Tough Art: Making Art as Strong as Kids

Tough Art challenges adults to rethink their ideas about interactive art in the context of one of the toughest venues out there-a children's museum. As an audience, kids demand to be taken seriously because, like all of us, they have BIG existential questions. In 2007, Children's Museum of Pittsburgh made a small bet on a big idea-invite four artists to the Museum and provide them with enough time, space, and funding to make an artwork "tough enough" to withstand the rigors of our interactive

environment. This initial experiment became the annual artist residency called Tough Art, a program that challenges artists to take risks by considering what it means to present artworks to an audience that engages with the artwork in unpredictable, uncareful, and unexpected ways. Pulling from fifteen years of experience-which has produced more than sixty artworks by more than seventy artists-this book shares perspectives from artists and museum professionals that reconsider what art in a children's museum can and should be. Our hope is that the advice and stories in this volume will inspire artists and museums to produce their own art for this amazing audience.