Report from NYC: NYFF, "Greater New York," Conflux, "The Last Newspaper," & the Creative Time Summit

There was a lot going on.

Went to some gallery shows in Chelsea; some visuals here. The works I enjoyed most were by Pipi Rist – her installations at Luhring Augustine were gorgeous – Matthew Day Jackson, and Sarah Sze. Also came across work by Aaron Kang (see also here), quoting Kant; c.f. the Perpetual Peace project, near the end of this post below.

I caught one day of the "Avant Garde" at the New York Film Festival. Seemed a bit heavy on the watery reflections, leaves in breeze, and texts coming in and out of focus. But very worthwhile; among other things, I was glad to see new work by Lewis Klahr (see also here) and Dani Leventhal (whose work I've recommended to the VideoFest, but it hasn't been picked up here in Dallas yet; but the NYFF curator indicated there's been a bit of a craze for her work in NYC). I also loved the idea of one video by David Gatten, screened at the marriage ceremony at his own wedding in lieu of speaking any words to his bride (making me think about conducting a semi-legitimate, mass-wedding-via-video here in Dallas – something spectacular, if you know what I mean!)

Saw about 50% of the Greater New York exhibition at P.S. 1 – not only does the show fill that good-sized facility, but much of the work is video – visuals here (shot under, shall we say, extremely adverse circumstances, so apologies for the extra-low production values) – including substantial, recent works by Matthew Barney (Guardian of the Veil), Ryan Trecartin, Kalup Linzy, and many others – one artist new to me whose work I especially liked was Deville Cohen. If you want more than a cursory acquaintance with the works in this show, allow two days. The show offered evidence that whatever media artists may be losing with the death of hardcopy news (see The Last Newspaper, below), they're finding plenty of new material online. (B.t.w., those interested in my reports on Temporary Services' ART WORK project might appreciate this.)

Then caught the last half of the opening presentation at Conflux 2010, New York's psychogeographic art festival, on the subject of little-seen urban ruins and underground spaces – the speaker, Steve Duncan, shared lots of great info accompanied by lots of great photos – my visuals, starting here, don't begin to do it justice (it had already been a long day). Did you know that many of the world's great cities, including Paris, Moscow, London, and New York, paved over and built on top of the rivers that originally sustained them, transforming the rivers into arteries in their storm water and sewage systems? And they did something similar w.r.t. the quarries from which the stones used to build their buildings were extracted. If you're adventurous, you can explore these old, underground quarries and sewers, and see some amazing things. And the speaker mentioned he cut his hand down there once, and by the next day his hand was the size of a baseball mitt, infected with four kinds of deadly bacteria; so don't get cut down there.

Saw the NYC premier at The Kitchen of a "live documentary," Utopia in Four Movements, by Sam Green; he directed The Weather Underground, which I loved. His new project contemplates our relationship to utopias, which he semi-facetiously defined as places that do not exist, where everyone has a good job and a good standard of living. He mostly showed footage of/talked about (1) Esperanto (2) communist states, esp. Cuba, although he consistently used the term, "socialism," in talking about them; and he more or less assumed we agree that our own capitalist democracy has also proved disappointing, if not quite the failure of communist states, and (3) forensic archaeology, i.e., where they dig up mass graves and attempt to identify remains.

During the Q&A afterward, I asked if he'd considered talking about socialist democracies, and what he might have said about those. I asked because I'm genuinely curious about whether their systems work as much better than ours as they seem to. E.g., I have the impression that pretty much everyone there has a good job and a good standard of living – like Green's definition of utopia, only they do exist!

He answered along the lines of, that he was interested in exploring our feelings and attitudes about utopias; and the socialist democracies, well, they're just there, and there didn't seem to be much of a story there. And yet more than once in his talk, he'd mentioned his deep disappointment, and wishing there were a solution or way forward. So, um, like, Sweden and Norway . . . ?

Went to the New Museum's new exhibition, The Last Newspaper; visuals here. It's big and terrific; and also interesting in what it did not do. It did not particularly inquire into what it is that we might be losing with the death of paper news, apart from a cheap, wonderful, ready-made medium; it did not ask, for example, what we may be about to lose in the way of hard archives, or modes of thinking; and it came nowhere near any issues re- what's displacing hardcopy new, i.e., virtual news. Also interestingly, the exhibition was larded with Kant quotations. As I learned later, these quotations were thanks to the Perpetual Peace project – more below.

Possibly coming up in a later post: a few remarks inspired by the Creative Time Summit (a few visuals here). For now I'll just mention, first, that they have a great website with, I believe, videos of more or less all the presentations, here; and second, that the instigator of the Perpetual Peace project (see pics sprinkled among the New Museum vizis, such as this one) was among the speakers, and he explained that it was a "secret" article by Kant that was the foundation for the U.N., and that the little booklet displayed at the New Museum contains this secret article.

"Sustenance" Update

Lots more visuals of the exhibition here. (For a larger version of the image at left, click on it; the work is by Jesse Morgan Barnett.)

The exhibition includes works by Brian Fridge, Chris Hefner, Darryl Lauster, Devin King, Frances Bagley, Iris Bechtol, Jeff Zilm, Jesse Morgan Barnett, Justin Ginsberg, Kate Helmes, Kimberly Aubuchon, Kristin Mariani, Linnea Glatt & Jim Cinquemani, Lizzy Wetzel, Lou Mallozzi, Ludwig Schwarz, Matt Hanner, Michael Mazurek, Patrick Murphy, Sedrick Huckaby, Shannon Brunskill (with Courtney Brown), Tom Orr, and Temporary Services. Exhibition checklist and more at the Sustenance FB page or blog.

"Sustenance" Exhibition

. . . opened at 11am today in the blue building at 337 Singleton Blvd., Dallas, and will stay open 'til 10pm tonite (and the show will be up for a month or so; see the Sustenance FB page or blog for more details).

Congrats to Stephen Lapthisophon, Anne Lawrence, and all the artists on an exciting show. (The pic at right is what you might see as you enter Brian Fridge's installation.)

Notes from Anne about the opening today:

Shannon Brunskill and Courtney Brown will start their performance around 11 a.m.
Linnea Glatt and Jim Cinquemani will start the "Social Circle: Watermelon Social" around 6 p.m.
Devin King will be performing in his space on the 2nd floor around 9 p.m.

There is plenty of parking around the building. You can turn into the lot before the building, closest to the bridge or park in the large open lot across the street. Be careful crossing Continental! The cars are fast.

The exhibition includes a small installation of ART WORK newspapers and related materials. These are truly the LAST of what I've got, so come 'n get 'em.

ART WORK: Readings

A few photos here (thanks, Ben!) Again, a great turn-out. This was the last of the three events in the ART WORK in dallas series inspired by Temporary Services' ART WORK newspaper project.

Thanks again to Undermain Theater for their support for the actors' fees, to Mark Ridlen, a.k.a. DJ DeLuxe, for the "audio surprise," to my collaborators at S.M.U. and CentralTrak, and to everyone else who worked so hard to make this series a success.

(You can also see visuals of the symposium here, and of the exhibition here. You can download a complete copy of the ART WORK newspaper issue here. For more info about the ART WORK project, see here. For more info about the ART WORK in dallas series, see here.)

"ART WORK": Readings (Event #3 of 3)

This Saturday, June 19,
at CentralTrak, 800 Exposition Ave. at Ash, Dallas (see map below).
Doors open at 7:30 PM; program begins at 8 PM.

Excerpts from the ART WORK newspaper, including history, fiction, autobio, and other writings by artist/Artforum writer Gregory Sholette, artist Nicolas Lampert, author Cooley Windsor, theorist Brian Holmes, "Anonymous," and others.

Support for actors' fees provided by Undermain Theatre. Audio surprise by DJ DeLuxe. Organized by Carolyn Sortor. FREE.

(For more info on the ART WORK in dallas event series, see facebook or c-Blog. For why I took on this project, see my previous post.)

READERS (the Cast)

Josh Blann has been seen in Port Twilight at Undermain Theatre, Long Christmas Ride Home at Stage West, don’t u luv me at Dallas Children’s Theater, All’s Well That Ends Well at Shakespeare Dallas, and Goodbye Girl at Theatre Three. Additionally, he directed and acted in Green, a world premiere at the Out of the Loop Festival at Watertower Theater. Josh also spent three years at PlayMakers Repertory Company in plays such as King Lear (dir. Mark Wing-Davy), Richard II (dir. David Hammond), A Prayer for Owen Meany (dir. David Hammond), Caesar & Cleopatra (dir. David Hammond), and Salome (dir. Trezana Beverly).

Shannon Kearns-Simmons is an Undermain company member and was last seen as Monitor 1/ Donna in Len Jenkin's Port Twilight. Additional roles at Undermain include Tanya in David Rabe’s The Black Monk, Edith in Neil Young’s Greendale, Nina Iverson in The Snow Queen; Neasa, Shining City; Dorothy Wordsworth, The Appeal; Carrie Rodgers, Waiting for a Train; title role/ensemble, Margo Veil: An Entertainment; and Cate in Blasted. Shannon has also worked with Core Performance Manufactory, Echo Theatre, Theatre Britain, Risk Theatre Initiative & The Modern Stage, Kitchen Dog Theater, WingSpan Theatre Company, DMA’s Arts & Letters Live, and the Clarence Brown Theatre (Knoxville). She has worked under the direction of Henryk Baranowski, Liviu Ciulei, Peter Huszti, Kathryn Pogson, Laszlo Marton, and Fred Curchack, and has performed in festivals in Bratislava, Slovakia (Istropolitana) and Budapest, Hungary. She has performed with Mabou Mines and trained with members of Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Shakespeare & Company, Moscow School of Dramatic Arts, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Hungarian National Academy of Acting, Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, and The Living Theatre.

Ryan Lescalleet most recently appeared in the Undermain’s production of The Black Monk by David Rabe. He graduated from Trinity Christian Academy, where he enjoyed playing such roles as David in God’s Favorite, Horace in Hello Dolly, and Fred in A Christmas Carol.

Elizabeth Krudewig is originally from Marshall TX. She has appeared in All My Sons, Blood Wedding, and The Seagull at Baylor University. Elizabeth is a member of the artistic team at Upstart Productions and an intern at Undermain Theatre.

(Click on the map-nail for a larger version.) To get to CentralTrak, from downtown Dallas or west of downtown, take 30 going east and, just past downtown, exit at 2nd Ave.; turn left on Ash and then left on Exposition.

From east of Dallas, take 30 going west and exit at Exposition Ave./1st Ave.; loop around to continue going east on Exposition.

CentralTrak is at 800 Exposition Ave.

One Project Spurs Two Controversies:

Is art work?

And is ART WORK "art"?

For most of my life, I have not been a fan of overtly political art (although I happen to think all art works {as well as other expressions} have at least indirect political implications, by omission or otherwise). So why did I take on this project?

First, I did connect to the politics of Temporary Services' ART WORK newspaper. Society benefits tremendously from artists' efforts, yet very few artists make a living at it; indeed, many whose works are in major art museums need dayjobs to get by.

But more importantly, artists could be poster-kids for the lower and middle classes in general. People in the U.S. work at least as long, hard, and efficiently as workers anywhere in the world. Our productivity has doubled, but our inflation-adjusted incomes have actually declined. The quality of life for most of us as measured by important criteria has fallen dramatically since the 1970's and earlier (see Elizabeth Warren's brilliant presentation; see also here), and it's substantially below that enjoyed in many other developed countries (see here; see also here).

Meanwhile, the rich have grown vastly richer, and the gap in wealth between the top few percent and the rest of us has skyrocketed to an all-time high (see here; also here). As Warren Buffet's said, "It's class warfare, [and] my class is winning, but they shouldn't be." (CNN interview).

If there's been one good result from our tribulations during the last ten years, it's that many more of us have realized we simply cannot afford not to pay attention to political and economic matters, and that things probably won't get much better so long as we continue to allow the few who control disproportionate wealth to make all the big decisions (see, e.g., here).

But while the rest of us have overwhelming numbers, we remain powerless unless we understand what's going on, and organize, at least for certain purposes.

Most of us have been operating as individual entrepreneurs for years now, and there are benefits to that approach. But it's left us atomized and isolated from one another. Maybe we're ready to put our heads together to think about ways to have our entrepreneurial cake and still put food on the table.

Change for the better may not be easy – destruction is easy; creation is hard – but I happen to believe with Andy Warhol, Margaret Mead et al. that it can be done (hey, if we can change Earth's climate as a mere side-effect of other efforts, imagine what we could do if we actually tried).

But that was not the only reason I got involved in the ART WORK project.

During the last few years, I'd become aware of the terms, "relational art," "littoral art," "discursive art," "participatory art," etc. These terms have been used by various writers (Nicolas Bourriaud, Grant Kester, Claire Bishop, Liam Gillick, et al.) who define them in distinctly different ways, but there seems to be some overlap in the kinds of art they're talking about. I've found these terms to be powerful tools for thinking about a trend I personally, roughly describe as art in which the artist's main focus is the production or modification of relationships among people, as distinguished from the production of some other art object. That is, while the project or practice may yield material artifacts, or involve performance, the construction of an environment for viewers, or other things or activities we've recognized as art in the past, what's new-ish is that the artist's principal preoccupation seems to be with the creation or modification of relationships, rather than any object, environment, or even performance – i.e., arguably, the principal art "object" is the relationships formed, or the modifications made to them, in the course of the practice.

(Writers discussing the relational trend disagree intensely about the best ways to define it or to evaluate the works it might include. Such questions go beyond what I can address in this post, but they'd be part of conversations I'd like to have.)

Much of the art I've found most exciting during the last decade and more arguably falls into this "relational" category, as defined in the way I currently find most interesting. I'm thinking of, e.g., Rotozaza's GuruGuru (discussion here), Cao Fei's RMB City (see also here), Meiro Koizumi's Art of Awakening and Human Opera XXX (here), eteam's Second Life Dumpster (see also here), Graffiti Research Lab (see also here) and at least some of Good/Bad Art Collective's projects (see here; and other highly-respected artists associated with this trend and whose work I admire or find interesting include Marina Abramovic, Liam Gillick, Pierre Huyghe, and Phillippe Parreno, to name a few).

Temporary Services' project is definitely relational. They didn't just produce a newspaper; they recruited people nationwide to help distribute it, and they invited everyone interested to take the ball and run with it – to use the newspaper as a springboard to create their own exhibitions, discussions, or events. Their goal is to create and modify relationships – in particular, to inspire us to combine our creativity and other strengths to bring greater fairness to art workers and others, creating or modifying relationships not only among ourselves but within society at large.

(Temporary Services' project may also be related to trends having to do with collectivity and socially-engaged art practices generally, which have their notable practitioners and theorists, as well as to conceptual art. I also find it interesting that the artists chose to distribute their publication in the form of hardcopy newspapers, at a time when print is on the ropes, as well as via the project's website. The collective has been described as "working out of a Situationist tradition"; their work or publications have been been featured at Mass MoCA, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, the Smart Museum of Art, and elsewhere.)

But although relational art and theorizing have been around for some years (Bourriaud's seminal Relational Aesthetics was first published in French in 1998 and discusses work created in the 90's), we've seen relatively little of this kind of work in the Dallas area (Good/Bad was a brilliant, early instance; but I know of few others); and I'm aware of even less public discussion here of relational (or of socially engaged) practices.

So another motive for turning Temporary Services' project into an occasion for an exhibition, etc. was to bring more of this kind of work into view here and perhaps inspire conversation about the ART WORK project as art – relational or otherwise – or not-art.

The work shown in the main gallery at CentralTrak "present[s] projects that propose solutions for contemporary artists seeking to work outside of the 'white box' to secure greater economic autonomy during this post-market-glut economic correction" (see CentralTrak); i.e., works reflecting artists' responses as individuals (among other things). This portion of the exhibition was organized by Kate Sheerin, Director of CentralTrak, and includes works by Richie Budd, Gary Farrelly, Thomas Riccio and Frank Dufour, Ludwig Schwarz, Marjorie Schwarz, and give up. The opening reception also included "Son of Trunk Show," presented by Shelby Cunningham and featuring eight other artists.

The materials in the CentralTrak corridor focus on collective efforts (among other things). This portion of the exhibition was organized by moi and includes the ART WORK newspaper plus materials on works and/or writings by Gregory Sholette, Harrell Fletcher, Liam Gillick, Not an Alternative, Mel Chin, Lize Mogel, Maria Lind, Research and Destroy, Robert Projansky and Seth Siegelaub, W.A.G.E., Michael Corris, Hollis Frampton, Don Celender, and Julius Getman.

I think the two areas complement one another in interesting, even provocative ways.

Is ART WORK "art"? After viewing the show, one prominent local critic told me I should be an activist – implying that I should stay away from art. I suggested there could be no greater art project than to help make a better world (to which s/he objected, "[i]sn't that terribly self-absorbed?" I replied, how is that more self-absorbed than building a company or having a family?)
So yes, my own working hypothesis is that, to some degree or in some sense, ART WORK is art.

And you don't have to like ART WORK, or agree with its political orientation, or even agree that it's art, to agree that now is a good time for us to talk about those questions.
For more info about the ART WORK in dallas event series, see my previous post, or click on the "ART WORK in dallas" label below.

(The image top right is of a naturally-occurring fractal in the form of a Romanesco cabbage, from "Fractal Food." The image center left is of Tracy Hicks' Moose, from the National Academy of Sciences Online via Mutable Matter, and the image bottom right is also from Mutable Matter, apparently by the blog author – thanks, Angela!)

UPDATE: Great review of the show by Erin Starr White in Art Lies, Fall 2010. For visuals of the exhibition, see here.

Symposium: "ART WORK: A Local Conversation About Art, Labor, and Economics"

Photos here. (A great crowd, esp. for a this kind of thing and this time of year.) This was the second of three events in the ART WORK in dallas series inspired by Temporary Services' ART WORK project.

Last up: the program of readings at CentralTrak on June 19 -- be there!

Program at CentralTrak: "ART WORK: Readings"
Where: 800 Exposition Ave. at Ash, Dallas, TX
When: Sat., June 19, 7:30 - 10:00 pm

Readings of excerpts from ART WORK, including history, fiction, autobio, and other writings by Temporary Services, Artforum writer Gregory Sholette, artist Nicolas Lampert, author Cooley Windsor, writer Brian Holmes, "Anonymous," and others. Support for actors' fees is provided by Undermain Theatre; organized by Carolyn Sortor. Doors open at 7:30; program starts at 8:00 PM.

(You can download a complete copy of the ART WORK issue here. There's also more info and links re- Temporary Services and the ART WORK issue/project here.)

Exhibition: "Non-Profit Margin" (Event # 1 of 3)

Possibly excessively complete visuals here.

This exhibition at CentralTrak is the first of three events in the ART WORK in dallas series inspired by Temporary Services' ART WORK project. The exhibition runs through July 24.
Still to come: the symposium at S.M.U. on June 12 and the program of readings back at CentralTrak on June 19; for more info, see the "ART WORK" in dallas Facebook page or my previous post.

UPDATE: Great review of the show by Erin Starr White in Art Lies, Fall 2010.

For more info about the entire ART WORK in dallas event series, see here.

Mark Your Calenders: "ART WORK" in Dallas

. . . a conversation about art, labor, and economics.

A series of events will be presented relating to the newspaper issue, ART WORK, published by the Chicago-based collective, Temporary Services, on the subject of how hard economic times affect artistic process and compensation and how artists respond in their own and others' behalf. The series is produced through a collaboration among S.M.U.'s Michael Corris and Noah Simblist, U.T.D./CentralTrak's Kate Sheerin, and Carolyn Sortor.

Exhibition at U.T.D.'s CentralTrak: "The Non-Profit Margin"
Where: 800 Exposition Ave. at Ash, Dallas, TX
When: Opening Sat., May 22, 6:00 - 10:00 pm; exhibition through July 24

Works that confront the global economic crisis by challenging the avenues for exhibition and consumption of art and the art experience, by Richie Budd, Gary Farrelly, Thomas Riccio and Frank Dufour, Ludwig Schwarz, Marjorie Schwarz, give up, and Temporary Services. The ART WORK corridor will also include materials on works and/or writings by Gregory Sholette, Harrell Fletcher, Liam Gillick, Not an Alternative, Mel Chin, Lize Mogel, Maria Lind, Research and Destroy, Robert Projansky and Seth Siegelaub, W.A.G.E., Michael Corris, Hollis Frampton, Don Celender, and Julius Getman. The opening reception will also include "Son of Trunk Show," presented by Shelby Cunningham and featuring eight other artists. Organized by CentralTrak Director Kate Sheerin and Carolyn Sortor. Gallery hours Wed. - Sat., noon - 5:00 pm.

Symposum at S.M.U.: "ART WORK: A Local Conversation About Art, Labor, and Economics"
Where: O’Donnell Hall in Owen Arts Center, on Hillcrest at Grenada, Dallas, TX (FREE PARKING in the "U-Lot" just south of Owen Arts Center)
When: Sat., June 12, 1:00 - 5:00 pm

A symposium on how cultural workers have responded to depressed economies past and present and the aesthetic contexts for Temporary Services' ART WORK project. The symposium is co-sponsored by S.M.U. and U.T.D.'s CentralTrak. Speakers will include Michael Corris, Chair of the Div. of Art at SMU's Meadows School of the Arts; New York-based artist Maureen Connor; artist Bryce Dwyer of the Chicago collective inCUBATE; Marc Herbst, co-Editor of The Journal of Aesthetics & Protest; and Brent Brown of bcWORKSHOP. A panel discussion with the speakers, moderated by Noah Simblist, associate prof. of art at SMU's Meadows School, will follow. Free parking in the "U Lot" just south of the building.

Program at CentralTrak: "ART WORK: Readings"
Where: 800 Exposition Ave. at Ash, Dallas, TX
When: Sat., June 19, 7:30 - 10:00 pm

Readings of excerpts from ART WORK, including history, fiction, autobio, and other writings by Temporary Services, Artforum writer Gregory Sholette, artist Nicolas Lampert, author Cooley Windsor, writer Brian Holmes, "Anonymous," and others. Support for actors' fees is provided by Undermain Theatre; organized by Carolyn Sortor. Doors open at 7:30; program starts at 8:00 pm.

For more info, see the facebook page for "Temporary Services "Art Work" in Dallas." You can also download a complete copy of the newsprint issue here. There's also more info and links re- Temporary Services and the ART WORK issue/project here.

UPDATE: For a review of the exhibition at CentralTrak, see Art Lies. For visuals of the exhibition, see here; for visuals of the symposium, see here; and for visuals of the readings program, see here (thanks to everyone for turning out!) To "like" the ART WORK in dallas series on Facebook, go here. For some of my reasons for instigating this project, see here.

More Re- "ART WORK"

Temporary Services' one-off newspaper explores how hard times affect artistic process and compensation, and artists' responses in their own and others' behalf. The issue assembles writings by Gregory Shollette (contributor to Artforum and co-editor of The Interventionists: Users' Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life); Holland Cotter (Pullitzer-winning writer for The New York Times); Julia Bryan-Wilson, author of Art Workers: Radical Practice in the Vietnam Era (2009); artist/writer Nicolas Lampert; artist/writer Harrell Fletcher; artist Lize Mogel; and Cooley Windsor, author of Visit Me in California; and many more.

Here's Temporary Services' intro:

Things have become demonstrably worse for artists and arts organizations. A 2008 report from the National Endowment for the Arts tells of an astounding 63% increase in artists’ unemployment from 2007 to 2008.

Why is visual art, which can be understood as a basic foundation for human communication, not funded as an integral part of our lives as Americans? Why don’t we think being an artist is a “real job”?

We can optimistically point to times in the past when things were more hopeful and better for artists and arts institutions. For example, the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Arts Program once had money and was empowered to hire artists to take photographs, make murals, write stories, compose poems, and document the tremendous times the country was going through. Federal funding employed and nurtured some of the greatest American artists: Dorothea Lange, Langston Hughes, Ben Shahn, Walker Evans, Zora Neale Thurston, Thomas Hart Benton, and many others. It left us with tremendous public works, glorious murals, and a sense of strength and abundance that should be reclaimed out of the ashes of dirty capitalist shenanigans. However, this program was only possible after much pressure from the Left, from unions, and from artists themselves. It also worked because of leadership that carried out a vision that the free market could not harbor – nor would tolerate for long. The infrastructure that sustained programs like the Federal Arts Program was completely dismantled.

We’ve often been amazed at the fact that so many students and younger artists have no idea what kinds of great things received government funding [before the] Culture Wars [inaugurated with Reagan] and before the neutering of the National Endowment for the Arts. [Among other things, o]ne can trace the origins of early encouragement for even as vast a genre as Video Art through looking at the record of NEA funding in the 1970s.

We are in a moment very much like the Great Depression. Unfortunately, we cannot depend upon the creation of governmental programs, the learning institutions, museums, and archives, or even basic social planning to help ease the situation in the U.S. for artists. According to a report made in 2006 by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit Washington, D.C. based think tank, the top 5% of income earners in the United States own 60% of the average U.S. household net worth. At least twenty percent of us live in debt, and while we struggle to contribute to society and create art that carries meaning and hope for all, the top 5% earners effectively make decisions for all of us through their daily economic and cultural choices. Many of those top 5% are on the boards of directors for both corporations and cultural institutions. Is it any surprise that our major museums increasingly are using corporate sponsorship to lead their programming and name their galleries? Is it any surprise at all that even the language of art discourse is being invaded by business terminology?

For far too long, the rhetoric and logic of the market has dominated the production of discourse and livelihoods around art. Letting the market decide, as Reagan, Milton Friedman, and other ghosts of capital past cried, has drastically limited what we think art is and can be in our society. We have seen how quickly the commercial market collapsed, hurting large numbers of people. The art market in the United States has hemorrhaged gallery after gallery, and there will be no bailout to save them or the artists they represent.

This newspaper asks us to consider how to do several things: to work for better compensation, to secure opportunities to make art in diverse and challenging settings, and to guide art attitudes and institutions, on all levels, in more resilient directions. It is also an examination of the power that commercial practices continue to wield and the adverse effects this has had on artists, education, and our collective creative capacity. In recent times, resistance to the status quo has been minimal. Artists for the most part have been hiding and hoping things will get better. Now is the perfect moment to gather, pool knowledge and resources, question, confront the system, and create alternative models using the inspiration and energy we reserve in more stable times for other kinds of artistic production.

Please read this paper, copy it, share it with others, and use it as a springboard. Share it with your classroom, make an exhibition, start a discussion.

In Julian Schnabel's film adaptation of Cuban artist Reinaldo Arenas' autobiography, Before Night Falls, Arenas remarks something to the effect that tyrants invariably seek to suppress artists, because they fear what they can't control.

To be continued . . . .

Events in Dallas Re- "ART WORK"

U.T.-Dallas' CentralTrak, Southern Methodist University, and yours truly are collaborating to bring you a series of events relating to ART WORK, the one-off newspaper issue produced by the Chicago-based art collective, Temporary Services, on the subject of how economic hard times affect artistic process, compensation, and property, and artists' responses in their own and others' behalf. (For more info about Temporary Services' project, see my previous post or go to artandwork.us.)

Mark your calendar! [NOTE: This info has been updated here.]

May 22 - July 24 –– Exhibition at U.T.D.'s CentralTrak:
"The Non-Profit Margin"
The exhibition will include works that confront the global economic crisis by challenging the avenues for exhibition and consumption of art and the art experience, by Ludwig Schwarz, Marjorie Schwarz, Tom Riccio + Frank Dufour (collaborating), Gary Farrelly, Richie Budd, give up, and Temporary Services. The opening reception will also include a [car] trunk show organized by Shelby Cunningham and featuring 8 other artists. Organized by CentralTrak Director, Kate Sheerin. Opening Reception May 22, 6 - 10 PM, at CentralTrak, 800 Exposition Ave. at Ash.

June 12 –– Symposium at SMU:
"ART WORK: A Local Conversation About Art, Labor, and Economics"
This event will include presentations by the new head of SMU's Visual Arts Department, artist/writer Michael Corris, artist/writer Noah Simblist, and artist Maureen Connor, and artist Bryce Dwyer of InCUBATE, among others, discussing historical and contemporary aesthetic contexts for Temporary Services' project and comparable efforts. Organized by Michael Corris, Noah Simblist, and Kate Sheerin. Symposium June 12, 1 - 5 PM, O’Donnell Hall in Owen Art Center, SMU, on Hillcrest at Grenada; free parking in the "U Lot" just south of the building.

June 19 –– Program at CentralTrak:
"ART WORK: Readings"
This event will present readings of excerpts from ART WORK, including readings of texts by artist/Artforum writer Gregory Sholette, artist Nicolas Lampert, author Cooley Windsor, and others. Organized by Carolyn Sortor; support for actors' fees provided by Undermain Theatre. At CentralTrak, 800 Exposition Ave. at Ash; doors open at 7:30; program starts at 8 PM.

Contributors to the newspaper include artists, critics, writers, and educators "seeking to articulate the ways in which artists and culture-makers both respond to and deal with the economic depressions of the world," including Holland Cotter, New York Times art critic and 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for criticism; artist/writer Gregory Sholette, contributor to Artforum and co-editor of The Interventionists: Users' Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life; Julia Bryan-Wilson, author of Art Workers: Radical Practice in the Vietnam Era (2009) and Work Ethic (2003); Christina Ulke, Marc Herbst, and Robby Herbst, editors for The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest; Harrell Fletcher, visual artist; Futurefarmers, a collective design studio that supports art projects, artists in residencies and research interests; Nicolas Lampert, interdisciplinary artist; Lize Mogel, interdisciplinary artist; Linda Frye Burnham, writer and founder of High Performance magazine; Scott Berzofsky and John Duda, organizers of City from Below; and Cooley Windsor, author of Visit Me in California; and many more.

TS has been described as "working out of a Situationist tradition"; their projects or publications have been featured at Mass MoCA, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, the Smart Museum of Art, the Creative Time Summit, and elsewhere.

You can download a complete copy of the issue here or here (please share these links!)

A limited number of hard copies are also being distributed at select locations across the U.S., and additional hard copies are available for the cost of shipping, through Half Letter Press.

For more info, check back here or become a fan on Facebook (not that I encourage you to use FB).

C.A.R.T.E.L.

Feeling like your little artists' collective could use some "too-big-to-fail"?

Many years in the making, New York City-based 16 Beaver Group announced today the initiation of a complex multiyear process that will produce the largest global merger of arts and politics collectives known to date. Critics immediately attacked the move as being, “out of touch with recent developments in art and economics.” But the group argued at their press conference that the new mega-art collective, which will use the acronym C.A.R.T.E.L. (the group did not specify what each letter stands for), will soon be ready to compete within the current monopolistic anti-marketplace. C.A.R.T.E.L. plans to bring to a politicized cultural community a significant share of the benefits enjoyed by the recent slew of mega-mergers, also known as rescues, such as the few and well subsidized surviving banks that have risen from the ashes of the economic meltdown.

How about "Conglomerated ARTists of Every Leaning"? At any rate, count me in.

More at Art Work (via Temporary Services; see previous post here). To join C.A.R.T.E.L., e-mail cartel@16beavergroup.org.

Temporary Services: "ART WORK"

The Chicago-based artists' collective, Temporary Services, has published a one-off newspaper issue on how depressed economies affect artistic process, compensation, and property, including artists' initiatives to organize in their own and others' behalf.

You can download a complete copy of the issue here or here (please share these links!) A limited number of hard copies are also being distributed at select locations across the U.S.

Contributors to the newspaper include artists, critics, writers, and educators "seeking to articulate the ways in which artists and culture-makers both respond to and deal with the economic depressions of the world," including Holland Cotter, New York Times art critic and 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for criticism; writer/artist Gregory Shollette, contributor to Artforum and co-editor of The Interventionists: Users' Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life; Julia Bryan-Wilson, author of Art Workers: Radical Practice in the Vietnam Era (2009) and Work Ethic (2003); Christina Ulke, Marc Herbst, and Robby Herbst, editors for The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest; Harrell Fletcher, visual artist; Futurefarmers, a collective design studio that supports art projects, artists in residencies and research interests; Nicolas Lampert, interdisciplinary artist; Lize Mogel, interdisciplinary artist; Linda Frye Burnham, writer and founder of High Performance magazine; Scott Berzofsky and John Duda, organizers of City from Below; Cooley Windsor, author of Visit Me in California; and many more.

TS has been described as "working out of a Situationist tradition"; their projects or publications have been featured at Mass MoCA, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, the Smart Museum of Art, the Creative Time Summit, and elsewhere.

UPDATE: Additional hard copies of the issue are available for the cost of shipping, through Half Letter Press; but due to the limited supply, orders of additional copies are being limited to 10 each; so get yours soon. Also, Temporary Services' Art Work website has the issue in the now-traditional interactive format, plus additional materials that could not be included in the hard copy because of monetary or time constraints.