By Marah J. Morrison
Lauren Goshinski, an audio and visual curator and creative director, provided a free and open-to-the-public lecture on Monday at the McDonough Museum Lecture Hall.
During the span of her career, Goshinski has curated and produced screenings, tour visuals, audio-visual festivals and many more. She is also a board member of International Cities of Advanced Sound, which is as global network of non-profit festivals dedicated to adventurous music and art.
Goshinski said when she was growing up, she didn’t know that this field of study existed, and she had equal interests in areas that others could see being expressed.
“I was super musical, but didn’t know for a very long time what DJing was,” she said. “I was doing things that would lead me to that. I was cutting up tapes and I was creating my own weird remixes of things and not really understanding that that was a thing.”
Goshinski said on the performance side of the industry, she enjoys creating worlds that have their own logic to them and acting those out with other people. Sometimes these worlds would either be a narrative or visual, creating a whole world to be lived in.
“I was a very visual person,” she said. “I was drawing and painting and building things all the time, so it was coming from a creative place at every point.”
Goshinski said her favorite aspect about this industry in general is the various people she meets.
She said no two artists are the same, no two audience members are the same and no two people are the same.
“When you bring them all together in this way, I think you get to see a side of people that is incredibly inspiring and beautiful,” she said.
Goshinski said being in this industry gives her a sense of hope and joy at a level she can’t find in other places. She added there are a number of different festivals where it’s more about a moment in the festival where an artist snaps a chord with people.
“You see everybody on the same page, and I love seeing that for artists that are emerging or aren’t super Top 40 names,” she said. “Seeing them crack an audience open and watching people find something they never knew existed before.”
Goshinski said the way she got to where she is now in her career was not traditional because she didn’t come through an entertainment program, but came through art history.
She said no one told her or taught her how to do this.
“There’s not going to be anyone there to hold your hand,” she said. “You’re going to have to create this on your own and have a vision that is yours.”
Dana Sperry, an associate professor in the Department of Art in digital media at Youngstown State University, said the lecture provided an understanding of coming out with an art degree and how it allows a wide variety of things someone can do.
Sperry said there’s a cultural creation thing around curating and putting together festivals or events. He said in this industry, it takes a whole field of people working together and making decisions.
“Artists and designers create a larger creative culture,” he said. “It’s not just [making] shows in galleries. We make a lot of things that end up everywhere and it takes a lot of different types of people to make that happen.”