reveal a little bit about their creative ethos: how they navigate and what they've figured out as they work and live a life “in, with, or alongside the arts sphere” in Iowa. Some of the pieces hold more narrative, while others are more illustrative in their interpretation of the invitation. 

In framing the invitation (which we’ve included below), some words were thrown around: secret sauce, sacred pdfs, spiritual art theory, and finally the title we arrived upon: Operations Manual. One word that was not used, but runs through in reflection is (good old): manifesto. We offer this small selection of replies to our elusive prompt (it was such an unconstrained ask!) as a demonstration or prototype for knowledge and histories that are more likely to exist in gallery conversations than search engine results.

To that end (and we suppose, somewhat ironically?), we will present these (casual? subtle? inadvertent?) manifestos in a couple batches on the MdW wing of the internet over the course of this month. Two cycles of pdf drops will be followed by an editorial conversation between Rachel Buse (Art Beacon) and John Engelbrecht (Public Space One) on Lumpen Radio, reflecting on the assignment and the convergence of this work.   

Please connect with these artists and follow their work as we have.  

\/\/\/\/

an invitation to submit to 

OPERATIONS MANUAL 

or what is your secret to being an artist (or art worker) in the Midwest?

(a sacred pdf project highlighting the knowledge of Iowa-based artists 

that exists outside the easy reach of internet search engines)

dear _______ 

Art Beacon & Public Space One on editorial assignment for MDW (mdw.art) are writing to request your participation in a "sacred pdfs" call. 

Do you have a spiritual theory related to your artmaking practice? Or perhaps a technical skill particular to your way of working? Maybe your own "secret sauce" for approaching/accelerating your creative practice? We see you as someone pushing boundaries and making waves with your work and simply wonder: what have you learned and (pretty please) would you show us and the world (or at least, our humble local/regional arts sphere)? 

We are inviting a small selection of artists to take a question from the previous paragraph and translate it into a tangible consumable artistic digital PDF that we can share as an Iowa entry for the 2024 MDW Atlas, this June. 

If this sounds fun and fruitful to you, please accept this assignment at the [redacted] link below. 

Operations Manual contributors:
Cat Rocketship - Original Art Beacon conspirator
Jon Pearson - Original Art Beacon conspirator
Tiffany Sinnott - Original Art Beacon conspirator
Trey Reis - Warm Gospel 

Larassa Kabel - The Golden Hind Gallery
Lex Leto - All Means No End 
Narciso Meneses Elizalde - Mystery Traditions
Rich Dana - Use Your Hands