CREATIVE STATEMENT

I am a storyteller at heart. I have always been drawn to the power of stories to help us better understand ourselves and one another. Storytelling is an extension of being human. It is instinctual, and holds within it the innate capacity to alter or sharpen perspectives, engender empathy and understanding, and bring about positive change.

With art as my medium, I specialize in commissioning, developing, and presenting ambitious cross-disciplinary projects that tell stories at once playful, curious, and imaginative as they are evocative of reflection and dialogue around issues of local relevance and global significance. These take the form of events, installations, and interventions that employ visual art, performance, film, digital media, and social practice to transform public space, both indoors and out.

My curatorial focus lies in responsive artworks that animate our natural, built, and virtual environments to provoke shared experiences of wonder and awe, sparking interaction and community-building while growing strong narratives of place. I am committed to art that transcends aesthetics to influence a wide range of issues—from programming artists whose work directly impacts ecological, social, or political concerns; to giving voice to new ideas from underrepresented artists from diverse cultural backgrounds and marginalized identities.

In recent years, I find myself attracted to projects both intimate and large-scale that use design, technology, and activism to push the boundaries of creative expression and help democratize the arts. With an emphasis on experiences that are interactive, participatory, and deeply community-based, I enjoy seeing how these works can transform their sites into immersive, creative playgrounds in which the distinctions between artist and viewer disappear, where audiences are invited to step out of the role of observer and into that of co-creator and actor.

I am also fascinated with spatial interventions that reclaim the urban landscape and bring art to the masses by turning streets, trails, beaches, and boardwalks into open-air galleries, studios, theaters, and clubs. Installations on bridges, projections in trees, dance across buildings, jazz at the skatepark, and sculptural forms hewn from sand, stone, fire, and ice challenge us to rediscover our environment as we interact with it in new ways. This form of expression celebrates the planning, use, and commercialization of public space, extending its potential to strengthen community by growing new connections through art, architecture, performance, and other forms of contemporary visual culture.

Ultimately, my work is rooted in art’s capacity to create new, shared spaces where unexpected interactions, idea exchange, and creative collaboration can take place. Here, the stories can be told.

—Robb Woulfe, 2025