NEWSgrist - where spin is art

Temple of Gloom #CAA2011

Drawing of the Temple of Dendur in its original location by Henry Salt (1780–1827). The drawing was made by Salt during an expedition to southern Egypt and northern Sudan in 1819. The digital version of the drawing is taken from the web site http://www.ancient-egypt.co.uk, created and maintained by Simon Hayter, and is copyright free.

Image Via

 

Last night, shortly after the disappointment of Mubarak's speech and many hours before today's extraordinary news, Egypt's pro-democracy protesters steeled themselves yet again in preparation for uncharted waters. I managed to tear myself away from my Eyptophile twitter stream and hop on the 6 train to the Upper East Side in order to attend CAA's centennial gala party. Egypt was all that was in my mind. I was not in a party mood.

Inadvertently, the CAA gala, held at the Met's ubiquitous party venue, The Temple of Dendur, added its own incongruous layer of dowdiness, grandeur and gloom. I guess the main problem was that aside from the full bar and a few bowls of nuts, there was absolutely no food. Not a shred. So for $35, exhausted and hungry scholars were permitted to stand around a crowded ruin and drink, until they were summarily dismissed at 9pm.

We New Yorkers know that the Upper East Side is not a particularly hospitable part of town in which to find oneself exhausted and hungry -- not to mention tipsy -- especially in the late evening. As we shoved off into the freezing night, pal and fellow blogger Charlotte Frost mentioned she hadn't eaten since noon. Happily, I know the UES well enough, so I steered us to a favorite joint for nosh on Lexington where we supped on matzo ball soup cheek by jowl with local cab drivers:

Pastrami Queen:

Before leaving I did manage to take a few pictures. I was particularly intrigued by CAA members' widely varying tastes in footwear:

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

More: AA Bronson to the NPG

Via Hyperallergic: AA Bronson's "Felix, June 5, 1994" (1994/99) is the work the artist is requesting be pulled out of the "Hide/Seek" exhibition. The work depicts Felix Partz, one of Bronson's collaborators in the Toronto-based collective General Idea. Partz died in 1994 of an AIDS-related illness. (image via aabronson.com)

[with permission from AA Bronson]:

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Date: December 17, 2010

To: Martin Sullivan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery

From: AA Bronson

Dear Martin Sullivan,

Thanks for telephoning me and I am writing to confirm our conversation.

You began by offering to bring me to Washington to see the exhibition, at the Museum's expense.

You reported that the National Gallery of Canada was unable to cancel the loan because of the loan agreement, but that Marc Meyer, the Director, urged you to cooperate with me. (My understanding from Marc is that they CAN terminate the loan, but they would rather not do so on political grounds. Marc, maybe you can clarify).

You described my work "Felix, June 5, 1994" as one of three works given a major amount of space in the exhibition. It was because of that space that the museum was unable to give as much space to the videos in the exhibition as they really needed. You withdrew the David Wojnarowicz video because you felt it wasn't being given "proper respect" because of the lack of space. I am not positive that I got this right, but I think you said that this was done BEFORE the Catholic League published a statement about the work, and you claim that a journalist goaded the politicians into making their statements. Please don't take offense if I say that this all sounds exceedingly convenient. Not to say that it isn't true but it is not convincing.

My proposal is that you reinstate the video, but in its complete form, as the artist intended (you were showing only a clip before, I understand, which already constitutes a prior censorship of the work).

If that means removing my work in order to make an appropriate space for the video, in its full form, I give my permission to do just that.

best regards
AA

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Editor's Note: AA Bronson's decision sets an example for his fellow artists and sends the message that we have a stake in these issues and we will have our say; nor are we rendered mute once our work is physically out of our hands. ...Apparently, Martin Sullivan is in a meeting with the Smithsonian this afternoon to determine what they will do. Updates to follow...

More news, interviews, correspondence, articles about AA Bronson's decision to pull his work, "Felix, June 5, 1994" (1994/99), from the "Hide/Seek" exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery:

HYPERALLERGIC: Artist Requests to Be Removed from Smithsonian’s Hide/Seek [UPDATE 3]
by Hrag Vartanian on December 16, 2010

MODERN ART NOTES, Tyler Green interviews AA BRONSON: Q&A with AA Bronson on ‘Hide/Seek,’ ‘Felix’, December 16, 2010, 12:52 pm

WASHINGTON POST: Artist asks to withdraw work from 'Hide/Seek' exhibit to protest video removal, by Blake Gopnik. Posted at 9:18 AM ET, 12/16/2010

Fire in My Belly Action Kit

Via ArtPositive (Art+) thanks to Hunter Reynolds:

Three fliers for Sunday's Museum Mile march on the Smithsonian. Please distribute and/or post at will:

• Poster above (large jpeg);
• these two documents: flier and action kit [PDF]:

Download: ArtPostive Flyer

Download: Fire in my belly - action kit

 

 

 

March on New York’s Cooper-Hewitt to Protest Smithsonian Censorship

Via In the Air:

New Yorkers who want to protest the censorship of David Wojnarowicz’s video at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. get their chance on December 19. Organizers at Art+ have called a march, gathering at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and concluding at the Cooper-Hewitt on 91st Street (like the National Portrait Gallery, the C-H is a Smithsonian Institution). Below is information about the protest taken from the group’s site, www.artpositive.org:

 

Sunday December 19, 1:00 PM

GATHER on the Metropolitan Museum steps
Fifth Ave. & 82nd Street

Then MARCH to the Cooper-Hewitt/Smithsonian FIFTH Ave. & 91st Street

Wear your free expression best and be part of the message.

Art+ is a New York City-based art action group – fighting censorship and
homophobia

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MORE NEWS + INFO:

 

Official Statement by P·P·O·W Gallery and The Estate of David Wojnarowicz

 

Statement by Johnathan D. Katz, co-curator of Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture

 

The New York Time's article, As Ants Crawl Over Crucifix, Dead Artist Is Assailed Again by Holland Cotter

 

Washington Post article by Philip Kennicott

 

The New York Time's Op- Ed column, Gay Bashing at the Smithsonian, by Frank Rich 

 

Listing of venues screening A Fire in My Belly via HIDE/SEEK.org

 

Please go to P·P·O·W Gallery's Facebook page for full list of related articles and links

P.P.O.W and The Estate of David Wojnarowicz: Official Statement

David Wojnarowicz "A Fire in My Belly" - Original - GOOD QUALITY from ppow_gallery on Vimeo.

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OFFICIAL STATEMENT [Via]

P.P.O.W and The Estate of David Wojnarowicz disagree with the Smithsonian's decision to withdraw the artist's 1987 film piece "A Fire in My Belly" from the National Portrait Gallery's exhibition entitled "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture." P.P.O.W has represented Wojnarowicz's work since 1988 and maintained a close working relationship with the artist until his death in 1992. The gallery now represents his estate.

On behalf of the estate, the gallery would like to offer the artist's words to illuminate his original intentions. In a 1989 interview Wojnarowicz spoke about the role of animals as symbolic imagery in his work, stating, "Animals allow us to view certain things that we wouldn't allow ourselves to see in regard to human activity. In the Mexican photographs with the coins and the clock and the gun and the Christ figure and all that, I used the ants as a metaphor for society because the social structure of the ant world is parallel to ours."

The call for the removal of "A Fire in My Belly" by Catholic League president William Donahue is based on his misinterpretation that this work was "hate speech pure and simple." This statement insults the legacy of Wojnarowicz, who dedicated his life to activism and the arts community. David Wojnarowicz's work is collected by international museums including the Museum of Modern Art, NY, The Whitney Museum, The Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Reina Sofia in Madrid, Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, etc. Wojnarowicz is also an established writer; his most well known memoirs are Close to the Knives and Memories That Smell Like Gasoline, which are included on many university syllabi.

In 1990 the artist won a historic Supreme Court case, David Wojnarowicz v. American Family Association. The courts sided with Wojnarowicz after he filed suit against Donald Wildmon and the American Family Association, who copied, distorted and disseminated the artist's images in a pamphlet to speak out against the NEA's funding of exhibits that included art works of Wojnarowicz and other artists. We are deeply troubled that the remarks, which led to the removal of David's work from Hide/Seek, so closely resemble those of the past. Wojnarowicz's fight for freedom of artistic expression, once supported by the highest court, is now challenged again. In his absence, we know that his community, his supporters, and the many who believe in his work will carry his convictions forward.

Two versions of "A Fire in My Belly" will be posted on P.P.O.W's Vimeo channel and on our website's news page:

Vimeo channel: http://vimeo.com/user5389555/videos

P.P.O.W News Page: http://www.ppowgallery.com/news.php


This includes the original 13-minute version edited by Wojnarowicz and the 4-minute version shown at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, edited by curator Jonathan Katz and Bart Everly with audio from an ACT UP march in which you can hear David Wojnarowicz' voice. To download and to screen contact P.P.O.W Gallery.