Born in Paris in 1899, Violette de Mazia studied art in the studio of Robert Christie at Hampstead Conservatory, the Camden School of Art, and London Polytechnic School in England. When she moved to the United States in the 1920s, she continued her studies by enrolling in philosophy and art appreciation classes taught by Dr. Thomas Munro at the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania.
The Art Worker’s Coalition (AWC) was a loose group of artists, writers, and members of the creative community formed in January 1969 after the artist Takis protested the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) by removing his sculpture from their exhibition, “The Museum as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age.” In the case with Takis, the artist was concerned with his ability to control the exhibition of his work after it had been sold (the Museum had exhibited his work against his wishes because they owned it and felt that their right of ownership superseded his rights as an artist to control its exhibition).
This initial protest was a spark that ignited the coalition—which gathered members and concerns exponentially throughout the early months of 1969. At the time, the Art Workers' Coalition was concerned with the responsibility of museums to artists and aimed their efforts at building a dialoge between themselves and MoMA. Another early issue was better representation of Black and Puerto Rican artists in MoMA as well as the other local museums.
As the coalition grew in membership, so did its concerns, which the Art Workers' Coalition sought to publicly discuss at MoMA. When these efforts proved unsuccessful, the coalition held an Open Hearing at the School of the Visual Arts on April 10, 1969, in which hundreds of people attended. Written statements were collected (some of which were read and some of which were not) and the proceedings were later transcribed. The statements were published in book form by the AWC under the name Open Hearing. At the same time, the AWC also published Documents 1Open Hearing and Documents 1 can be downloaded below. a collection of letters, press, and ephemera documenting the formation of the Coalition and its dialogue with MoMA.
http://www.primaryinformation.org/index.php?/projects/art-workers-coalition/
Following the Open Hearing, AWC’s emphasis broadened to address the political and social events and concerns of its time: racism, sexism, abortion rights, Vietnam, and Kent State, among others. With so many issues, AWC eventually splintered, with groups like Women Artists in Revolution, Guerilla Art Action Group, and Art Strike addressing specific concerns while remaining affiliated with AWC.
Art Workers Coalition remained active through Spring of 1971, with its last protest at the Guggenheim, which had cancelled a solo exhibition by Hans Haacke, on May 1, 1971. Many of its splinter groups continued throughout the 70s and 80s and were fundamental to addressing the unequal representation of the minority and women artists in the art world—a battle that is still being fought today.
Primary Information’s exhibition at PS1 will trace the history of the AWC through archival documents and photographs obtained through private as well institutional sources (including MoMA).
PS1
22-25 Jackson Avenue at 46th Avenue
Long Island City, NY
June 22 - September 22 2008
For more information on the Art Workers’ Coalition, please see:
Ault, Julie. Alternative Art New York, 1965 – 1985 (The Drawing Center/University of Minnesota), 2002.
George Grosz, Das Gesicht der herrschenden Klasse: 57 politische Zeichnungen. Tercera edición ampliada en 1921. Esto es algo así como "La cara de la clase dominante: 57 dibujos políticos" (altamente recomendable)
También de Francis Picabia, sólo tiene 2 números, editados en París en 1920.
Portada de la revista 391 editada por Francis Picabia en Barcelona, Nueva York, París y Zurich entre 1917 y 1924. Tiene un total de 19 números. Este es el 17 editada en parís en 1924.
(...)
Subversión a través de la mirada sexuada, pero también a través de las técnicas productivas-colaborativas, en mi opinión, el feminismo expandido sigue desempeñando con opciones plurales el papel de contrapoder fáctico que el arte aún hoy puede ofrecer como espacio residual de reflexión, organización y acción frente a la política del aislamiento de los individuos. Incluso rentabilizando paradójicamente las funciones asignadas por la dominación patriarcal: como sujeto tradicional de las "tácticas" ocultas y cotidianas de la necesidad y también de los placeres característicos de los sometidos, como signo o instrumento utilizado en el intercambio de los valores simbólicos, como sujetos expulsados del ágora. Esa nostalgia por el retorno debería contribuir, como proponía Foucault, no sólo "simplemente a defendernos, sino también a afirmarnos, no sólo como identidad, sino también en tanto fuerza creadora: (...) Debemos crear placeres nuevos" (Entrevista,1982). Las transformaciones del arte en el presente han de engrosar ese elenco.
She shared the spirit of scientific enquiry shown by Byron, her father, whose fascination, while at Cambridge, with telescopes and galvanism is well known. Byron's name is synonymous with European romanticism at its most revolutionary. His daughter's collaboration with Charles Babbage on the "thinking machine" puts her at the confluence of two radical phenomena: information technology and female emancipation.
Abajo y en letras negras pone inútil. O una de las respuestas a la pregunta, ¿cómo ves tu relación con la escuela de Bellas Artes?. Me gusta esta pieza. Es de Diego.
Esta es mi casa. Y ese día se inauguró. Y era el cumpleaños de david. Pero como no fue exactamente exactamente el día de su cumpleaños espero no se desespere con mi falta de acordamiento. Nada que ver tiene esto con el noimportamiento, palabro que inventé en una encerrona o pregunta comprometida de Cristina LUcas en torno a la crítica artística. En honor de Gombrowicz que yo no me acuerde nada tiene que ver con que no me importe y quizá si con el nopodermiento. Ahí me has dado.
