LA RAW 2011

"Mugunica - Documentary on the Street artist Blu"

LA RAW came together almost a year ago because of BLU. You know, artist paints mural, museum censors mural, LA RAW carries out a series of protest art actions against censorship and in support of BLU with the help of dozens of Los Angeles artists and cultural activists.
So, it seems fitting to close out the year with BLU!
This is a full length documentary about BLU and his trip to Latin America.

A BIG THANK YOU to all the artists who created a lot of wonderful art against censorship and all the people who supported us.

Enjoy and HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Mugunica - Documentary on the Street artist Blu from Julie Navarro on Vimeo.

"Opening" Protest at MOCA

Culture Wars continue at LA MOCA.
The following video is a short report on the protest that took place during the opening of "Art in the Streets".

Statements from participating artists/performers:

How The West Was Won

MOCA director Deitch couldn't digest the painfully truthful worldwide view of US Imperialism Blu painted. So instead, he whitewashed and replaced it with the US Government/Hollywood sanctioned version we now see. True Blue Amerikan Censorship!

Joe Talkington - Butoh Sculptor



I think it's very dangerous to view MOCA's reaction to BLU's anti-war mural by erasing it as anything less than censorship. I believe not to boycott this show after the mural has been buffed would be to go against the very intention of any street art that isn't about self-aggrandizement. The quickest way to silence dissent is to give the dissenters authority and put them on the payroll.

Khadija Anderson
Poet/Butoh Artist

Culture Wars: Crowdsourcing VS Curating

The following article was published on bigthink.com
Mob Rule: Curating via Crowdsourcing

Bob Duggan on April 7, 2011

The aftershocks of the controversy surrounding the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery’s decision to drop David Wojnarowicz’s 1987 video “A Fire in My Belly” from their exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture continue to be felt. I first wrote about this kerfuffle back in December, when it seemed like part of the “War on Christmas” conservatives claim is declared annually in America. The left fired back by putting Wojnarowicz’s video into museums and exhibitions across the country as a sign of solidarity against censorship. Now, the culture war continues, with the Smithsonian opening the door to a new kind of censorship—“crowdsourcing” as a means of curating. Instead of risking offending groups with exhibitions, the Smithsonian allows groups to “preview” the show and “suggest” changes. But can such social media mob rule be good for the arts?

Image by LA RAW

Robin Cembalest writes in a recent issue of ARTnews that a report from the Smithsonian panel organized to study the Hide/Seek controversy “suggested that the Smithson­ian provide an opportunity for the public to weigh in at ‘pre‐decisional exhibit planning phases.’" Cembalest, executive editor at ARTnews, acknowledges that the particulars of this “pre-decisional” opportunity for the public haven’t been worked out. However, as Cembalest points out, it is significant that this suggestion “directly contradicts the panel’s assertion that ‘curatorial freedom of expression, expertise, and authority’ are vital.” Cembalest rightly fears that this crowdsourcing could “turn the Smithsonian into a sitting duck for all manner of groups that want to implement an agenda. Opening exhibition preparation to crowdsourcing is not a way to anticipate controversy—it's a way to assure it.” In trying to reseal one can of worms, the Smithsonian seems to have opened another one.

Crowdsourcing does have its uses. Using Facebook, a team of scientists form the Smithsonian virtually harnessed the brainpower of fellow ichthyologists to identify over 5,000 specimens of fish from in less than 24 hours, which allowed them to get the results of a field study out to scholars and ready for exhibition to the public far faster than the old fashioned way. Social media makes such miracles possible. In a way, the recent revolutions in the Middle East can be seen as a form of crowdsourcing where the collective talents for organization and agitation joined in the virtual realm of social media before taking to the physical streets. Test audiences for movies and television programs could be called crowdsourcing, too. What’s the harm in showing an audience two different endings and using the one that they like better? As Charlie Sheen would say—“winning.”
Unfortunately, art exhibitions aren’t movies with multiple endings. Such films probably aren’t cinematic classics to begin with if the director needs such decisions to be made for him. Curators, the “directors” of exhibitions, have the training and knowledge necessary to make the tough choices that average museum-goers can’t. If you want to ride down the slippery slope, you can envision a day when crowds pick only the safe blockbuster-type shows of Impressionists and Old Masters. Art museums would then become the visual equivalent of many orchestras across the country relentlessly playing the standard repertoire of Beethoven and Mozart to dwindling audiences literally graying and dying before their eyes. Such crowdsourcing would essentially bore the art world to death.
Cembalest, however, hints at a more sinister story then sheer boredom by the lowest common denominator of taste. Imagine a museum world where works such as Wojnarowicz’s video never see the light of day. What would have happened if Chris Ofili’s The Virgin Mary (detail shown above) drew the ire of Rudy Giuliani in 1999 before the public ever had a chance to see it? If the Brooklyn Museum of Art “crowdsourced” Giuliani first, the electricity generated by the friction between opponents and supporters of the dung-covered icon would never have happened. What keeps museums alive is that rub. Robbing museums of controversy preemptively short circuits any hope of penetrating the consciousness of society.
“But where’s the democracy?,” you may object. If people want to see Impressionism and nothing else, shouldn’t they be allowed. Not to sound elitist, but I think that the “cost” of that kind of democracy would be the forfeiture of the educational role of art. That brand of democracy would be like listening to a continue loop of the same song. I, for one, want to keep hearing new tunes, even if I don’t like them.
That’s what it comes down to, of course. Like versus dislike. Acceptable versus unacceptable. Crowdsourcing is only as good as the crowd itself. One person’s democracy can be another person’s mob rule. When that mob holds an extreme agenda it turns into an ugly mob. If extreme views hold disproportionate sway, nobody wins. Crowdsourcing is a powerful tool used properly. Taking that power to possibly banish challenging or controversial art is a misuse that doesn’t make museums safer. It makes them useless.

"Art in the Streets"

"Art in the Streets" by LA Anonymous

 

 

At a time when Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles is about to launch "Art in the Streets, the first major U.S. museum survey of the history of graffiti and street art presented in the United States", the city of Los Angeles has launched an all out attack on "street artists".

At a time when a Billionaire backed museum organizes an exhibit of the street art, where people are required to pay an admission fee to see the show, and are provide with a "safe" venue to purchase exhibit related merchandise, "The Los Angeles city attorney’s office has filed a lawsuit against Gheorghiu and nine other graffiti writers... because they’re selling art works on the strength of their outlaw names and reputations"(Washington Post).

At a time when the second largest city in the U.S. is run by big developers and lacks leadership by its elected officials, it's no surprise that same thing would happen to its museums. The natural outcome of this trend is out in the open for all to see (or NOT see); whitewashing of anti war murals, prosecution of non billionaire sanctioned street artist, etc.

Culture Wars are on, and we're just getting warmed up!

Desperately Seeking Artist!

The following appeared on craigslist on Friday April 1, 2011

Artist Wanted

Contemporary Art “museum” seeks street artist to do a very large mural on the museum's exterior wall.
Great opportunity to generate international publicity for your work!
Requirements:
Sketches should be submitted in advance. Design may NOT include any reference to social/political/cultural issues, ie. education, labor, war, arts budget cuts, censorship, etc.
All submitted designs must be abstract, void of meaning, and lacking substance of any kind.
All submissions MUST include a contract signed by the artist agreeing to the following:
- To release museum of any responsibility in the event of any city regulation violation leading to the removal of said mural.
- To not communicate with press and the media in any form, written, verbal, visual, cyber, etc.
- To not disclose any information you might acquire in the course of your work in regards to city government, officials running for the office of the mayor and the major contributors to their campaigns, be it venture philanthropist/former or current real estate developers or other interested parties in development negotiations with the city.
- To comply with museum's definitions for various words and phrases such as agreeing that removal of artwork is not censorship but is a curatorial decision. This includes any words that may need future definition alteration as seen fit by museum staff.

Museum reserves the right to determine all issues pertaining to sensitivity especially regarding candidates for future city government offices.
All compensation due to the artist will be paid out of museum executive’s personal funds and is not subject to public scrutiny.

Disclaimer:
A- Although museum building might be under the ownership of the city, artist is solely responsible for complying with all city regulations concerning the legal issues pertaining to executing public art and museum does not feel the need to function within the boundaries of government regulations even if said museum may be a public entity.
B- Selected artist is solely responsible towards any future loss of reputation or dignity, especially among colleagues and peers.
C- This announcement is published only to further public discussion of various issues concerning the state of the arts and culture and is not a real job offer.

From craigslist

LA RAW in CULTURE WARS: THEN AND NOW

CULTURE WARS: THEN AND NOW
PRESENTED AT THE CORCORAN IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
TRANSFORMER AND THE NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST CENSORSHIP

Free Program

Saturday, March 26 from 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Pre-registration encouraged.
Presented in partnership by Transformer, The National Coalition Against Censorship, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design.
If you cannot join us in person, check back on Saturday morning for our live stream and discussion on twitter (#culturewars).

In light of recent censorship by the Smithsonian Institution and threats from some congressional leaders to pull arts funding from national arts institutions (including the National Endowment for the Arts), this day of panels and presentations examines the Culture Wars of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and how freedom of expression and public support for the arts are currently being debated. Panel discussions include: Censorship Examined; Culture Wars Redux; Give Me a Revolution: Artist Responses to Censorship; Free Speech and Arts Funding.
Agenda

Censorship Examined
10–11 a.m.
In this presentation, Culture Wars: Then and Now keynote speaker, Robert Storr, Dean, Yale School of Art, will examine visual arts censorship within the context of American culture and history. (Screening of Linda Lewett’s video Perfect Moment at WPA prior to panel)
Culture Wars Redux – What did we (what do we) consider offensive?
11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
Panelists include Philip Brookman, chief curator and head of research, Corcoran Gallery of Art and former curator of Washington Project for the Arts; Dennis Barrie, director of cultural and interpretive planning, Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement and former director of the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center; Jane Livingston, independent curator, author, and former associate director and chief curator at the Corcoran Gallery of Art; and H. Louis Sirkin, attorney and founding member of Sirkin Kinsley & Nazzarine, who represented Dennis Barrie and CAC in the obscenity trial provoked by the 1989 Robert Mapplethorpe retrospective, The Perfect Moment. The discussion
will be moderated by Svetlana Mintcheva, director of programs at the National Coalition Against Censorship.
Give me a Revolution: Artists’ Responses to Censorship
Open with screening of Martha Wilson’s October 24, 2008 performance Barbara Bush: All Washed UP and Guerilla Girls’ HERSTORY and/or “animation” piece.
3:30 p.m.
Panelists include Mike Blasenstein and Michael Dax Iacovone from the Museum of Censored Art; Orameh Bagheri from LA Raw; Bill Dobbs of Art+; and Marshall Reese of Ligorano/Reese Collaborations. The discussion will be moderated by Victoria Reis, executive and artistic director of Transformer.
Free Speech & Arts Funding
4–5:30 p.m.
Panelists include Nora Halpern, vice president of leadership alliances, Americans for the Arts; Michael Keegan, president, People for the American Way; Robert Atkins, art historian, activist, author, and co-editor of Censoring Culture: Contemporary Threats to Freedom of Express; David A. Smith, senior lecturer in American History at Baylor University, Waco, TX and author of Money for Art: The Tangled Web of Art and Politics in American Democracy. The discussion will be moderated by Andy Grundberg, associate provost and dean of undergraduate studies, Corcoran College of Art + Design.