Reed Arts Week is Reed College’s annual student-run arts festival. Since 1989, RAW has brought the work of internationally known artists, musicians and performers to Reed’s campus with a commitment to connecting Reed students and the surrounding community to contemporary art and artists, and to providing exhibition opportunities for Reed student artists. There is little that you can generalize about RAW, given that it is reimagined each year by a new set of student directors, each working from a unique set of interests and thinking through art’s role for Reed students within their own moment. RAW’s fundamental changeability makes it a uniquely flexible festival, allowing for a solely digital RAW that is more than just possible, taking these constraints as an opportunity to engage with a larger number of artists, and to highlight artists with a particularly close connection to digital media and platforms.


The theme catharsis.net reflects the artistic directors’ desire to use virtual space for physical and emotional release in the absence of embodiment. We wish to cultivate an environment of interactivity, collectivity, community support, and creation in the digital realm: a form of virtual reprieve. Further, we want to engage the virtual nature of catharsis.net in order to question the idea of a “Reed” Arts Festival, attempting to break down the boundaries between artists operating inside and outside of our institution. In particular, we are interested in offering artists a platform to build their audience, supporting artists directly through financial compensation, and showcasing work in settings outside of shared physical space.


This website represents the totality of RAW2020, presenting the artwork of all twenty three participating artists, and providing a platform through which participants can access the festival’s live events as well as Reed Arts Week’s first ever publication. We feel so lucky to have had a part in bringing this art into this digital space and we hope that you enjoy!

RAW is, as always, only as good as the sum of its parts and we are so grateful to have been able to work with each of the incredible artists, writers, and performers who contributed. To the following, we extend our thanks:


The artists, writers, and performers of RAW 2020

The live event performers, workshop hosts, and student coordinators
 
FAIRYWORLD Collective
Student DJs:  Seb the Soundguy, TEDxAngel, DJ Oli, DJ RaisinJoule, SAMEG, fulltouch, delaney, and renegade snares
Victoria Xiao
Delaney Neal
Henry Oberholzer


The Reed staff members who so kindly extended their guidance, time, and energy to help us bring RAW into existence, and share it with the Reed community.
 
Robin Tovey
Brittney Corrigan-McElroy


We also extend our thanks to Cooley Gallery curator Stephanie Snyder and registrar and collections manager Colleen Gotze for their vital guidance and unwavering support each and every step of the way.

With love,
Your 2020 Reed Arts Week Artistic Directors,
Isabel Adesko, Iki Edreva, Emma Ganger-Spivak, Connor Stockton