Week 1 Readings

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A CISCABAC

685 Venice Boulevard, Ven ice, California, 90291 (310) 822-9560

-Tri umph of the Heart-

" Danzas Indlgenas"

• BIOGRAPHY • RESUME PRESS ARTICLES

(Slides of artwork- avanable upon request)

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Ba~

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Uni6n Mujer~ Amcri~ literary prize. 1962, and th , literary Prize of the Ye:JJ' from the Insntuto PuertOniquei'1o~ ~~

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Sources: Books " ,f A Tntista del'C.mtro (J4 Est'tldi4s Av~ de Puma Ria> ") E'~

Ca1'ibe; Dc:panmCDtofPuerto Rican Studles, Center fa ' Advanced Studies on Puerto RiCo, 19891 p. 25. ' Riven de Alvat6%, Josefiria"Diccio1l4rio d4 liteTt:uur ~lnstitutq de Cultur.:l Puenor::riquem. 1974 pp. 15S.161. ' Other

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Rivera. Carmen. telephone interview with Pam Berry, Set>"! tetnbc:r9and 10, 1992, Sao juan, Puma Rico. '

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bJ Pam B~

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Judi~

second hu.sba.n
CMvreJlUl1lt, wtittc:n with J~eLuiS R.odriguc:. And Bab(n le:ft 'W'asbington ~ College to jo~ the !aQrlty oC

Lehman.CoUegeof'tbe ClL7 'Un~ty ofNew Yort: Grad~ ate Ceater,' It wU' during het tenure at Leb..m2nConegl:, 1969--72. that Babin founded and,he:Jded 'thc: :fitst Department:of Puerto RIcan Studies- in the United.St:1,te5. ' ,

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In 197Q, Babin tQO'k on th~3.dditionaJduties of professor of Sp~h at the City 'U'nivc:r$iry ,of New York Cra,dua1< Genter.,U1c was named professor emeritus in,1~78.0ncc: av.in, Babm blended 'her aeademtc duties ubomLehn;Qn College.and City UnivCf$ity With hcr'Writin,g~rand pro~uced a number of notable literary \Vorks. including fo~'!Ven-tteei'(ca. books; !M 'PiurtD J~icQ1'U ' SpiT#: Tiui! ' liis~~ Lifl and C~ La pociagalkga ,tU Gama !.ArCD. Es:u4i~LorquianM; ::Jnd GmiD,jigu'rc'dtNemmo It C<maw. Although bUSy with her various CuJJ·dme teichlo g posi. tions, and writing assignmentS; 'Babin' :wo fQund time to 3Aar.e her extensive kno~ledge, and love of Puerto Rican cultur.e and litera ture with omen by 1ectl1rini at numerous uni:yersfti~ 3.CfO.u the United St;Ul;SaD.d co~~g with , various univenHiojorgani%atiOllS'. and gOvernment :.geD-

des. Babin r eceived numero,w aw:irdsand honors for her work, indudlng '~ prestigioUs 'pmd for her writing, the I nstiruto ,d c: u ter:uur3. l'ucrtQmqueiia litcIVy 'prize, 1954, the A ~n c:o Puertorriqucllo literary p~ 1955. the "

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F. ,Baca

(1946-) Artist, munJis4 ptofessctr , ,

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,JUdith ,FtanqsCl Baa has "risen from the role pte-'J miere muralist of the streeu of Lcs Angeles tc) that oC ani international ¢hz:oOnicler.In more than two, decades o~ painting ~e projecu. Baca has sought to di5playi the hinoryand culture of a variety of races in ncr artwotk. rn addition tohcr work a:sa muralist and, communi~ , o~. Baa helped found the: Social and Public Art I Resourcc Cmter (51'ARC) in Venice,California. an organj. j zarion dedic;ned to the promotion,andeu1tivation of I..-Wno ' artbt!.Baci',s ""atu~ ,in the,an world rose with her proj~t~ the ~CrCU Wall; " the ~f euedccr muraiin the worfd. ; io ' He- next~~e: publican project" the "World which is a .swdyo( envuioojng a WQrld without Ie3l. ~ ,i1i¢1udes participatiOn by in~o,naJ2tti5uand 1= been ' displayed in loC:itiom all divme as Corky Park. in Moscow and the Smithsonian Institution in Wa:shingto~ D.C: "~ j pivQW figure since the early 19705, is Chicano m1Jra!i,s.t. j teacher. and community activist Judy Baa. wrote PaUl

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Von , IJIUmin Z Mag=i1U. "Her ",moined eff'()ru as • • m~istam:ia.ttisticdireCtOr ofSPARC have brtJught ber ·

nation\li,acclaini.. ~ . (Her) initial projects established Baa as a major publiC artist whose work encompassed a C1!1P1" ' mum! process culminating in vivid, !oci2lly consdo~ ~....'"

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by the Sistcn 1)( Sc.joscph Carondelet. A YCU" l2.tc:" wouJd rm.rry at the age of 19. The m:trriage would tas: ~ yc :lt'S. Sh e: rewmcd to her :11m mater to teach a f, rccc tv-in g a bachelor' j degree in art in 1969 from C:tJiCo r :: SQt C C'cive:3 ity in No rthridg e. "TInt same yor. she e r barkcd on he" first cooperacve art venture whcn :si rounded up a number of cthniC111y diverse student.:! D3int ::L mural at the schooL It was "a mcthod to fo rce to; grou p inrc cccpeacce," she: :s:l.id. 2. method she: "" OU emp loy time 100 ag3in in her future prcjeca. &let's days ac the high school were n umbered, Ba became involved widllbc peace movemenragamse the w in vter :"un and put:icipaLed in marches. woegstde rna: ~ ( th e nuns who also taught at the school, A change in c school's adI:ini.nnnon resulted in a notorious tnci d e~c: purge of the N.-\lemany Elghttt:1," she said. Ten mar Baca, and seven other lay toehers wen fir ed for their an .....-u ;.cti>.-icc:s. Shortly therc:Uter' the rest of the nuns wi I d.-"ew fr om opcruing the 3d:tool in prceesr of aerie BOlCl Aid she was "quite cr::;..urru.tized'· by the event, fo r s. 1)diC'."C'd her tclching career was over.

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j uJiJA F. 8=

SaC2., a sec ond-generadcn QUQJl3., was bern Septembe 20. 1!)46. in routh centra.! Los ..l,n gel 0. Cro ....ing up in the HuntingtOn Pm neighborhood.. me~ b rou~t".: p in a stranS' fOlate household. which included he:' mccher.

However. Sao. soon found employment in a sp c ,:; Progr"4JTl: for artists with the: Gry of Lea Angdcs Cultu: .~'hi n Division. Baa eaveled from schools to par tc=':lChing art, cYe:1tu:ally fo rmin g her own group. "L V"'.I3W ~ ~ .. ,h e said. 'lbc groU?, rmde u p of 2{) k; Irem Icur differt::l~ganS' and neghborh ood groups, painl he r first mural for her, in H ollenbeck Park. "The city \0amazed;t the work I w;u doi ng, " sh e recdted, "p u lti n g mc r:t.is with k.kb who 'd run director']' out ofncighborho , centers. Tne city let me do roy own thing. '.

grandmother, and rwo :lUnC3. one of whom was mentally retolrtic:d.. 'vVhiIc&o's mothc:r, O rte:r..s.ia. BaC1 ('''Sbt drnppct;1 the 'H' because she didn't lik.c the An gie ' caJl:r:g her 'Hcrtense.t" Raosaic1 in a telephone interview with Yleana Martinez), workcd :U:l tire f.tcr.ory. Sao wa.s r.:Useci prim :;.ri. Iy by her gnndmother. AltholJ!h she did not kno w her

father,:l mtuidan named Valen tin o Marcd. Baa \IoOS vetv happy. She rec:illed.: "It was a. very strong, wo nd~uL rlT.Uri3rch:Li hcuseacld, I was ~l'" s ",~ Id.. I had ;z wonderful playmate in my grown-up au nt .",ho wasn't grown uP .in her hCld. It was like she w:I.S five. my ~g:t: . l)n; y she was big.,.

When Sao W3J six her m cmer married Clarence F~Tj and m~ to Paccima, wnere Baa would spc:nrl he for:na.u~c y~. She .-cn.c::nbc:rs Wt .sh e spcse E.-:gfu:~ POOrly In e le.on~ school J.Dd fclt vet"V 3lien in tt!.~ ~ool She ::ttisxd liVing :n 2. Spanish-5pc::ajng housc~old Wlth he:- gnndmothcr. who Strled behind in .south coU<1J Los ..\nge..'e5. O ue ofth u aiien.:lCion. ho~, c:::une he !.irs t

ShOrtly after the compl etio n of th e Ho llen beck Pa :r.llr.tJ. someone handed he' J. book en "Los Tres Cr.lndes'·

Diego Rjve:":1. David Alfaro Siqu eiros, and Jose Cemez O re zco-e-me famous Mcxi ~ munliso. and Baca beg, to- learn abcut tne Mc:xicnlr.ldition of mural painting. me mid·19iO·s, she: did go to Me:::cico to Clkt: classo m:Jnl marerials 'UU1 recnniou es at Siqucirw', studlc :lJ tr:lvc!ed. around the loo k.in g it th e murals. "T precedence oC all mural painting in Am erica lie" with l TreeCr.:mdc=." she said in ~ in~ewwith.-\no M:d33pi: &0. is tinnJy fi.'CC'd in that tradition. " 1 believe Clking an the people is a politiaJ act," she safd , echoing her fo: bears. " I Lon a McUo.n munJ p2inter in th e: tru e sense. b ! ~nd, it ~o the nat level To lc.eQ an ut fonn Ji ving, it h to grow 3I1d c:han~. "

COwltrY

aaa.

? PPO ruuti ty to Pr'aC'..icc art. Her te:u:hcr ~lo....ed. he" to ::;it In :t. COr:"l.a 3nd. paint while the rest o( the!' dass o....,.;e1 l)n.

in Los .~gd es. with the sUpport of lht: dty 5m t.ehind h er. 8a.o. ~dcd her ?"'gr:un in to rh e CICf""i> Munl P:-ojl:C"_ .-\l ldSt ~O munis ~ painted under h

Baa gr:tduated in I !)64 from 3bbop Alemany High chool. a Cuholic sc."1ool in Mission Hm.s. ClJifOr.IQ.., t"..m

sU9C'f'Yisio n. Baa em rightfully cbim to be the fint in l .\ngt:!es to _ark wilh muJticuJcuraJ you th to produce ::::W. " W:ills wen aJrcdy used 4S community billboards

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Baca L~.so the e:xtc.sionofgnBiti to im1ges was nOl tbatbig :a. la p to make ," m e aid in ber telephon e infe:"Yicw.

H ermost ambioOU1 project during the. 1970s was the "C rc:u W:ill, a hall-mi1c: long namuivc: mutaJ painted on h ~ anal in San Femondo V>Ilcy. it:! subject is Los Angd o ' mu1ti-ethnic history from neolithic tim es up to the 195{);, andencompaJSO'uch evc1U~ the Freedom Bus Rides. Japanoc: •.uncric2n Internment during World Wull. tbe gn::u DuSt BowfJoumq. and the infam o us Zoot Suit Rioa of 1942. The "e reu WaIl" w:u pain ted over fiye swnmen in nine yon: Bac::l ~ped the co nc ept, h ired. people. and helped I'2lSC money ror the prcject, ";bich .she likc:ned in a. tdephone inu::rview to "devdoping a. miliary cnampmcnL" to

aaca

began to JCt:: the value in worXing with ciiw=se to create public an. MIt niIl is ~ only ~.le of in te":'"Jdal wort chat foc.1Sd on working on I'2ci:JJ difTc · e."1CO in Los .~=- 11 was not only a. mural p ~ but it addrl:!Sed. ethnicity and 2Cknowicdged the ditraencl:3 between cu1tunl groups." $he.said. Using the " Gre ll Wall" project as 3. mo del, Sa.ca. went an to found in. 1976 .the S ~ciaJ and Pu bticArtRdource Center (SP.UC), In venice. Cilifomia.. The non-profit, muilicu1tl1n.1 ~ cemer contingro u ~

UC$ a. pr ogr.un of involving ;utisu. comrnUDity

groups and

youth to present and preserve mur2Jsand olhcr pub lic an. The im~a.tionaDy ~ a1te:nacive art a:na:r J.1.so bcuses an;arch.ive of mor e than 16,000 slid es of public art fro m around the: world. ''World Wall" Mural btablisbed RcputoDoe

In 1987 Baa cnbartl:d on an CYC1 grande:" projea. " Wa n d. Wall: A V'u ion of the Future Without Fear," 113 them e of global importance, war, ~ md cooperation greo.... out of bn io.n orming sessions W'lth pcopk sdected. to provide cultur.t.ldiVt:r.rity aad c:xpC"tise in ~ of concern to the project. The pomble tnUt"3l is made oC X"tC:l. lo-by· .3Q-fOOt pm el.s to be painted by aaa ant! arranged. in a foo t se.'"I1i
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f or Bac:::L the jump from producing murals with neighgroups to werling 'With zrtists from uound the: world ~ :l natUta.l tr2IUition. '"My idCl was that what wc had learned with the in~ wort in Los Angdes could be applied to an intenwional scope, from the neighborI'1OQd to the global" she :mid. '"The World Wail ~ an utemp t to pusb the scue of 3I'U in lD'Ur2fum jQ ~t the mur.U c-c:atC:S its own ~ It makes io own lpace and c::U1 be :wc:nblcd. bv any DeaDle ~ .. Second., she asked the participating uUsa' to aa u vi3iorw-:=. to envisio n the fuwce witho utfe:u-, she Aiel The l'DUr:J.I, when com pleted. - will be llfOl'!dowidc: col1a.bor.Wcn. .. The tides bornood.

cf the pancb p:rin ted by Baca U'C '"Triumph. of the Hen." "Nonviolent R.c;,utanCC'., " "New World Systems." "1blana:," "H wmn Based T e:dmoiogy,'" ~ to SQOh.iPS. ~ aad "Triumph aCme Hands." The paneb wiD usc striJting itmgery lO prc:scnt 3peCfic allegories. In her artist's senemeee fer "wcrld Wall." Baca wr-ote: - . . . Many oC\U re:ad]oaathan Schen', Feu of tJu E.crth. in which he .wd thou we must imagine the evenwa.lity of nudor war WOR we an change our d.cstiny. It OCCJn'ed to Inc b.ter th2t it ....., n~t imagining destrUCtion that W85 so 1w'd lO us but mber imaginiDg peace, One of the: atad ene on the 'World WaIl' teLm said, 'ls pc::at:e C'Ylef'YODe .sitti "S" around wau:hing rv?' If we c:::lJmO[ ~ peace as U1 aaive ccc cept, how an we ~ bope fo r it lO happenr

Cr=ing the: World Wall ""I"'cialIY waddog wilh c!liJd. rc:n-was a labor of love. In ~ Baca. reccueeed an esercse she oftc::t did with hcryoung 2.Isj1cmcs. She ulted them to pthe:' in ~ large cirde U1d hold out their hanm. ~ And then YOu'd see all these wondc::ful litt!c hand1. thee: little b..",m £ini=. .wbby h1W. hnnds, 1Iim-fing=
and art councils, However. she did secure funding fro m groups including the: Rodc.e!e!lcr Foundation. th e Worn· en's fow1d:uion. ~d Art:o. 'rnte intention is to acne a dWogue of a vision of the futu re where there: 'Will be 2. world without fcar;o she told the LtJs AngdG Tz:ma. .0& artists. we have tht: powcr of spreading icic2s. and this i.! :3way in which the power of ideas an move around the: world... she said. Baa'J art n::±1ccD her commitment lO 2d.drosing JOcia.I iIls. This interest. , he: c!2iuu. nems from being nixd by her snndmotha, whom >h. d<3cribcd .. being • ""1' rdig::ous penon and the ccighbcrhood', resident h~c:-. She an rec:ill that her grandmother used herbs and pnycr to make her wdL She bciieve:s that her artWOrk exhib it.! much of me ccnscientiousnos iwtiII ed in her by he!' gtrmdmotha "'"'usb
Baa hoJd:s amaste's: degree in ntfrom Uliromi:a.Seat.~ Univc:sity at Nonhridge 2%1.d U a. full profes$Or of art :lL the University of UliComia. at Irvine.

Great Walls Unlimited: Neighborhood Pride Putting Communities and Artists Together A MODEL PROGRAM

The Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) Is a multi-culturaI arts center that produces, exhibits, distributes and preserves pubfic art wo rks. PubUc art is a vital part of every c ulture because it exists where people live and work--in schools, OD public transportation and In our neighborhoods. SPARC Is particularly committed to enhancing the visibility of work which reflects the lives and concerns of America's diverse populations, including ethnic groups, women, caree r people, the y outh and the elderly. The ultimate purpose for all of SPARe's programs is to examine what we choose to memoriaUze through public art and develop alternative processes for the creation of public monuments for communities. Administered by SPARe, the Great Walls Unlimit ed: Neighborhood Pride mural program began in 1988, when SPARe received funding through the Los Angeles Mayor's Office to produce nine new murals within the city. S ix years and over sixty murals later, the Neighborhood

Pride program is going strong, serving as a model program to cities across the country.

The Great Walls program has several goals: To foster community pride among the people living In the areas wh e re the m urals are placed; to beautify neighborhoods with insplrin& works of public art; and not least to provide young people with the opportunity to learn artistic skills firsthand under professional guidance. For many ofthem, i~ is their first formal exp osure to art. Great Walls Unlimi t ed is inspired by the model of the Great WaIl of Las Angeles, the longe st mural in the world , located on Coldwater Canyon Avenue in the Tujunga Wash. In this project, which lasted from 1976 to 1983, artists worked with local youth teams and solicited community advice, producing a public mural monument, the reby making a lasting contribution to life in Southern Califomia through art. SPARC's mural program is an important nationwide model for de veloping publlc art for ethnically diverse neighborhoods. Careful selection of artists en sures the compatibility of the artwork with the sites. Muralists include both locally and nationally recognized names as well as first·time muralists.

Through Great Walls Unlimited: Neig hborhood Pride, SPARC supports artwork that expresses the many cultures an d inte rests in Los Angeles. Together, these murals eloquently reflect the multi-cultural nature of the city for which they were created, making a free outdoor gallery of the streets . For further information on SPARC and its many programs, please call or write: 685 Venice Blvd. Venice , CA 90291 (3 10 ) 8 22-9 5 60 - 1'a1: 13101 827-8717

Ul.6 Angcles (Urncs ' ~,

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Is L.A. Public Art aPie in =:::::=:-:c...::... the Sky? Let critic

Christopher Knight show you the high .points, tfgm this ~u1/Jture perched ". over a Venice .... t.

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'¢terrection to an

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qnc mural along a city !lood ch~l. ~, Page4

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Not Just an Exercise in Futility - -

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Public art is almost always controversial but sometimes it's even popular. As it becom es m ore common place, isn :t it worth considerin g a few pieces that really work?

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By ChristoPtter

Kaicht

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Wha t ,t It :h..1 m.. keoc !'Om<' publ'c U\ <'Clio "'"lei I'e5OI.lItd III \he 1"",S"""uon, " 'hile """" of It juc<1 MM of si t-r tl1eTe . Ioaklllll' "a"OU$I ~' pompoltJ or ;o:-iorn, :umoyin« ~ loc!ilf~ 1. Ln the "·a.~ CIT OUt o! place 7 Why 0Cl lOme " 'orks of ..n set'!!I born to inMOlI the ptIblK rt'alm . "Ule'r ,~" te :'t'<;UIl'C' Lhr IIlOl"f enc lOHout history.lJOVerT\l!le'Ilt$ of a U k,m.. have bH-n pnnc""" ~ for..,-... In l>TMr to aclue ,·e .. ovilW!d d=>oc... . c~·. publIC pa\r'llnfillt' . - to ~'le'I"alt' U\ in lhe pUbJlt'

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realm . 'I'he p.-ollf~h"n of publlC ..n Ioe~U y, ~ a mull of ~ h., ewnu.l.J.u n ...rfft:L'O of fedl:n1. a""Ie and (:ny !aWl. "'h",h !' "btpn.-ith the lUuanaI Endowmcml fCIT lhe A ru' An in Pubhe Ptaca p:lIJRIII d the I.aUlI S6OI. T <>d.Iy . man: lh;f.r. h;t./f the 1lta18 ;and " f Clt~ m;r,r.cl.ale pen:enl_ I«.an wmm i ~ lram a mix af puW..: anc! . .

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pnn"' de ..k4>o<' s. Sanl.a "oruca. CuiWI'" e lly ..nd l.D$ A"lIe,"", ar c lClui ~ I~t r~ a pcm"", of reOev" iap
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In IOSlt.ion to p:lVI::rnment. .. f"", pnv'le IocaJ entities abo hf'" becoIDe tIlvClIwd. Foun:tatlana .. nd ind\'pt'nd . mt reaJ.-ate Oevelopen ~ an mlenO;ecUo.'UI tlid not prnoail.) Otbe" tirJl
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Terry Allen',

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bron7J: ac Cirirol'Jl P\az;a is all too lttOptaat!k-hr is IlL

c:auld Ie:liUDWoely utJlly .. pertt'lll-ror.an I"\"tnlll"t".

ment..it is the Jarwu phlkMlphy of public an thai "tues t1wbea\. ( Tba~~ stU lsimme>'s.1

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Pl'od\ll:1l'l( pubbe' a.., II b«om1nI 10 f~r an -, u nl,. II: r- A~Ies. _ lull' _ ~ tJw \OpK: mD&ilIllOI ~)' blurred. ~ t . fou:- .d.ly conl~ includlnl t.., Gays o! pana cIixIIaicns Friday and sawrday I t I.M BiI~ Houl ..... baWwd

Ul apIon lU!!WI)' ~ ""Public An. ReallWs. Tlleorie$ aDd . . . . .~ '"It.b bKkmIJ t:om lIM ~ IJU Counl::il. lIM

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bet_ ttwm. ADd lbe di&IoI\R. as wtUI an)" po..~ .:onwnation.. S'OI! "' be . -ort..'l mucll ID'IloI!II I!Iorn L"e plenty of opmmc:s Ie:' u u,,~ pubIk to ~

~ on cIispla)\ tMre IIIlQ ~ roc= ~~r V1ol'Wff7 ""to ~ bI\ lI'I ~ o:onten ~ l.'lan Lhtft " .. !Ir.: all V\IS\'J b1c:.IK"" D ~~. fillinl cp:::r

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the ~ lAo'an.Sysmuuc fonnlll.u jw;l dal"t wort. b' an _ wh>c:!l _ Dllt W iii :" Uwy doIl't pi. tne4. F llI' 1ftSUDl:lL. rubD.I conyeftlal 01 pubUc an \OGi:y _ tb.a1 . tbilrouIIh ""*r· cI 1lw pubbc: IlW 1ft w~ tbI ...n triJ..I aIIl II' ~ '" UM u-t·s -. S o _ WUSlS U')' lOco=pt'ehelld s siw by beclollulW .-."'dMn-SJl _ hlsuIrian. ~ : , raphet' , .".

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If tlIiI cl!Vft'W crouP be sud ~ 1ft - . It IS ceK

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of :o.., iru~ ot,tc"_ ::r...." ' .... ~ lO be loob d .t IX' '- _ 1II~ o! aMW lM:" ha>.-e.all 60De Crnx:aI \0 their IUttftJ III lhe lI:>Q.C.": ' . pCl9Ot1" oqrcu: and pbal l:) plvan:ze m'~, ..-heft <1"...,. ~. FIX'I'ubbt.n.. o:ontnl. is C'I'\>C". al •

CI'UllOft

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'Great W.II of LA.'

th.""'fIOloIlSL 11M art ~y ~

we trIOda\- L.- Anftles ha$

what bdIilldauessueh uX_ ro:i<. ~Vlli~·e:'l Seoullit in pnr.'llUIl( po:bfit :an_"",,", on'Pt~1 wwk ~.as indHd bftn compiow
p:"Od\Xlt tlltlI..·...1 !las bMI'l daKo. ert'd dlll'ial

.., ... _

_ ......... Lediou$ly academoe pubbc an ,.u lIUlk Wt ...,.. .-r_ AfriaII spbonsm ....ens tNt n', Stillnct Ol\lycloa!be In«llod t'Iouri5h. u's '1'CIOIY CAIDUr': Sida Armljanl$ ouldoor TOOI'D lOr ~ and dvtrinJ. 1M I _ .-ho ~ 10 It'll ee eeev of roftlu\lJht m.rudKds, the Ia:e1lt todio}·, The puntinl;, fonna1t}· IJl1focl :he ""~;l War!'! upWrDq_lou 01 It. eoven !>den n I'¥W ~ ........ - te publx: an.- Am>a)anI told mterV>eW'tT Cal'·m 3olunl , HIIUI"~" of C. M :......_~ brf1n." ..,tll I btl of The p1an n~ \0 be n:plaineC' lO pauons IlI'K! Tomkms Itt 19S1O, ~ II no room!Ol" f _ on t M t'fO. CUlOAur_ltuddtd Fft,Ul.Dr)-, qt:lCkl~· JUfI'ltIl'

e;lc! '" commnues 01 bUTNlICn Ul and reY_ Iloanis and Yau have \O ,et lost IIItMt:On len of lhework.- _ 1M nrl~· m'pUOll of H tl lertI fl"O:;"l- ....... In the' f;:ll. poIiticiI.ns mel fu ndml! ;qfcnc M!:l _.ny or aU of..,1lCIIll ConvenllOllaJ .. 1Idom has tonI hekl thai the f~ " Illlennl\lftl a nd ~n eeu ~, .., ' I' main pu~. may rqan! ~ an • ·n h NlPlC:lOlL The show-and rqn of ...""tlSl.K: flO COIn " Teak IIsvot Wlth.rt dI:fI.,nt'
~

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for the ptIbtic rnlm. Con .. ~uo.... 1 'Il'1SdQm I\u bH'n rilhL Yel II hun·1 'OM 1M filii llifu.nce. SotICe t!"..at Annajani cbd IlOl'IltO!y ,,-IIOIl' ir.L"Il'I.e q'o~ POW problems. ~Ol' t!Id h.. limit the il!t'nl1t~ of who II is ......al fina lly needs 10 !;Ie !"t;ease
S eit!leT. bril ilani UWlIC fotm. bY I:Hlf, nor s nch pubIie lite. by 'tMlf. ill mourlt to p l...",u a work of PIIblic an. SecaMr)' umud IS s IPUkh", ~

When the public or lU ....".......,LI\.lY_tlle p&11'ON for public: L"'\_
telllcl>ool _ _ 60ubts by "\' ~I e .tTYClOe. comfon · s ble iJllle st.Or}' 10 t1lIbnee. ConYe:monllJ " "\SIloIr: al.lo hal il thai sllsU'Kt an w ~I avOt6ecl in pub!lC pIKes, IlIK't abslrac:uon III S1lPpcoedJy Irltompal1ble wllh U:e IIItt1"UU of a..... pu bh<:. If lhal ·. t~, """ y IS h t hai Ms rs Un·. bruthtski", Vielnam Vetel"Sou 101"""",,,1 III Wa hlnl lOn, 1JIt' IlIIlI'le ,,"Ulnt _ snd mor. ww:lel~· heloY~work or contelllponry public:SM. il: W lInll~ :SUItS. II .n -....nCt Kwpu.re~

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...... I nd libenuon for c thrno: mtnOnUC'S. ..-omen. J...... . p~' men and le.IlNoov. Oust Bowl rl:f~ Llbor Ol"pnlZcn. polltics l clw:lOknu a:'l
uun.

-AU: ~ LA.": The !IIIur.aL pcainttel ~. 187 .. nisrs from

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Piililic Art Couia....

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priDdpaUJ' led by vtiII. J rJdy k1 wtID CCIDClIiI"f'td t!lI! projld. .md bnl the ttalIlO do tL ~. G'.dM_ oI 117 1:1~~

wall. wiliie • IhiftizII amy of "'tel wumt. eoipcnt.e and prinrc ...... is aim icimti .

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Tbe -ere-t Wall~ buiIdt 011 an ilnp:lnanl C!lIcIno U'dtioo of D -

wmblinI fiuid, lIl\lJtifacfted ye1" Itr\ICWNcI Jl"OIlIl' of people ill

order to ~ • vital lJItene· tioa bet..'tt!1 ttSthme pis and mc:iIII ~ The mural'. IIIUcn WlNld ~ and -'ed. IliNn:al . . . . for de$IlaiDIl. aDd thew woald tit ~ iDUJ pEtanaI fcrm lIDdIr tbe SI4lt"i lion 0/.Bla. 1Ildocber lad artiItI. Tblt Ol'pIliptiDIW _ of "stnEuInd fllliditJ'- it; bnc:illIIr I'1!OKtad in tbr arunI. ". coqaIi.

Public Art

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iIakte:l.. ;-', 4"t ~ llIII · dered lib ~ pcldI ill •

clowmowfl', ~ Olicarp PIa_ IL n. &zaiIlc pc. . . . . . , Iimp!t lIf:\ of !lcDIfe at tlw ptas c( I royal paIKl! d. .IIM:ldem ~_ aD lift. Simu1~. it prI_ M nta tbe f~', ipominioUl bKUIdI 10 UIt buatlizlI ctOW'lIa wbo hllrriedl,. qomd tbt IMpI

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a=t ItI"ip. lz:Nad.. itt:," ~r dIIIrfed.. ~

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he vituaJftfKt is tD encIoY \lit ~ of llX:iDpo!iueaJ 1\riT. ~ With• _ of both timr. ~ aDd Pf't!RlItneIL The bu· - . IU'\IqIt for irldepe~ iI IbDwD to Ill" I hiIu:Iry. wiIlk ~..,.. n

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bead. Or. rat!l· . • . !iii IllldI: 1'"" 1111 tlnD die piDkkb craDilt aIah d. die offior ~ t!lu n- lJiIln tam. ;~lb the potiIbed.tn. DllIIl_ ~

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an in 1m Tbe twu .mer -.1 ~

PIIIIIP up tbt ~ ~ iI:lto • hicbI,. IilIplliftiated If*PIak - . . wtdl • dlIdDctIy hp -.ibilfr.,.-JCIIIf 0eInIme _ _ MIdlIaa . - . Tbe .-!lIft . . . . . 1 _. .WlIDd~

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HiIb Sc1Iool. \bt min! sud6alIy --. The

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a pri't'W cIII't'elGper far the rae.dt of I a-d'1lII boiIdiftI of I:bopf. ~ mil ClOallDalin.

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~ sc:uIpa;n it Ie. poiDltd ill ~ thr pubIle ,..." III tIct. _ ~ of ill: ItIIDDizlc "'P.itl. e fa Lbt WI)' if. III5*b UI the -oam ~ d

pubIie an itIIIf.

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the buraueraue lIbJ!'UlW of

dl.y,o,awwrll. pecuIiiII' iOtas ~y ret hat.dleli.

e- of the - . otn1Indiah " 'alI

Il'I gption provided UI .IllI.iOr LA.. devclopm., " 'M Il"t rtqUil'td b.-· d lY llniirlanoe UI COI11llUt I pa-. «nap of their buildinI eOIlJ 10 public: II'L A dtYeioptr, tf lit Of It1t WiII'Ia. an aetiIe the option Ul I ~ tilt Pf'OJItl &I'ld !be utiIt.

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to l

It. wilbar.It any puticipI_

tina ....\t't'eT blo' ~utives I d. the public:. Tbil ia 'Pl:lIuzwideJ ft nriIm of ' u1Itoaaue nobl _ ~ in '

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Lbt bI.a1dIId - . h hal bmClU ~ lou at lind AlIfl iIldudiq 111

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' elual dJme -l lOft tnieltt nact i blown '" Ul IIIOIIlDtI1UItcaloI lUI I Ul.T.k T ot)'D 1 and • sc:ulpwraJ ,'

a lkyacnper'l JIiIhueh lir .ccn:litianinI tYMm 1_ l 1bt briPtb' pClIltcI fftZlllt thtrllWlC:ia!dilux:U. un: of a bta1lec. ~ UI a Onr m"ftificenl uetpt ion i Ultu it parehed 011 • ~ lqll . pro\'" 1l1eImtrallooninta of th e ilUIp In Il"ChlWClUl'll peclft:tIl: il rule. That', beel tlM \lit &rUsts. • tPOI'U hup. and VlIaJy KGma:r IDti AI.e:IandeI' "e- ! Lbt biI. buLb--a muir. of I I.Imld. han 111 lIIIIIIIlIlIy rood am. doWn. w~ IJ'UP of the izIto1W W«kiDp of ; bobo _,... I'tCIlJa Emmeu Kell ,. or poUtie&l buraucnc,. P'O'"l' reRed Slw!uIft. Ilthind the dmc:er Iat.iorlal1ipa ilM , Iorioua. ciVic: bUazxizIa ~Y CllI poilu. , mmdedodta IOnw....... , EIJIi(re fnIID Lbt 5o't'WI. Union , -"DOili(lned elUUirl pro 't"idea a ~ ~ t.etdnlp. ..1tlI _ a cIeadr btfon iU coI- " tar-. lbty __ . . . , . rr- a . 'nllt ~ it • modem 'ra'_ Iioa d. thI aniM CIIIl: II do-!! « YIll,Il1f . . m Lbt at!iciaw.. piaoriaI i i&Dd:* emeuizla'. IUIljen U1 tlw I1ltu:Irie 01 ..sal gptift +m1llClecl ' "'Ol.UiJt . . . . 01 .._ _ f.ormI d. by tbIir p"aiitiWill. Tbty know -=ill md potidc:ai ~ bIIppI'Il bow U1 WI'Q It.c:m iU bIK. On tht JI'lIUIld floor at down. UI bokIsway. nm itI:I.Ip iI at. iIut II old .. W I _'s Jab-Cmwry lOWl!', nn:t rm..w.e Worid Can - , ttl'. Kocrtw and 1It!Amid., pIlDled ! ~ 01 Lbt 1l'lri&l1cIIolk mimt. ""Om-.. llI" VelUq\Ia:r, pullflmt 1993 n lief·munl PUllity" I, iI ; btluUfu!ly tHC\IUld., wUaIy fUnny pclI"U'"Uu: of lht d ~ ill Ult 17t11-Cemur) SpIniIb CO\II'L In tht ..tire 011 tlIIt rhelDric:', hard)" faUCOQll c:lmII of OQDtempOnl")' A1'Im'ICIII COUIin. lu Nh;eet. it the lift. 8on:laIr:y'. -BIlltMa Clown " pl"tdlear!llmlof mlliticuJu,lralilm in 1 • capi Wial. all paekiIIfd ! . . . . forwvd 10 Wte iu plau I t for COIlIUIIlpticll b)' \.lit public. U ; Tbt ~ bas reeei't'eCl iU A I1Iuic:aDa of evtry fllOralilW:: I . . . til ('DUft ~ from Lbt atnpe _ conViDeed that ll1e j' . . . . . lIUdieaa: lOG. A few DeiIh· OlIIyfood 1M. is an thai. iI food for bors--wtlo waIId IitI!)' Ila't'e pDf you. 111m it 1oUowI Ulu CIlrpOral.e: I 1iWe~"a~pIlit m\tftN wiIJ ebiIlapiaD (W,. an W I .-.s rood for buai-. bad MIll p.:t ' " OIl the bIoc:k ~ bid!)' wberl 8lroDIr:y 'l \;nil,.- it I taconMnla ti lll' tnp~ _ fira B'Wdad.. It 1laa PIrar_hftt W I ~1ikI1Dmiat ~IM.

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aliIbOy !atI'er·lhe. 1lfe- : ala fiI!,n:. wbo would be IIbout ! 7 fftl. lIII tf be eouId IIWld uprtpl. t " II 0IlC:'t flmll." , tmalelliftl ,IlIld : poiInanL He • pm Nodrhad ' pan untfonntd alrtOnIIton. b _ ny tnpped In IIIOOtm 1m. :

In all ~ me\IJIbllri. cal ~ 01 ttl ~ . her. . . IDaantIy fecopiIt him c:mtaL the lIure IDUrllI UIlfokb IlioDI • bIIf·tIdk ItftW:l of tIw A tn. piaqw ~ iD UIt Wbic:b II ..,. of Pound 11 UIt .::aIpwrt., Ie« cw · tbt SUI hmI.sD fIood,.. PIlllip LewiDt', brW poiI!IIl> CXlIIUOl. ~ ~ mio tlIt 1.af ...... RiYu. n. munl ~ "'" . .11 .., I I ,..net to CazI]'IlIlA 'Ie- . amdliac .... tlw ...-m

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Public Art Ccr!UiJIv.ed tr- ". 88

t}'c:t; ....IIOM !cna IS utnpOlIted hom 13l.h· Ctnu..-, paintinp of qds rOl.:r.ll in till! PwtiIOtleW.l C'!'LIpel nu t A. sist . luly-lht C!:ll:"e!I f:o= ..'hie!: Los AqeOu tabs its eaee, The t."'iplyeh eee InS IXI all e:o.:be:ra:lt I'tlid It .. ~ ·rUl.~ aJlpi.. .~ iI rGI -

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o! ~ fWai&l:: ieo:1. 11'$ doaked iI: ezq-DiWy ar~ ~ 11 red ·aw:I·r~ 8ul!Cl::icbarmer, l ~ l:.alo bc:nowed ~ JftO ·h rl!hiln imqa af an Azl&c beadpieer ~ Ce'i ved t=!Io-~ masQ. n e UlpI'. ~l"u=r sil y e · wm,p an! JlCB'ofd tD .-!UP; tile ffiaual erw.ture t;u ye...w. cue!l u ~ l::rulk d ~ m the labby bUIw sta:llb ready tD H:ll! 70lJ up. llP-1:P-1O t!le: eeee.al ratms o! tbe ~'. 13rd &lor. IJ"IDC! 1ri:Ip dC: I n :.ber dlffC't'IU .II:C"t'f lbarI. the . . . . other ~ PU--l. llDl! tbI : ll eotIIiderabIy cJoHr tD !lome: 'I'bey'n toJ*(I aaalr fro:ll \be wizlp ll! an ~., aaJc. u cIep:atd en the bKt of a::I ~ qllIl'W dire:U:r be::la.U:l the mono

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In ""tinit}'.MX - 1nC!)felIzDid b
*

l;tibme tD • =uluewwral mir.JI..iDI 01 fun)• • Afncan _, ~tino- a:ld .ui&II.A:Iltl'ia:l ewWfW. th e ~­ .u-! UnlI t o! IOciaI har'mlmJ II fulIlly beInr , ,,~ by. GO S\:b;ec.~ 10. the eotr. n ~ preTlIpti vu of bulinta. A t • but of the Wlal bank builcliq lr. UlWn . -Unity "

Jolo_-.. '1lMTr': A trip)'dl mural by Komar and ~kbmid. il!Im in deWL is a..,itty satire 00. an and multicullu ralism in a ca¢tali:sI: econom y. ~~

:::erps: .t

I.I:'pr et:~:xla c! ~ ShIkr. ~t. 1ll" 'hicb &1lan m-.. Rylf be:Jcbes of aokIaI-i::ard _oed · • SUit _.......jIlai. ~rM Pwt.,., GIIr. sWad lib tbe c:!:I;:lboc11s of f,D old m . LGlt lU:lt F lt'" l do'Iiolt . H l.il K_ EncJ.md f, p:rUrl' JlllCCOOIltril ....re, WithUl · f, · p.rdeJI ~e.ll.t o f PtrsiaiI a:.iDifou::-es: • 4.'"U.lI.I.t k . :IlDIl1:lM:l11l.l ple'n~' .~ st~iIr btTf LootWIt :JlU'tI"llrti:,. a· reca11J nri,._2001~ Rm I.a:l)la public art III tllYT~ EI.:I CoJlstnx:lj'risl. piaN U1: pub!ic ~h u tbf Otlen:f:lIS r"'pil;fa:"tllf,UOl:l tiosIu: f, ~ 1"0_ of Ulthtopon1o:-pllic emelt }l1"lI u:n l f:lHm ble n :.he Royb l.l 8ui14inc I.nC I l:'. a(lli!'. u:ll PI.::' of stiCUc! ~vtiy one I.l.Oj) Ul ma;:.-onf of t !'!f h cttic R:=. thl' 0I.!lIr. liJl Ul tip: lbe hfo:ld.U'n: otNl' cl IW':'y to:lSlflll.UON_ m ~ o! • Spmlish MisslDn. FWtTy

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SUSDAY. ~ Z3. 1991

artISt prominl'ntly ..nnttd

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bl'ndles. Th~ othf:" is the I f:'lfnl layOOl: of f, ciuslcal Islantit pari ' m.. prdfn, ....hich A."1DI..JIllIKnr..' !:om c C"dbcoct

The S~!I:S pam: ~ LO:t l'tiitio:lsl'lip be tWft1l Cltur1! mel CItlt :ur. Th.-cI¢ tbr mqic&l 1Ula;::or of f, jc ~ i:: th e wiIQe . ness d Tm..--r. w c:vilW:II f1meUctlof art iI drftl)' U5l'lUC. A n 1sII.mic jlUIQiR-p..-dr.t. Itll. . cioIed by hifh w:aJJs iIllli e.t.~ pil.nttd acccni!nc to ct:SUllll. iI lIleet as a ~ aneu.:a:y ~ the brutal ~ fll Vi1utlIlen: br)'OlK! iu fo:':ificaUClllS. l b «=,,~"X'CtiO.:I bItt.ec ~ ccie::.: ~ .E::astc1l fann a:.i SteYftlS' CIlil' to . ~ ja:- \oIICe, dcmu:icIr: OVe'" the .o\JIlenan wil~

ti::.J<s twO dispI.nl.r c:z:= Tbry are. ol CC\I:'Ilt. tU ~

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c:or.s-..cIft'aUons of

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PARTI\GSHOT AMulticultural Mural

T

he fJ rncc~~ o f crem in/!: c mural is u fasc:irut in.f:, complex dvna rn ic.

I(s abou t Itt ili:lj n~ nxmv forms "f cornm unicario n. tr.tnsfo;min,t: ~ concept Irurn a writt en idea inrn a vieua] imaJ!c. h 's anOUE tryi n.e. to ccnvcv [he m~s:.I~c or stories while l1mn:mtly being ale rt to the audience fm whom {he wor k is inte nded. ' I'he .,j{j..(ool-h'\"· IO-ftlOl mural abo ve t1csi l::nco t o he "i n H :llk d i n liC Li\'~ D unce BuiIJin:l:. was such a wnr k, th e Fail Q lJ;Ifrc r prujn't of:J. Wmld Arts an d C ult ur es n lu r~c ta u.eh! by c c lc brarcd mur..list [tnlith Hacu. . T he ctass initia ted the process bv rak i n ~ a hiuh-c~ c sc:lt in t he bui ld ina. dc,,\cI\' t lh5c n' i n ~ dancers a n d pc o p k who work the re comin/.: and go ing, nori n~ ch:lngcs in liJ!:h t :;1.." uour" ClI )Cn~tl an d

..

dusc d. :l1I th e wh ile t;!ki n L: ph" lCl'...traphx. I hl\';n.!.: d efi ned rhcir audience from r hnsc "h~cr" :It i(ln ~. the ~ tlldcllt~ Ill:ldc sc I'cr.11 :' ~~ lIIllfl t i"n ~ , I'rnpcHi nl! the I'm.. jc ct (0 th e ne xt le vel flf h r a in ~wrm in .l! t he cenccpr. while always the m:Hil-:llly um.Jerpin n in;: dance . Those iue:J x we re rhe n de veloped into :l ~rfJ~'ho:lru f orrnut

and further re fine d. - \Vc wanted [0 pm the wm k in tn a culr ural conte :u ~h owi n ~ rhc d ifferent peo ple o f I.os t\ n ~c1cs mixin g in d aily life , 'i i~ n i fyin.::. the m eltin,!!: pe r " f rhc l'ity.- SOI y" U:JC:I,

Add III th aI rhc di m c nsi un of rime . :IOU the m ural rook on rhe sweep of hierIIry w the p re sent day. i ll \lstr~t in,l!: the d i.. \ c rsity "f th e d ry rhmu /.:h t he prism uf a nun-Europe an pcrspe nil'c . ,\ lI u !1l c r ,'isll....1 ::',,:'11 \\";1.. to link uuc Sl.:CIlC rn thc 111..' '' 1.

sil!n ify in /.: cu ltures and peop le inrc rccnm.:ui ll~, :. Ill.:s~~e of 1-.'Tea t importance 10 t he stude nts. :\nd all t his OIXUm:d before one d top o f p" int had nurchcd the ca nvas. The ralcmcd st ude nts, like t he: city they wen: ill u su:lri n~ we re amninJ!.ly d ive rse. T hey made u p a mult icu lt ura l me cca o f majors und cult ures. fro m a nth rul'ulo.L:Y ttl dan ce , Axi.. n 10 Chicano.

"me da$.<; rlJom dis cussion nnim utc d.

atl {l i n ~

was cnnsranrlv anothe r dimension ro

rhc p rfll,"C:Xx.. ~· Il . is mural." sa~":'I R"""2. -is like an arl,;hacpillj!il-:d di~ tlf L.:\.. mll \'inS! ,,~'rn ,~X Ji~ t'lIlt'..:s

wirhn

c"mm{ln:ll i r~'

of ide as." • H. J, l , ,,!rrl

t :CL\ MAGAZINE W1 NTE'R 19!M

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Visitors pose by the World Wall in East los Angeles .

m~ny

R OPle express themselves in wa ys. Artists ofte n use t heir paintings to exp r ess how t hey feel about things. Some artists paint their pictures on canvas. Some paint on walls. Huge outdoor wall paintings, or murals , are works of art t hat tell about th e hopes and concerns of the people who have crea te d them. Some cultures, especially Mexican and Chicano, have long, pro ud histories of m ural-making. For man y Chicanos, people of Mexican origin living in the United

Finn isn a rtis t s crea t ed t his co lo rful pane l. A Diaiogue of Alternati ves .

Sta tes. pa inting mura ls is a wa v to !let in to uch wi th their root s. Xow, in t wo cities in Califor nia . East Los Ange les and San Diego. spec ial art progra m s he lp people car r yo n this great Xlex ican tradition. Judith Baca, a Chicana art ist. be lieves it is important to remember her roo ts. :\'1s. Baca feels that he!' dose co n nection to her cultu r e has hel pe d her to create beaut iful mura ls. During the 1970s. Ms. Baca began severa l mural programs in Los Ang e les. Teena ge rs from the bar r io. or ne ighbo rhood. wor ked with her to c reate more than 250 murals:

ma de up of seve n co lorful pa nels created by Chica no a nd inte r na t iona l a r t is ts. The pictures o n th e pa ne ls exp re s s fee lin gs abou t peace. war. c oop eration. interde pende nce. a nd g row th. Unlike t r a dition a l wall mura ls . t he se panels can be move d. They na ve t r ave led t o Fi n land. Rus sia. a nd Mex ic o.

In 1987 in Los Angeles . .Ms . Baca began World Wall : A Vi si on of the

Three of the finis hed panels are Trium ph of the Heart. A Dialogue of

Fu ture ~Vitholl t F ea r. This mural is

THE GREAT WALL

Alternatives, and T rium ph of the Hand s. Trium ph oj the Heart sh ow s how people from many ra ces can wor k together for world peace. The candles in the painting For many Chicanos. paintin g mura ls is a way t o ge t in touch with th e ir roots.

More tha n 600 peop le. includ ing

450 teenagers from nearby barrios and 40 scholars. helped C hicana artist Judith Baca create The Great

represent hope for peace and und erstanding. A Dialogue of Alternatives shows how artists can join together to create a new language th at e vervone can understand. 1liumph of the Hands shows ho w people working together can create good thin gs. The people in the mural look to th e pow er in their own hands for hope an d change. _

Wall of Los Angeles. This sp ectacu-

lar mural. which is half a mile long, is in California's San Fernando

Valley. The work of art W3.S paint ed during five summers and co mpleted in 1980. It s.h~- ' .... ::,~",,::

local histOry and de scribes the con tributions and st ruggle s of California's diverse. multicultural

reside nts-from prehisto ric time by Claudia M. Caruana

In 1990. Ms. Baca's Trium ph of t he pa nel was sh own in Moscow's Gorky Park. H~nds

until the late 19505.

L. A. T H1ES

7/2 7/ 9 3

Journey Back in Time Atthe Baldwin Park Rail Station, DC! Art Prof"""rJudy Baca PaysH~tothe Area's Indian Heritage

w..

By ZAN DUBIN nAf1 ....rru

For the BaldwiD Park

TlWU

B Artist ALDWIN

anwcrk. she wanted to portray an "authentic" mel. ..truthful" vision of the ar · ea's biItary. Et.c.hed into the weathend adobe· like cmtra l arch iI the word Slilnigna. the Gabrielino name for the area. and a quote from La tino l Uthor Gloria Anu idul ' "This la nd was Mexican once. was Indian always and is. and will be opln." Le ttering on the plaza floor speI1s out, in English, th e statement ''When the Indianl died. the villages

PARK-

j ud y Baca did a liUle daDce here the other day , a vt:r'f old

little dance. In the dry heat of a midday sun, Baea st:i:pped along a concrete footpath tha t represents cenmonial steps performed by early California inhabitants:. the Gabrielino and Chumash Indian'.

Th e winding lane is part of "DaNa l~ {ln -

dilenous Dances ), the public ar lwork she eesiIned to spruce up the Baldwin Park Metrolink eemmuterrail Ntion.. "l wanted to put memo· rr into a piece of the land" thal once was home to the Indian culturu. said the Los Angela: muralist, La· tino activist and UC lryinf art professor. She bopes to

ended,"

When the Spanish arrived. Baa aid.. so1dien raped scores of Gabri dino

women, Incl udi ng th e chief's wife. The chiefs protest.I led to his decapi. tation. " It was in that climate that the Miasion San Gabriel wu founded. she

...... stone

have the project finished within a few day&.

Central to &ca's desiCn is the 2O. foot. high re-ere-

.

ation of an archway in one wall of the nearby San Gabriel Mission. Beneath it stretches the mission's abstracted floor plan, etched into the eo1ared eceeeete of an open plaza.. From it extends th e footpath . which links shel ters where commuters wait for trainJ. Located at the comer of Downing Avenue and Ramona Boulevard in the San Gabriel Valley, the $60.000 projeel is part of the four· year. oId Art for Rail Trao.&il Program ins'JtlO".zd b:.. t..'1e t.A. Cc::&l}' Me~""C · polilan Transportation Authority. To date, 65 artists have been comminVmed to adorn stations throughout

Southern California.

"We believe it', important to make the train system efficimt but attractive and user·frie'Ddl1'.n said Jessica Cusick. rail -art prc:cram directot. "It', also really important to . . _ provide commw1ities with a sense of ownership in the statioDs.

DOl onl y

N

B

aea., who was chosen for the job from amoag roughly 25 other artists, bas been involved in mural· making for as many yean. Among her murals is the half·mile· Ioag "Great Wall of LA.... purported to be the world's longest. She has eveseee creation ab:Iut 200 works as a founder of two mnrrieipl.1J.y funded mural programs in

«

N

A mound, like one the Gabrielinos would have de:siBna\ed as a place of prayer, embodies a feminist ideology the arttSl worked into the project. It is a tribule to Toypurina. a 23-year-old Gabrielino woman who tee a revcn against the Spanil h missionaries. she said. '"I'oypurina was depict.ed (by the Spanishj as a seduetrea and sorceress because she organized large groups of native people to fight th e Mission San Gabriel and bring it down. For that, she was banished from her nauv e land. I felt it was approprlatt to PUl her back into her own territory." "Dana IodiImu" wasa eoUaboration lnvolving Baca and_ LA architects Kate Diamond at _ MebJteeU and

Gusta'VO Leclerc of Adobe LA Typical of her mural-making metbods. 8K:a abo iIlterYiewed e.tJrie:l.iIa aDd other residenll of Baldwin Part. a quaint, 1argeI.y Latim town of '70,000.

"In

the procea. I dn'eIoped a . , . of wba1 was IQi:nI on with the wheNe p1ace.... she said. aDd p&hered quota she embl amned on the arcbw1.y . Amcng the residents' statements. "u this pl.aee wu good enoucb for me to grow up in. then it iI sood enough for my children" and "'The kind of community that people dream of, ricb and poor, brown, yellow. red, white, all living to«ether."

To further " personal ize " the train station. Baa imp1'inted into the concrete beneath each of four

ToypumJa 'was banished

from her native land. I felt It was appropriate to put her back Int o her own territory.' JUlYIIACA UCI art professor

shelt=., (als o ~-"18' floor plans of California m issions ) such phrases as "my mother" and " am i Gabridino," rendered in Gabridi-

no. Chumash. English and Spanish. At the shel ter farthest from th e main plua are the words "memory and will pcwer," w hich "are what any cult UZ"e- the ones living then and those living now-bas to have to prue: Ye itself," shelUi. So fa!'. community response bas ~ y been positive. Children dance akm.g the footpath an d people driviDg by give thumbs up. said Chris Wille , job supervisor with Rock and Water Scapes. the proj . eet's Irvine-based contrac:tot'S. "'I'bey dig it.; they think it 's an awful fancy transit station," Wille wd. • Baldwin Park J(etroiink lt4tion is IocaUd at 3825 Do1oning xee., Ba1Jj. win Parle, at 1M COT'RotJ' of Downing A WftIU' mid Rarrumo. BoW.mmt.

UCI Professor Honors Indians ti C JrviM an profrnor Judv Bag is spru cing up the Baldwin Park Metrolink commute: rail station with public art wor k that

pays homage to tribes th at inhabited the area. the Gabrielino and Chumash Indians. Featured is a re cre at ion of a San Gabri el Mission ar chway. F l

TONY l>.\.RNARO I Los Alll ein Tl- .

Artist Judy Saca re-created archway trom Miss ion San Gabriel at Baldwin Park's MetroJink rail st ation.

UCI Professor Honors Indians uc

Irvi ne art prQjessor

Judv Baa is spr ucing up

the Baldwin Par k Metro link commuter rail sta tion with pub lic artw ork that pays homage to tribes th at inh abited rbe area, the GabrieHno and Chumash Indians. F eat ured is a re creation of a San Gabriel Mission archway. Fl

L

ocated at the comer of 00 1lOl:.· _ A YUIlle aDd Rarilor::; &0/01 . "ud in 1M San c.~.cl Vailey. the $6Q,Q(X) prqeet Is ....""i 01 W 4. ,._ -0101 An fot Ra£ Tr.nli~ Protnm irDtitut«l 0] the L.A.

Cown y Metl'opoUcan TTanspon.l. lion Alrthcril.y_ To 41te.·~ art1st& bave been ~ to ado.-n -.aUDn& ~ Southern Cali-

-'"We

~

a.b the train

Judy 8aca's " Danza ~ .. is a coIIabcntiYe wark of a't.

BylANDCBJN nMU n AfT • • ITD &

li.ue

lWJce in Bald-,;rj., h-k tile other ~. ;II ''ier'7 oicl Ii'Ole

In the dly hat of i. ~ :.m. 8Ic:a skipped akmi ~ eeeece fooqath that.~.:= ctn::=:Ii-

aI . . . pa1'ormed 07 c:-,:, CaJi·

fon:m mbabiWlU, the ~ and 0wlDab lDdial'&. 'Jbt wiDdiDI laDe Is pan ~

"Dam

J.ndl.rmq"

Baca. who wu ebosen for the job ff'Oll1 aIDODIl"OIChi}" 25 other art iIU, bat been inn ),nd il: murai-muq for abo ut. • QlWU: ce:nwry. AmDnI her zunis is 1M hal f-mile -loa( nCr n t Wali Df LA... purpxud to be: til:: ':'1'0:;0"1 ~ 8M bat ov <::---.. ~t of abcU 2lIO wcna as c. ic=dc:" 31 two munir:ipally furllk'u m;,o:~ ;4-0JI'tIN in Las Anfta FOI' !.be Baldwin pJl..-'.:: ~=Il. . aile wanted l.O portl"aj ';M1 w::UU~"l ' UC" and '"truthfuJ" viIiar:I 01 tilc M

project to sp ruce up the Baldwin Pa rk Metroli nk rail station puts 'memory into a piece of land.'

""""

o.oIy

ership in !he stations."

• Art: Judy Bece's 160,000

A

&~ DDI.

eftk :ia ll but ~ and IUC:" friISldIy ," aid JeIIic:t o..act. n il . an pracram direcmr. ~l>:". ~~ really ialporUnt to . . . provi(>c QlIClmunities With .. R nIIe of owt; .

Muralist Honors American Indians .

rtist Judy 8aQ Gid

it', ir.Jponan. w

(I~G.iBenc ;a

.0.-1. the public art":lOr'il: me desiped to 'PJ"IICt up the Bakiwin ParIr. Metrolink eonllr.a\.a':all N -

.....

, wanted ttl put rneIA.;;.,- y ~to • pieee of the 1and~ that ~ _ bome to the Ameriem:i Indian Wi · tuNI:, aid the 1001 An6..xs m\~ ­ itt. Latino KtiYist a:xl UC 1niIw!

=.

vt prof _ . She hci=a to plae firUIbmI touches 0Ye" the nen two weelu..

~r.ral to Btu', 0eIiIn 15 lhe 2O -foot .hi,sh r e-er eatio n of all. an: hway from the neari)1 San Gabriel Mission. BmuUt it ~..retches the miKinn'. a~ f1c(l;' plan. eWM:d inUl the eo.IomI eonco"et.e of an gpm pLaa From il ~ tbe foot path. _Md1 1iniuI pel~ wben: c:or:ammas WlIi.t for~

am', history . te.bed iino the

E

we:l~j

esc-

be _like ce!lU'llI. ardl l:.- tho:~ S~ GabrieU::.:; ll
ee

.... Moican Met. ~ lndia., Il_ ysand is. and Wili On ipin.Lettering OD I b .:' .. Iuo: nccr . ,111 OUI.. in EncIW!. IN: Nl(: · men", nWhen the Indiw~ died. Uu:

viJ1alt'S ended...

When lhe Spanish arrtv-...:'. ~ Aid. aXdien raped :oc= "" Ca· bmllno women. In el udi tli the ebIel""l }ed to

WifL The

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Toypurin.a.a 23-YUf . ~d Gl:<Jn w · DO -.oman who led a -even ar ~.sI. the Spanish miaioaaric:..4 ::ill: :iii(. " oypurina wu depico.<:z: {b;; the Spanilhl ~ :cd :;or c:eraI beo::alaIt the ot.....~ lati" crouPS of rwin peopk' 11) fi&h:. the: M\uioll San Gabriel ;,.,-,c ~ 11 down. For thaI. she .....e.; ::-:;;!::beQ from her IllI tin IIi1Ki. 1 felt I;. ....:a appropriate to pu t her ~ ~-:';C 'Ieu.c ~. BACh, t:'S'..

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BACA:Art Pays Homage Continued fnm F8 he r own territory." "Danza Indigenas" was a couaboration involving Baca an d L.A. architects Kate Diamond of Siegel Diamond Architects and Gusta vo Leclerc of Adobe L.A. Typical of her mural-making methods. Baca also inte rviewed GabrieHnos and other residents of Baldwin Park, a largely La tino town of 70,000.

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n the process, I developed a . sense of what was going on with th e whole place," she said, and gathered quotes she embl azoned on the archway. Among the resi dents' statements, " If this plac e Cent:raI to Judy Baca's work is a 20-foot-high archway. re-created after was good enough for me to grow up San Gabriel Mission, from which a footpath links commuter shelters. in , then it is good enough for my children ": "T he kind of community dance along the footpath and peo"They dig it: they thin k it's an that people dream of. rich and poor, ple driving by give thu mbs up, said awful-fancy transit station," Wille brown, yellow, red, white, alllivsaid. ing together." Chris Wille, job supe rvisor with To further "personalize" the Rock and Water Scapes. the projtrain station, Baca imprinted into ect's Irvine -based contractors. the concret e beneath each of four s helters (also bearing floor plans of California missions ) such phrases as "my moth er" and "I am a Gabrielinc," rendered in Gabrieli no , Chumash, English an d Spanish. At the s helter farthest from Ute main plaza are the words memory and wUlp
I Z MAGAZINE W01t1EN POLITICAL Iarxc ARTISTS IN LOS ANGELES:

OCT OB ER 1 991

mural 's planning and exec ution. Young people often work close ly with mature artists in large-scale artistic expression. As a medium of publ ic art. munls have impact far beyond traditional amsnc produclS in museums. and other traditional an worid instinnions. Their presence on inte rior and exterior walls of major buildings makes them e asily accessible to numbe rs of people who live and work among them. Chican o anisTS in part icular have mad e a unique contributi on to this expression of public art . For more than 20 yea rs in California. Chicano mu rals have tr ans fonned Thousands of dreary walls into vibrant expressions of cclcrful artworks that reveal the cultural identity and as~iralions of the Mexican-American corrununiry. Los Angdes. with its enormous Latino popul atio n. has been at the fore fronT of the modem mural movement. Well doc umen ted in nat ional and rea:iooal books and articles. this work has co llect ively added a dramatic dimensio n to the broade r tradition of American political alt. Women artists have been extremely promine nt in the mod em mural movement in so uthern California. Its particip atory flavor and democratic character have increased the oppcnuniries for wo men to achieve wide reccgninc n for their artistic ac:complishmcnts. A pivoral fig ure SiDCC the early 1970s is Chicano muralist . teac her, and community acti vist Judy Baca, Her combined effo ns as a muralist and anistic director of the Soc ial and Public An Re source Center (SPARC) in Venice. Califomia. have brought her national acclaim . Recent reviews of her work in Signs from th~ Heart: California Chicano Murals by Eva Cockcroft and Holly Barnet-Sanchez and Mixt d Biessings by Lucy Lip-

JUDY BA CA'S

PUBUC ART BY P AUL VON BL UM

A

T VARIOUS times throu ghout tbe 2 01h c entury, the

mural has served as a majo r medium of political co mm entary and cri tici sm. Rooted in the Mex ican

mural renaissance of the 19205. man y comempomy muralists have created works of impressive anisnc stature and dramatic social impact. Tbese artworks typically call attention to social ills and reclaim rbe neglected history of marginalized peoples. Abo ve all they express the hopes and frustrations of millions of peo ple. Soc ially co nsc io us mu rali sts thro ug hout the co untry view their an as a powerful means [0 foster social cohesion and political awareness in working class and ethnic com munities. They usually seek nei ghborhood panicipation in a

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pard have enhanced her high stan ding in the progressive m istie community. Born and raised in the Los Ange les area, Baca developed a commitment early in her care er 10 a collaboralive artistic process roote d in her involvement with the Chicano movement of the early 19705. Her wort as

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a community an teacher brought her imo contact wi th young people f rom diverse eth-

nic backgro unds. many gang me mbers among them. She felt deeply attached to these young people. ident ifying with Ebcir spirit of ~bellion and sympathe tic 10 their daily slIuggles for dignity in a host ile, racisl: society. These encounters led to the (onnation of the City wide Mural Project, which produced hundre ds of murals throu ghout the Los Angeles a rea. man y of whic h she directed herself wirh the extensive panicipation of these young men and wcenen, These initial projects established Bac.a as a major publie anist whose work encompassed a communal process CUlmina ting in vivid. socially consc io us imagery. As she has regularly rcrec. the images produced are the final pan of the entire proceu-and no r a t all rbe mos t sig nific 3nl. The co llabo ration itself empowers yo ung peo ple to rake co ntro l of the ir own lives and imbues them with the respec t I()[)~ de nied them by

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Z MACAZ IN E OCT OBER 199 1

American sccierv, Th is feature of Baca's work has enduring political impact even as the act ual images fade through time, weather, and the general atmospheric pollution of the Los Angeles basin. In 1976. Bata organized and d irected a mass ive team of young people. includ ing rival gang members, 10 produce one of the most monumenla1 projects in the en tire hist ory of an. "The Oreal Wall of Los Angeles" employed dozens of white. Asian. African Ame rican. and Chicano youths [0 produce a people's histo ry of California. Located in a flood " control chan ne l in the San Fernando Valley. [his mural is the lllll!est out doo r mural in the world. The most remarkable accomplishmem of the Grear Wall. an ongo ing project throughout lhe 19805 and 1990s.. has been the cooperative efforts of the teenagers in volved in the project. A politica l anist with a comprehensive ed ccadon at vision. Baca implemented an amazing instructional process that forced t he young paniciparus !O confront each other 's stereotypical pe rcept ions of their respec tive etbnicities-an awesome c hallenge for teenagers with hisl:o ries of mutua! a!'1tagonisms and violence, She used com petent and sensitive schol ars 10 provide an accurate hislorica1 perspective for her young c olleag ues before they began the ard uous process of de signing and implementing the ;;IOI'k itself. Participarus in the Great Wall learned a splendid co mbination of histo r ical, artistic. a."'Id social skills. which have served most of them extremetv well Ihrou£h the cresem, Influenced by the g~l Me xi~ muraiislS Diego Rivera. Jose Clemente Orozco. and David Alfaro Sique ircs. the w ork is a panoram ic view of California history from the perspective of ind igenous and immigrant groups. A striki ng Contrast to "official" histo ry, the mural pan e ls progress

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w'd "t from th e origin al Nativ e American inhabi tants to the present. A major theme is rbe oppression against vario us ethnic groups whose contribu tions to California have been as profound as they bave been ignored Similarly. Ihe mural bighl igms the acc om plishments of many ethnic heroes whose lives and works sel do m grace the text book s o f public and private schools in California or elsewhere . Bacas commitment to the neglected history of her ow n Chicano community finds dramatic expression in the Great Wall. The bombing of Pearl Ha rbor spawned enormous wartime hysteria througho ut the United States. Mcst tragi. cally. this hysteria caused the unconsciona ble and unco nstitutional incarceration of I IO.OClO persons of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. 3 theme portrayed in one of the Grell! Wall pane ls. Less well known is tholl incidents of racial violence w'ere common throughou t the nation during the earl y 1940s. The annosphere in Los Angeles W3S tense and vo latile. especi ally against the large Ch icano population. In 1942 the press promoted fears of Mexican crime. focusing especially on yo un g Mex ican-American me n wearin g " zccr suits ." trccsers flared at the knees and tight at the ankles. 'The Los ..l\ngcles City Counci l passed an ordinantt prohibiting the wearing of zoot suits. and police roamed Chican o areas making searcbes and terrorizing the populatio n. In August 1942. a young Mexican-American was found near deaIh by !he Sleepy Lagoon just outside the city. After his deat h. police used the corpse as an excuse to round up 22 gang members and beat confessions out of them. Several were convicted of murde r and Other serious criminal charges: only later was this m iscarriage of justice reversed.

A simil ar episod e occurred the follo wing year. when sailors stormed intO bars and other establishments. beating young Chicanos and tearing their zoot suits from their bod ie s. C ivi lia n an d mi litary po lice e nco uraged tb e ram page. eve n assisling the te rro r by arresting young Chicaoo's on baseless charges. The local press meanwh ile intensified the hysteria. The riot eventuall y ended. but the consequences aff~ted southern California for decades to come. Judy Baca has captured this deplorable historical reality in a Great Wall panel known as "Zoot Suit Riots" (figure l). The work highlight s the black. Gestapo- like boots of the local police. an image with uncomfonable contem porary resonance in light of the savage beating of Rodney King by the Los Ange les police in early 199L The artist's focus is StaIk and unsubtle. a powerful reminder of the repress ive history of police misconduct thro ughout U.s. history. A com panion de tail in the Great Wall updates the history of oppression against the Chicano community of Los Angeles. " Division of the Barrios and Chavez Rav ine- (figure 2 ) re veals the human conseq uences of various polit ical decisiOf'.5 made by elite forces in Los Angeles. The conmuction of a freeway for the benefit of suburban commurers split a long-establ ished OIicano comm unity in IWO. fosteri ng fam ily disrup tion and frus tration and generally diluting the historical stability and cohesion of thaI community. The 1958 move of the Brook lyn Dodgers to Los Angeles simil arl y wreaked social and emo tional havoc on the Chicano ne ighborhood. City po wers constructed Dodger Stad ium in Chavez Ravine. bringing enormous profits to

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Z MAGAZINE OC TO BER 1991

me ma tion project encourages communication across communities. cul tures. and nations. enabling progressive artists everywhere [0 le arn fro m one another and e nhance the power of mural art in their respective locales. This resource is largel y unavailab le else where : the es tab lished med ia. univers ities. and m useu ms rarel y bother with artwork tbey regard as epeemeral and politically suspec t. Baca's jnfl uence on the SPAR C Gal lery equal ly benefits progressive artists and activists in the Los Angeles area. Unlike private an galle ries. SPARe is a nonprofit ent erpri se showcas ing artists ty pically exc luded hom mainstream artistic institutions. The SPARC Gallery also emphasizes an with soc ial and po litical content. which sustains a centuriesold tradi tion of visual political criticism. In recent years the gallery program has p resented e xh ibit ions o f works by Afri can American women artists . Los AogclcslNew York urban acti vist an, views of homelessness. graphics by Sout h Korean student protestors, recent Chicano an from Los Angeles . and many other socially committed art works. Perha ps abo ve all, Baca's most enduring influence as SPARC arti stic direct or is the continuing mural prod uction program, Under SPARC au spices. scores of murals have been produced th rou ghout Los A ngeles. gene rally incorporating the collaborative proce ss that chara cterizes Baca's mural art. Sin ce 1988. SPARC has adm inistered a neighborhood pride: program fo r the city. with mural wo rks directed by profess ional art ists with the assistance of young people referred by sc hool s and social se rvice agencies. One typical SPARe ·sponsored examp le is an effon in prog ress by Sandra Drinnin. Entitled "Ibe Living City of Los Angele s" (figure 5). this work continues the traditi on of wo rking people with young people in the comm unity. Thi s work will be completed on a su permarket wall in central Los Angeles. in a ne ighbo rhood popula ted by Lat ino s. As ians. and African Americans. Murals arc no panacea for the vast complex of urban problems in Los Angeles. Nevertheless. the y encourage commu niI)' youths to develop artistic and org anizing skills . prov iding tremendous significance for person al and soc ial change. Thi s focus also extends 10 yo ung children. AI the recent exhibition of B aca 's World Wall in predominantl y Latino East Los Angeles. SPA RC amnged for elemen tary school children 10 parti cipate fully in the festivities . Figure 6 sho ws Neighbcrheod P ride Coordinato r Alan Nakagawa discussing the won: with a group of children. lbcy tOO have the opponuni ty to ex press the ir vision o f a world of peace and ju stice-opponunities oflen denied in their instn utional se ttings of school. church. and elsewhere. As an art ist and comm unity organizer, Judy Baca has had a pro found impact on the political an world of Los Angeles and beyond. Her murals complement her leadership efforts in bui ld ing alternative cultural institutions. She has es tablished the highe st standard fo r progressive artists througnout the United Sta tes and fortified the stature of women artists in the broader stru ggle for a decent and humane soc iety. Z

Dod ser owners. doubtless a far grea ter concern than the resu ~in g disl ocation for the Chicano residents of the area. Once aaain. Baca has used the power of mural an to reveal the polit ical and human real ities con cealed by the glitz of LA's entry inro maj or lea gue base~1. . , More recen tly. the art ist has pain ted a major mural In the central California town of G uadalupe. where Chicano and ot her ethni c farmworl.:ers work for major agribusiness interests. Consisting of four panels. the Guadal upe m ural highlights the people whose e ff~ ns truly u.~erli~ the ~a 's com mercial and cultural achievements. Ethnic Ccntributions to G uadalupe" (fig ure 3) emphas izes the d iversity of the town. Baca 's depiction of various immi grant Latino. Chinese. and European wo rkers and shopkee pers reveal a rocre accurate account of Ca lifornia 's historical developmenl than usually portrayed in textbooks and o ther instructiona l materials. In 1987. Baca embarked on another la rge-scale participatory project concerning the issues of peace. human cooperation . and global interde pendence. Lik e her previous effons . this mural wa s initialed by involv ing people of diverse backercunds. Bac a held brainstorming sessions with historians. ~holars. reac hers . students. and o thers who se feelings inform rbe entire effort, - World Wall: A VISion of the Future Without Fear" consists of a series of 10 ' by 30' ponablc panels that envisio n a future world radically differer n from George Bush 's "oew world order.- A travel ing installation system enables the wo rk to be re assembled anywhere. reflecting its highly public character, Wo rld Wall premiered last year in Finland. w here local artists j oined the projec t by adding their o wn vis ions about a peaceful and humane world future. Later in 1990 the mural went on to the Soviet Union . where it was exhibited in Moscow's Gork y Park, A Soviet artist added another panel to the effon . continuing the pan icipatory process. Four of the work's projected se ven panels are now complete. A panicularly striklng panel. photographed in Moscow, " Triumph o f the Han ds" (fi gu re 4). illustrates the transfo rmation from a war to a peac e-base d economy required for global peace and soc ial ju stice. The mural's mulncctcred people realize their own power by se izing the mil itary machi nery. dem a ndi n g the " peac e d iv ide nd" aboned by the Bush adrni nistranca's repressi ve domestic policies and brutal military adventures. Baca 's commitment to participaricn has led her 10 Si2nificamly broaden the definitio n o f public an. Realizi';g that visual images alone. however poli tically critical. are insufficient. she has pio nee red the cre ation and ma inte nance of alternat ive artistic institu tio ns. In 1976. Ba ca. painter C h risti na Schlesinger. a nd filmm aker Donna Deitc h fOUnded SPARe as a m ult icultural an center to produce. exh ibit. documem, and preserve public art works. In the ensuing 15 years. SP.-'\RC has become one of the nation 's most succes sful institutio ns fo r pclineal anists. Baca's in-tensive effons as art istic director of SPARC have been crucial to that Success. Th e Soc ial and Pu blic An Reso urce Center pe rfo nns meny function s of vital impon ance 10 the progressive com munny, Its mural resource cente r. for example. contains 16.000 slides of m ural s from aro und rbe world. including 7.000 slides of Ch icano murals in California. This docu-

SP.~ RC is conducting a membership dril'~ 10 snppon its multifaceted C'lIllIIral and artistic ocnvities. iflcllld;fI/l Ih~ completion and fllnh er exhibition 0{ Jlldy BDC'o's ~ World Wall." Write SPARe. 685 V~nice Sl Id.. \'enice. CA 90191.

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"The World Wall: A VISion of the Future without Fear," An Interview with Judith R Baca Frances K. POW In • recent issue dIm Angela MJJgadne Judilh F. Baca was refemd 10 as "'the \he Iw tried to keep alive and in me public eye the cultures and traditions of the many difl:rcut peoples of 50lIthcm CaUlbmia. Baca was born and raised in die Los AnceJes area... She dcscn"bes her early years in Pacoima• • 5Uburb oi Los A1J. gdes, as ... time when eYet)'body was ~ very hard at just being American."' Edmic &fOUPS ~ 10 '1J&cnd in," 10 dowDplIy their diffeJeoces from the nile CXImInLIIli1y. This meaDl speekinc Eaa1ish. prdeRbIy wiIbouI an acceDl. Olileeee from Spaaisb-speakinJ f.unilic:s who were lIIIIlbie 10 masaer d:lc E..aclisb . . . . ill r\cmrncary scbooI: SOOIl bmd lhc:msdves tabdc:d slow or rewded _ bdd Nck. FunmaIdy hi' Baca. sbc bad • quick miDd aDd amodler who bdic¥cd $lJOIICIY in the wlue of ,... ......... In Ihe I96Os. afier canpIdiac hiIb scbool. she earoUed• • SIUdio an: majo£ at Calibuia Stale UDiYaUy at NonhridF. Ew::n then she was COIItCrlXd abouI the rdevance 01 bet an. a coocem dull . was prompu:din pan by her fiuniJy's douba abouI her cboscu probsioo. What impKt wooJdher an brc 00 reallik? Wbal woWd it mean 10 her grandmolher? How praaica! was it wbc:n it came lD earning a living? Thillaacr cp::sOon led her 10 minor in hisIory and educatioo. disciplines thai: pn:Md invaluable in her Iaref work. The I960s were important years br Baca. People of color were beginning 10 agiwe on campuses across die counuy fOr African-American stUdies, alicano scudies. HarM:: American srudics. AJian...A.mcric Sbtics. s.:a pWc:4:ad in Ibe mugga cI thisdecade and became C¥en more axwinccd thai: sur-

viva) br pc:opk: of color" meant the prt:SCmllion of their various cultures. " 1f )'OU deDy the presence of another people and their culwre.," she has commented, ''and you deny them their traditions. )'OU arc basically conuninif!8 culrum genocide.") Baca had experienced such a denial at Northridge, where wesern EuropeaD an bad been held up as the model for aU an. Noone told her about the: MeUcan mwaI rrtOYement, about Diego Rivera or Jose Clemence Orozco or David Alf.uo Siqueims. The surrealists studied included the Spaniards Joan MinS and SaJ'Iador Dali bul: not the: Maican Frida KahJo. From 1969 through 1974 Baca worked specifICally within the Oaicano and MeUaoo communiIy cryinc ~ reYerSe Ihis denial. W~ her B.F.A . in baAd, she IaUIhI ata CaIhoIic high school where she orpniz.cd her first munJ proje:a as a 'WrJ 10 briJIg JOF:ther SIUdenu from d iflereal oeia;hborhoods.. In thc: summer r# 191O, Mille Vo'Of'kinB b 1be Lo5 Aa£des Rccn:alioD aDd Parks Dtputmalt, she agreed 10 take on 1be CUr.I cast r# ClfPoiring aDDlber mun1 am r# twmry from b.tr oaIykids _ _ _

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buI also about understaDdinc the put aod making COIlnectioos betwceD the past and the praenL Rcaliring boch the educarional. and 1be political power of rmnIs, Baca submined to the Los AJlBeIes City Council in 1974 a proposal b' a citywide mural program. Forty murals would be produced each year. c::oo.oerinc a radius r# om- a hundred miles in r:very ethnic communiry in chc: city, at a cost of approximately $L5O,OOO a)UC. The progfUI was funded , and Baca lBVeled from me black comnwniry to the 0Ucan0 communiry to the Thai cornmuniry to the Chinese communi· ty, _ ........-. hmne _Ie, and nogotiatine wid> ciry officials. OYer 1be course of iu aisIcnc:e (1974-1984) the program funded 250 murals and empkJyed KXXl crew memben. Bacaacquired \'a)' early on, lbereb'e. bolh thc: admiJl..

an,

Frrmcu K. PohI r«dved her B.A. ond M.A. tU8rus in an history.from lhe Uniwniry of British Colwrtbia (Jbncouver) tutJ lin Ph.D. tkgree ill Q1T history from lite llniwmry of CaJi./onUo, Los An~ks. SM Iw publisMd 0 s~ri~s ofonidu ""feminist an ~ an history in IN Uniuti SImu; Hbman s Building ar Ihe 1893 Mbrld 's Columbian &posilj,," in DriallO; llIIIithe I~ onisr MirellD &mil'08lio. Her book Ben Shahn: New Deal Anise in a Cold War Cl inwe, 947· 1954 , KW m :DI11y ptb lisIttuJ by me University of Tam Press. SN is cunmrly an auisIant pro{enor of an history ar 1bmona CoII~ge.

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fAl:WTIRS \bI. XI, No. 1 e 1990 FJOIT£RS &IIofiaI Ct*cIiw

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bition. Sevm JO' by 30' mur:als au be hung OIl the opposite sides of the original panels. and an additional twemy-eip smanermurals (10' by ICY) can be Ioc:aIed on the bmeeD tr.mdevices projectirc at right ansles from the outside of the main Slt\JCtUre. Baca wanU these smaller murals 10 be erealai by chiJdmJ. Viewing the murals. re:Jding the documema·

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lion ~ their creation. and serine the addition 01 new visions is i'*"ndtd 10 make rhe expertel'llce oIthis exh ibition an acIiwe one. an experience IhaI will ,.nI1d the message rI the murals Ihcmselves-that people 01 an ethnic, culnml. and nalional backgrounds musI bqin 10 WOfk &ogdhet if work! peace is 10 be achiew::d.

WORLD WALL

NEW 'NOALO SYSTEMS

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BACA' T'bey we:Je diflerml in the sense dw the brainsIorm1be World w.u" b:usc:d 011 just ODe .-JIobal c:oaftict. for eumpIc. we bad speakers come calk ., us nor . . . . hisIory but about tbf:; arms race. ~ Mel a wtde ct.y 011 lhe ~ « the American &rIaIa1. And we Jearr.:d alxu the MX missile, Then we had anocher dIy wheu people came ., speak., us Ibout NatiYe Americ:aIl c:onccps rL baJanc:e and whII cheir poinr of view was 011 why the wortd had &'JCIal OUI and why we were in {our cumut:) sirualion euvUO'pnmglly and in ICJ11'lS rL conflictberwem nIboas. .. The b:us was not: an hiSlOricaI cwerview. tt"'lC..br~. b!.a. very spDcific b:us on the cooccpl eX peace. Vk had scmcone come aDd mIt. 10 us about parallel systanS aDd how one orpni7a • pwalld systan that ooukI mlM alongside. mainsuam ecceamy. aDd lben how the Cf'OSS(JYC'" could occut when: )'OU coukt acnWIy sutwert themainstream economy aDd ab$orb it _

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1MICriaI. and dlat these two categories could tben be divided _ pmeIs that roWd be named as we hatoe named than, (with) pae:nJ CIlqOricaI lides br bodies 01 inbrmalion that came frnm diu coIlccti'o'e grouping. All the lnbnn8boD from Ihe braiDsbming sessions came in • really tudom order. OrpaiziDc it u.o specific carcpies. giviac cac:b pad • tide. *-, __ the work thal J did with Mao (Wuc:rbr•• Los AD&des pXitical aaivisl and political carblaiIll. ThcD we bnJucbr whM we had come up widl bKt 10 me group and funher imagined each one of dIoie ,..mom ~ how long • periodti timedid cbese tJrainsIorm. . . ta:IIoJIs wicb the group ol bty-five peop&e cake piKe? BACA.: We had tweDry weeb. ~ would 'MJril: all d.y OD Sardays.The morningswoWd be cIaoIed 10. more thl:on:ticaI dilculsion. wish speakers brouaht in from tbf:; 0UI$idc. ~ in the . l1eaUOOllS we woukJ work on dw:: ....,.. *p,pliza~ IIQd dcYdopmenc ti the imagery. The emphasis u me eotift: program was training people 10 be nwraI painras but noc decorative painters. And in faa. It the dose of this training, ~ could hive nude anything-. peri:lrmance, a book, • video. They wouldn't oecessarily have 10 make • mural. The

!'OfU.:

41

pnx:ess of wortiDB from die YeI')' geaeraI down 10 Ihe more specific is the concqJt that I u.oe beea.dewdopiDc in this nttaI ~ prognm. which is i'*'""cd to Ir:actl people bow 10 di=ct ct.nae. hcMo 10 SO Ihroogb. traabiilMi~ pocas l-J efIieca c:haee in themseha aDd therebc mates than more abie 10 make • piece m. has some kind rL U ilPOWd lUa. base.. _ of ... people ..... _ _ m11y """'" " ' 11baI) •• . I \1WOf"kc:d out Wer it*) the (mal imaFs- Some d them were not two-dimc:nsiona utisu, Otawing was DOC their skill. Some ol them were ~ pcopIe. Some d them were media people, Buc ew:rybody panicipartd in the cooctp"'lIljzarion and conaibuted iOmClhina. POHL: How f&r Uong an: you now .on the piece? BACA: I hZ"C • full-scale maqueUC-ODC: inch to one fOot. J ~ one panel c:omplc:tc and two pands nearly c:omplde. or me bu' remainin& pneIs J have dtawinp b " Nonviolem Resistance.. and I'm missing " New \\brld Sys&ans"-wfUctt are all Ihoac peopie-fo-peopI corM:nIions lie juscX:e: aad aJOvivWiry and an aid 10 racism-"Hwnan·Bascd Techrdogy," aDd " Missiles to Starships. Those three need II'IClCe work and more coa c:qxii.lizabon. POHL: Ihc:R atIY panicularly difficult bmaI or ir:::orq.....UcaI probk:ms thai: c:.DC up in die ecune ol die discussiont? . BACA: When we were initially dIinkirw .!xU doiDs this b abe GrcM Pcac:e Man::b. our paobkms ~ UIOi'1t1WS. How could we mae the pieces in time and what kind d treabDeII: could we give them so 1baIl:beyc:ouJd be pained YeI')' qWd.:. ly aDd wicb 1arze iUDbers ol ~ ill Iddition 10 me initial am. allihe whik beping • COdinuity ti imIp:s? If 1herr: were going to be ~ paods, bow cou kl we wort. • series d Iit:amS through Jhose ~ paacls and SliD I-.: conti nuity belwem Ihem? J ta.d Deed sDnilu lssues on 1he GtaI WI." I had diflere:nt people each summer. and yet the piece ta.d 10 . • . match the pm'Klus piece in termS of iu Sl)'listic lrQtmenl . What hcld it a1110gether was the 5tT\ICCUre I Ct'CIted and the syslCmalized . pp1tcation , SO thai the bodies could dwlge and the hands could clwige but the application remained the same . So that was one ol the issues . On '1'he \\brid Vtall" I also led a whole series of workshops called "8e)tlnd the Obvious Symbol." wtw we fiJund was that we ta.d huDdreds of examples aDd knew \'CI)' well how 10 image c:oafIict and violence and that those were the first images that came 10 our minds.. But imaging peace was more difficult. In ocher words. we could define peace by sayiDe the abacDce d war, but we couldn't say what it was. ~ couldn't say what it kd:ed like. Vk got stuck. As. Ibis poiol: • studatt said "What is peace? EYeJ}'body s.ittiDc around and wau::hiDs 'IV?" ADd Ihai we really realized thai pan 0( wbM was happeninc was cbat the media and the ~ ambiealadlUre in p::umJ supponcd . very ..aonalistic. Q)lupc.1itioe., YioiaIl situatKlaal kind u politics. It was much easier b us 10 see the world as • soccer mak:b. or-. ixlcbaI1 pme than t:) see while would happal wbal we weft: wotting c0operatively. whaI: we chanp:d the rules rL the game. ThinkiDa u peace was YC:l'}' hard 10 do, it required mudl more etative thinking . I drink this is me reason why. inherently, we (1$ • society) doo't u.oe reaDy strong imagesor very clear ideas .bouI wtw it would be like if we were \loUicing on an international rooper.live level lOr the development of . suucture or • model fOr Of

'*"

4

POHL: ~ you thinkine abouIthe viewing of these: murals by an imanational audience when you were working through your imagery and symbols? 8ACA: Definitely. But the wir. mat we set br ourselves. and my idea abouc "Tbe \\brld Wall," is dw: the inraior piece is an American vision, and while iIs a"dicace will be inIematioaal, out job is 10 come from u American perspccti~ I think that tbc: most profDwld thiac about die piece is _ it is lD come from a mlllrindcul2J paspeaiYe widUD the UDilaI sa.s. wtUch is of a:lW'Se • miDoriIy posirion The cuerior IDIU'&ls wouJd thea do die work of each alUIID)' spcakinc specifically lDiIs ilatllMX:cal-Jdicnce So I dd1't miad diespeci-

_ct ;,.

POHL: H.w:)'OU decided wtUch cnuntries)'Oll wouJd like 10 haw: the piece visit yet!

BACA: Actually, that will RO( be br me 10 decidc.. A JEld or turd wilJ be Sd up thai will pq:oinI1be places in 1beworld at this moment tha1 are the most signific:anlCCIlWrieI in termS of coming 10 some relationship with each other lOr peace. In other words. wtUdl counaies are the hoc. spots. I suspect the SoYict Uuion and Latin America will be among mem, and probably some Ewopean aJUnUy. I would lib: 10 ICC it SO 10 Mexico.. POHL: Who is goias lD be 011 die boanf? BACA: ThaI is wbaI we are wortiDB 011 ricbt DOW. ~ are

abouc 10 bin: a ~ iJr the project aDd are aOO JCUia& ltOJO. tpwbrjons iJr eIqIaU, pcopk who make Ibe JOIdy d g10bal confl ict their CODCCrD. For ~, we are taJkiDB II) _ ..... " _ . - . . . mM.........,w. Tbey bria& IIJgCthcr scboWs there 10 diIaw specific policy as it afkts. Y)'. ~ educaaioD. We would also lib: lD bN: as membecs a number of promiDaIC women of eokK from duou&hout me UDiIed States who could help us with visibili1)' and fwx1raising. The baud would also ultimaIdy be resp0nsible tlr me tmd, security, aDd disIribuUon of the piece and would decide what wouJd happco with it when it l'tl\Ir'ned home. I would like II) see the '4rious murals so&d and me money pa _ • fund that woWd caabIe adler artias II) produce

socially conscious public an . I f . group wants 10 do an ea Jocic:aI piece in wtUcb they absolutdy transbrm the ~ in Sal ta Monia or, on III international ~I, take on the desuuctio of the Amazon, then there's the money. Pub lic an of this t)'J1 is fraught with di fficu,lties., both orpnizational and fi~ We need more of this end of wad, though, and havinc iii mooey there would be half me ban1e woo.

NarES l I*lokGec, ........ 1'tMu.~ lM ~ ...... 33 (O:I:Ibcr I!ilII llI. 1. JrIdidl; ~ s.c., "'Our PIII:lpk I..... EaaD- (t - I ....... __ o-. ~. .. c...a .. Cll n·DN. 1IIiIed by Dull till JCIM MIl ~ ~ (s-k: The ItAI e - PI-. 1915). 6: 3. Ibid•• 61 -t. a.c:. is _ !be &c.d of ~ 01_ AJDmc. ea.-i! of _ An

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....__ r-n -v.brId Wall: A VISion 01. f'ti

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he ' World wan: is n ot co mplete until d ialogue oc c u rs. It is n ot a static niece silting i ll a m useum .

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Venice artist is taking her murals on the road

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Judy

A Panel Discussion BY K ERRY BLANKEN SH IP

'The W:wtd WaD: A VISion fA the Future Wltbout FaD'. A porl4blt mural un dis:p/4Jat tht SnUx GardDu at titl 5.B" Conty Cowl'thbwst throwglt

May'

I

t is l'IOI: without much effort that the art conununity continues its att emp( 10 spread peace ~

out theworld. Anexampleofone ofthe most ambitious efforts ye! can be viewed in the Sunken Gardens at the courthouse. T1tt HOrld WIlll: A V"lSioJI of titl Fftblrt W"rtfImd Fear combines six portable murals that together try to picture a future of global harmony through ~ conten\pOl"al')' gl0balissuesande:xpbringways in which communities can learn to rT\OYt beyond war andconfIicL Conceived in 1987 by the Los Azt. gdes-based Social "and Public Art ~ ~ ~, Tht H0rid Wall, when compW:, will consist of 14 lo.fooc by 3O-foot paneis-seYen by Chicana art· istJudith F.Baca mel &eYeDbyvarious

artist Alexi BegIov, and one by the FIJUlish Arts Group. Baca has been irIYotved in 5eYeIaI mural projects and is the founder of SPARC andof the city ofLosAngeles's C~ MunUs Project. Her acrylic on canvas panels in 1Jtt MJmJI Wall (Including, so far, "Triumph of Hearts,• "Non-VIOlent ResisIance.~ '"Triumph of Hands. ~ and ~Ba1ancej show a message that SPARe hopes to :sprN:!1O other activist artists and communities. For example, "Non-VIOlent Resistance" encou~ change through indMduil commitment and commw1ity

...........

1Jtt mmd Wall is a direct desct'ndeat of the Great WaIl of Los Angeles. the nearly haJi.mile-long rmnI in the Son F""""'" """. prod""" by SPARe. thaJ dePcts the history of California from an ethnic viewpoint From the Great Wallof LosI\ngeks 10 TM"1%rld Wall. Baca has expanded her bros from barrio and urban em cernS to e'obal issues. 1M nbrld Wall willtn0'e from Santa Barbara10 Mexico..(.anada. South Africa. Korea. and -...o.w........._""'. ing lJ"aVds abroad. 'iJ date. six of the 14 Japan. wj(h SPARe highlighting perti.,_ '~;... ", -m"""""..." _ ~ ... ......... h ... hv1l;,...." ............ RI.«......

NOVEMBER 14,1991

\ULU1oiE 22, NUMBEB. 38 SlSO PERCOPY

Towards a World in Balance SiDct the late ei.Jhties.. 1.01 Aasdcs D:1walistJady B_

ha been s t 1rOd: op w.l.l w.u, l huge trudinr manJ. whole cnmded narntift sAd aIIIlpln symbolism fonD . visionary depiction of our worid in ba1aDct. HWU w.o

owamI==ly"_ IIDd F'mJmd, -.rhcn: anisu

dlert conaibuu:d to it. In the £ira R pxnt or. two-put

dialorac with

I

U'[ hisrDrian IIId theorist Marin Roth. Baa diIc:as.cs the proj«t aDd its l'IIIIifie:ati 0Q5. 1D

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Judith F. Baca: Community and Culture in the United States

jcorra F.BACA is known nationally and internationally as a muralist and a public educator and has taught in the University ofCalifomia system since 198 1. Her commitment to community-based an making led her to foun d. along with filmmaker Donna Dieteh and artist Christina Schlesinger. the

Social and PublicAn Resource Center (SPARC) in the mid-1 970s in Venice, California. Through SPARG, Baca has not only facilitated the creation, preservation and documentation of public an in the Los Angeles area. but has also provided a space for the images and voices ofpeoples ofcolor. She has coordinated two major citywide mural projects in Los Angeles and has organized, along with the staff of SPARG, symposia and exhibitions that draw attention to the multiplicity ofcultures that make up the greater Los Angeles area and the nation arlarge. Her most famous mural, The Greal Wall ofLas Angeles (1976-1983) (Figures 1,2, and 3) extends for almost haifa mile along a drainage canal in the San Fernando Valley and documents an alternative history ofCalifornia, one that acknowledges the presence ofNative Americans. Asian Americans, African Americans. Latinos . Chicanos, gays and lesbians, and working class people. She has brought her coalitionbuilding skills to other parts of California, indudingthe farming community of Guadalupe, just north of Santa Barbara (Figu re 4), and the city of Baldwin Park.just east ofLos Angeles (Figures 5 and 6). She has also taken these skills and applied them to an international project, The World Wall: A VuionoftIu Future Wzthout Fear (Figures 7 and 8), a series of!0' by 30' portable murals that has traveled around the world, joined by similar panels painted by artists from the host countries. I first met Baca in 1988, when I invited her to speak to a women's studies class I was co-reaching at Pomona College. I was impressed by the nature

K'"-s StsuDa. 1996

Vol 25, pp. 215-%117 Reprints anilab&e direc:dy &om the: ~ Ph"""""yin, pamiaed by - . . oaIy

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216

FRANCES POHL

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Figure I 77uGrt4t Wallo!LosA",elG.1976-8S,aaylic:oDconacte,lS·x2,43S·, Tujunga Wash dninageanal. San Fernando Valley. Group photogn.ph. summer1981 (JudithBac:a in center

or foreground group.)

of her work and her commitment to education, and subsequently organized a retrospective exhibition, judiJh E Ba&4: Sites and Insights, 1974 -1992, for the Arizona State University, Tempe Art Museum in 1992 (it appeared the following year at the Pomona College Montgomery Gallery). I interviewed Baca in her studio in Venice, California on July 10, 1994.

In a December 1993 interview of a Bill Jensen exhibition for the Y"l1lag. Voice, Peter Schj~ wrote: "There is DO art community, only more or less an art ,s ociety.,::".. Society is formal. Community is soulfuL Many in the art are so soul-starved they convince themselves ofbelonging to a community wh en they rea11ydon'L The art world is a fairly savage social -.

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JUDITH F. BACA

217

and economic zone where values are always in doubt and often in conflict." What has been your experience of this "savage" society and where do you see the "soulful" art community? .

My first thought is that the "savage" art world truly is a non-community. There's a certain brutality to it because it co-ops the truth of community and uses this language in such a way that people, particularly students, become extremely confused about professional group life. They talk about a professional group life as opposed to a community, which I would define more as a group ofpeople who have sharedvalues, mores, perhaps share a geographical space in which they ha ve to live in some way in relatedness and connectedness. I think what the art community is really about is disconnection. in the sense that we really fosterindividuation.Wefoster competitiveness. We foster within our an schools and universities the sense of inscantly disconnecting people from where they came to engage in the creation ofwhat is called a "universal aesthetic." and that"universalaesthetic" is essentially a western-European aesthetic and it's very specific. It's geegraphically specific, ethnically specific. It's intellecrually specific. And yet we call that "universal" and what happens is that people become very isolated. Right now we are recruiting the creme of the crop from our ethnic communities, for example the Chicano community. We're recruiting California students or people out of neighborhoods and we are putting them into the university and, as we recruit them and bring them in. we foster the disassociation from their origins. We say to them, "this is the highest form of achievement." It was put to me repeatedly-the highest fonn of achievement is to disassociate entirely, in totality, from where I came from. This means that, essentially, we're talting California taxpayer's money to recruit Califcrniastudents out of California neighborhoods so that they will never address the most salient issues. the most diflicult and incredibly troublesome problems. We take the best of them and we take them away. Essentially we're doing a brain drain of those places, so that we can never solve the problems that plague those communities. We have a continuing cycle offeeding people offinto this never-never land or nonspace of professional group Jife. Basically what it means is we serve corporations with those people. Those kids never come back to where they came from. The biggest, biggest struggle in all of my life bas been to stay connected in somry to where I came from . They've offered me every kind of ima ginable1@ody ifl would leave and even got as far as telling me rm a failure because 1 haven't.

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FRANCES POHL

What I think is the future for w in terms of education is figuring out how to approach in a connected W;J.y what an-making is about-conneaed to the source ofyour own culture or ethnicity, connected to the geographic place that you came from. People would criticize that by saying, ·You're localizing and .therefore reducing the dialogue. You're keeping people from approaching global culture,· and so forth. But in tru!h global culture is coming back to the same kind of solutions that we need at a localleveI. We bave to work again in groups ofcollective consciowness. I would take our university system and teach kids cooperation. I would teach them relatedness. I would honor where they came from. I would teach them to stay sourced in wbat they know and their own cultures, and we that as the basis for teaching. And by doing that you do a number ofthings. You teach them that achievement does not mean ignoring issues ofhomdessness or gang warfare or the failure to educate large masses of people. It doesn't require looking down on the work ethic of the working class. This is asmming that these students are coming from backgrounds that allow them to think of those things as imporlanL

RighL And I think I'm talking about the majority here. I'm not talking about the tiny, select number ofpeople who go to university who are white and upper-class or upper-middle-class. I guess rmjumping a step ahead here to parity and to equity. We're wing a tax base for our educational systems that comes from the majority/minority and whether i(. in the California State University system or the University ofCalifornia system or the community college system we bave to educate those people or our democracy will fail. You can't any longer in good conscience continue to recruit from the majority/minority group without addressing this issue. When you say "majority/minority," are you saying that '~orities"are

actually the majority? 'That's right, Los Angeles, for example, is seventy percent people ofcolor. We bave to begin to address educa,ting according to the tax base or we are stealing money from the people. And it is my opinion that we are stealing money in an incredible way from the Mexican population. We have recruited for the University of California system-all nine universities-2,889 Chicano students. We bave graduated over two million Chicano students from California high schools. These statistics are for 1993-94. They are alarming. I don't think we can swtain any longer these highly rugged individualist notions. We can't. We have to cooperate because.we can't live here together anymore.

JUDITH F. BACA

219

It seems rather than cooperating in the face of shrinking resources,

people are diggingin and becomingvery resistant to sharingthose dim in. ishing resources. How do you think more of the people ofcolor ofC~or­ ni.aare going to make it into a university system that is state-run when the state itself is becoming increasingly reactionary in its attitu de towards people ofcolor? Are more people ofcolor going to be allow~ in or do you see that if they do come in, they're going to be turned into these individualistic kinds of people? Do you think that there's something much more radical that needs to bappen, in terms ofedncational systems in general? Are they salvageable ordo we really bave to look atsome otherway ofeducating people for community-oriented ways of tb.i.n.ki.ng? I think all of the above. Every aspect has to be dcalt with. I think university systems as a whole .w ill come under greater and greater fire. This last year alon e Cornell University, Stanford and the University ofCalifornia at Santa Barbara bad hunger strikes and walkoutsjust for the Chicano populations. These rwenty-year-olds now are getting in there and they're saying. "Wait a minute." They're becoming much more nationalistic. They're coming n ow with a very strong resistance to being assimilated and what I think is a very hcalthy rage. At the political level we are not making great strides, but we are getting people into key p ositions. What is going to happen is we're going to take the money away from them. The same way we had to do it with the arts councils and with the National Endowment. We had to attack the very premise of their funding to make them open it up. An African Atnerican scholar and organizer years ago told me, judy, you keep expecting justice bere because you think that if you are just logical enough and you convince people of what is j ust, they will simp ly open up the doors. They're never going to give it up easy. It has to be a struggle." So I think there's a two-prong approach. One is to start attacking the funding base of the university syste m and the educational system in general, and th e other is to start organizin g at th e student level, Now the counter-move of those opposed to change will be that they will abandon education, which is what is now happening within the local schools. The Save California Bill, sigoed by 600,000 people, basically says that any child of an immigrant wbo is now illegal cannot be educated. It alsosays they are not eligible for health care. People are running for political office 00 the basis of taking away those immigrant rights. Essentially that means that there will never be an other Amalia Mesa-Bains [California educator and artist]. Th"':"'Itne~et be another Judy Baca. We're looking at now an enOre generano~

220

FRANCES POHL

Oleay, now take that logically to the next step. We have eighty percent Latino school children entering into the Los Angeles city school system. A h ealthy number ofthem are not documented. I don't know the.percentage exactly. I guess we cait't measure it. But eighty percent of students entering kinderganen and elemen tary school right n ow are Latinos. Oleay, let's not educate them. Let's cut them loose . Let's put them all on the stree t, even p eople who have been here twenty years-my grandmother was here twenty-five yean and was never documented. You've got Chiapas in about ten minutes. We're going to have a ~ mtStizD riot. We're going to have armed resistance. How long do you think it will take these heavily armed kids. who are now cut loose from the school system, to turn the guns away from shoo ting each other and begin to come after those who are responsi-

ble for the conditions in their lives?That's what's going to happen. It's not sman to do this. It's not smart. It's stupid, If they reall y wanted to do something about immigriuion problems, they simply would go after the employers who have a great addiction to this cheap labor source. So we are talking about three areas ofresistance: stu dent protests, politicians saying, "Either do this or we take away your money," and people as a whole ""ring, "We don't want to pay for -your schools anymore and we'll collapse the entire educational system." Reactionary people will say, "Tough. We don't want to educate anybody." There will be a different kind of opposition to educational institutions within the Latino communities. People are saying more and more, -We .d on't want to do this. You either have to open it up or lose it." They have to see that they have access to education and that it's part of what they can do with their lives. No one should ever underestimate the commitment of the Latino community to education. They believe that education is the ticket out and they 're going to be enraged as soon as they get that they can't have it. And it's becoming more and more clear as the numbers become more extreme. I've been thinking about why this is happening and I can predict a few things. I think armed revolution is not out of the ques tion if there is a decision to destroy the school system and not to have access for our people. Recent repressive immigrant legislation, which will be eventually thrown out as unconstitutionaJ. may just push people over the edge. Fifteen yean ago I went before the Los Angeles city council and told them they had a gang problem that they had to approach now, and they said, "It doesn't effect us, we don't have gangs in the Valley.· The heads of the committees were from the San Fernando Valley. I said, "You will." These San Fernando Valley councilmen refused to 1001: at a city-wide problem. Los Angeles is now the gang center oCthe entire United States and right now is putting

J UD IlH F. SACA

221

satellite Crips in Arizona, for God's sake. We have satellites moving out to Albuquerque. I was in Albuquerque last week talking to people about the Crips and the 18th Street Gang. If you don't organize them and educate the m, then they will educate and organize themselves, because they are resourcefuL And if you don't give them an alternative, then they will create alternatives for themselves. Simple. But giving alternatives to this many people means giving up some of the power, access, education, wealth, and all those things that a small number of people have been used to having all to themselves fa.; all these years. Yes. Sharing resources, not getting to come to dinner and eat it all You have very. very intense resistance to this. and I tliink that's what you're seeing right now. Our major funders in America-
In a certain way I think it's easier to teach them connectedness than the opposite. When students come to the university they're in the process of building self-esteem, They're in the process of building an identity, and if you honor the identity they come with, if you tell them, "value what you have in your own pocket," you aetually build a healthier human being. For example, a young Korean woman came in with a photograph. It was a clcisonne medallion given to the bride and groom of two stork figures, one red and one blue, with a macrame cord. It's hung in the households of Korean families as a hridal gift to bring good luck to the bride and groom. For the student, it was just an object, one from which she was completely disassociated. She thou ght it was pretty but she didn't know the meaning of the object. She was going to use it in a still life that she was constructing for painting. I looked at the piece and said; "You can't make anything until you know it, until yo u understand its meaning. Have you ever asked your

222

FRANCES POHL

mother?" "No. I don't really know what it is." TI1at objea had hung in her household every day and had been so devalued by the culture at large that she never thought to ask the question ants meaning. So sending her back home for an interview with her mother and a discussion of its meaning made a far more valuable conneetion for her to that image. It became aeroally a reinterpretation of the American experience through a Korean position, a one-and-a-halfposition (someone with Korean parents bom in the U.s.). She could then we that image and aerually begin to understand the power ofits sources and why it resonates. Why does it move her? Why does that particular sound move you? Why are thowands of kids listening to banda music and dressing in western-like vaquero .oudits with the great big buckles and the hats and the boots ? Because it's a very nationalistic movement. Because they say. "This music makes me cry."Why does it make you 1:Ij'? Why does it move your spirit? So you need to do two things: number one, you need to affinn their own experiences; number two, you need to te:aeh a respeaful honoring of tradition. Now this is absolutely counter to everything we are taught, Within the art world we believe that whatever is new is better. Innovation is prized above all other things. making art about art with a new twist. The standard way of teaching at the university is to ask people to source in some other artist. Who is your influence? The references are usually to white men. someone who's hot or current. Students are then taught that they mwt follow in that line. So what if you said, as I have tried to do with my classes, · Forget thaL Make a tattoo. Study African scarification. Study the aboriginal marking of bodies as imprints on their soul What would you imprint on you r soul? Make a piece of work that has function within your daily life. Make it functional." That's another no-no. Ifit's functional, it's not art, Set u p problems, ask kids to take the resources of their own culture and their own experience and bring them into the class and share them. Talk about the experience ofothers, which is, interestiriglyenou gh, a common experience. whether you're a dominant-culture person or an ethnic person. Talk about the commonality ofimmigration and what that means. Honor a traditional form that is thought of as folk an or not serious art, Look at tattoos and grafliti and spray can arL Look at spray can art and see what these young people are making with those cans. which are incredible pieces of work. Study popular art that has to do with low-rid er cars. By doing this you shift the emphasis from a world that is commodified and controlled, a marketplace. You take away the very hasis of art making as commodification. a practice to feed an elite. and think ofit as a practice of h ealing. Make no object at all, but simply concentrate on the

JUDITH F. SACA

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process. Devise a process that reminds you of the tradition of ritual sand painting or that is sourced in that and then apply it to a contemporary time and make no objea. Do students sometimes respond, "But how caD I support myselfas an artist making this kind of.art?"

Sure. I think there1s a great push now within the state university system to give stud ents pra etical skills, to male them employable. But my beliefis that if you want to be employable. then don't become an artist. Become a graphic designer, become a dress designer, become a hundred other things. Focus those things that are practical skills that can be used. Aaually. if you exercise yourselfand your intellect in these waysand also develop more theoretically or conceptually. in the end you are much mere em ployable as a fine artist as well because you are interdisciplinary. You can address the most important issues ofour time. Youare problem-sclvers based in reality. Youare not carrying on an intellectu al dialogue for fun and your frien ds. You can talk to your mother and father and are, in the end, a much better human being. You·have more practical knowledge with which you can serve the community and make the arts relevant again. I think artists have made a terrible mistake over the years. It never served us to be "inspired by angels," to be mythological creatures who are somehow touched by the gods. A dealer said to me once, "I only want to show artists who are touched by the gods." I remember her telling me that I wasn't touched by the gods. So I thought, "How do you get this touch by the gods? Who are these gods ?" Then I realized it was probably some white critic and if that white critic liked you, then you were touched by the gods . So I began to value. instead, what I understood and knew. I was terrified to death that I was going to be completely unemployable and completely a failure. There were no models for me to look. at as a woman artist, as a Latina, as a person related to community, so therefore I figured maybe I wasn't an artist. That was aetually incredibly liberating because then 1 could inven t myself. These kids have got to invent themselves.

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What about you own community, the one that has allowed you to survive as an artist?

On a spiritual an d emotional level there has been a community of wo me n, so me within my own culture bu t many not. Donna Dieteh was in-

credibly important in th e process ofme growing up to be an artist. She was doing the same thing but came from a completely different experience ofa very wealthy family..And Christina Schlesinger. Both taught me something

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incredibly important. They taught me to perceive myselfas entitled. I studied entidement with those women, because I had never seen anybody who felt like they deserved to have things. They really knew about entertaining themselves, getting what they wanted, feeling that they deserved to have those things, and I learned that from them. The women's community at critical points throughout my life has been really, really important-all of us struggling against male identities within the arts, there not really being places for us. And then parallel struggles. I've always been v~ connected to the African American community because of being bom in Watts. I grew up in African American and Chicano communities and developed very close relationships with key African American women who made present the parallel struggles ofother ethnic groups so that I could see things rationally. It widened my world. And then most imponandy has been an intergenerational connection with women and men older than I, like [actor] Gilben Roland. He was absolutely an amazing model for me. How did you meet him?

His wife called me. I had just done that Bill Moyers television piece and I was working on The Great Wall of Los Ang.1es (Figures I, 2, and 3) and Gia Roland called me up and said, "I want to work for you. I want to take photographs. Can I follow you around? I'm interested in what you're doing." I dido't know who she was, and so she showed up and literally every day of my life for nearly ten years she was with me. She cooked, too. Not only could she take photographs, but she could make wonderful memuJo. She fed me and fattened me up all ofthese years, making wonderful Mexican food . Then, ofcourse, I met Gilbert. Gilben was the VlUfl"TO' the ultimate VlUfl"TO. He had grace and was a man who refused to depict the Mexican people in a denigrated way. He was the "Cisco Kid." So many people later modeled what it was to be a Latino by virtue ofactions he took in his early films. His favorite words were honor; dignity, courage. He was stalwart, patriotic. All those things. So I had friends who were eighty. And then I had friends who were fourteen, who gave me a sense ofthe range ofthe world I lived in. They really gave me a sense of perspective. I think thatnunured me. Jane Rule [Canadian writer] was the only lesbian I ever met in the early 1970, who was totally connected to community. notjust an isolated women's community but a community filled with all ages and types ofpeople. All these people had in common an incredible grace. Minnah [Agins] had the same grace. You .know, this is really making me emotional because so many of them are

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dead, the eighty·year-<>lds and the fourteen-year-olds. I feel such a sense of loss for Gilbert. H e died the way he lived, too. Right to the en d he wouldn't take his damn boots oil! Minnab was important, too . She gave me a sense of a historical context, She told me about the hunger strikes and the bread strikes and the Detroit auto workers and I felt like I had met all these characters. I Could see first-hand what they went through to do the most basic things, like.get us unemployment insurance. Was this in the 1930s? Yes, 1930s, the intellectual Left of the thirties. Minoah was the con tinuation ofa long line of people who used an. When I put together her retrospective for her memorial I looked over the range of all these prints. It was an absolutely wonderful chronology of Left an making and issues that ranged from the 19305 or late 1920s to the 1980s, when she died. You could see the preoccupations of the Left. through all these different de-

cades. I learned strategies for survival from the fourteen-year-olds and eighty-year-olds, and also from staying connected to the humblest peop le, people who would not necessarily do good for your career, and with m y &nU~

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Have your experiences with these people affected th e way you approach your own work as aD artist?

Cenainly. One thing they have taught me is to r ecognize the unrecognized seats of power. like the woman who looks out her window and watches the kids at the hus sto p. That's a key role in the way that community moves. She keep s them fro m j u mping out into the street. The gang that occupies the park, even if it's usually only a few little guys. Some of them are often much more harmless than they're perceived as being. Acknowledging these people. It'sjust the same as saying, "That tree is there. " You don't pretend that the tree's not there. And you don't try to cut it down.

No. You don't say, ·Well. everything would be just great about this piece ofland if the tree wasn't there." Instead. you come into a space and begin to figure out who's who. You look at the synagogue down the street, the passage of these p~ple on a weekly basis past the site where the mural will be. The school. a!If the movement in and out of people who come from some distance. The local people across the street and their investment in

being middle-class. Understanding what it is that they valu e. who they are.

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Recognizing those with -the power and recognizing who's there. And then recognizing what is u nder the surface, almost like a spiritual half-life in the ground. Why do people get drawn, for example, to those exquisitely beau-

tiful sites along Galiano's Coast where the Haida have been coming for potlatches for a few thousand years. People are drawn to those places and they have a certain presence in the world by virtue ofthe spiritual investment of people for centuries. That's why you need to know what has happened there. You need to know who was there, who's there now and what is op erating on them from another time. It's like digging up, revealing, digging away layers of information to the source ofit. Your words remind me of the series of murals you did for the farmwork.

ers' community of Guadalupe, California. Yes. The imagery in those four murals is an uncovering of the roots of the place. The ethnic contributors panel shows the Chinese as well as the Mexicans. A Swiss-Italian marble angd from the town's ce metery is the source of the central image in the Futun 4/ Gtwdnlupe (Figu re 4). Yet Guadalupe is also like every farming area. Farmwerkers' issues are international issues. I respect both the Iocal issues and their international ramificatio ns . I want to build associations, relationships. I was taught to make family and to honor the family and that's what I do with the site, I

make it family. I tty to create order within that family, to develop some kind of community in order to approach the issue OT the site and to become makers and problem-solvers together. Do these families ever become dysfunctional? Always is probably the case! Of course. that assumes that there is a per' fect famil y out there somewhere.

Then there is that other "family" setting, the classroom or university, where conflict and dissention has increased as increasing numbers of people are coming in who want to see their identities reaffirmed and their cultures studied? How do you deal in a constructive way with this inevitable confiict? Well . right now there isn't really any resolution e xcept that if you're in charge, you win. People are not saying, ' Okay, how do I make room for inclusion?" University pro fessors often suffer from the same absence and

poveny of thought that OUT students suffer from when we don't teach them relate dness. We don't teach them to connect. So who we have reach..

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Figure4 1'1u Fuluru{Cu.4IltJ.upe, 1988-90. acrylic on wood. S' x 7'. One cfthe fcur paecis on the history and futureol'Cuadalupe. CA. Municipali ty ofGuadalupe. Photo: Cia Roland.

iog and who we have as models are people trained in the old system. who really believe that individual achievement is to be valued above all things. We should begin as scholars address in our writing, in our thinking, how we're going to move into this 21st century. into a really different time. I mean it's astounding how different it is. I have an incredibly difficulttime keeping up within my own culture, with the changes. as it becomes " Ladno" as opposed to "Chicano" and Chicanos come into positions of power and they have to reevaluate themselves because they can', speak for El Salif one of us can ever begin speak an y longer for vadorans. I don',

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Where do yon see a commonality coming into play? Is it possible? I guess what I'm advocating, for the most part, is working in smaller groups. We have to go down to smaller groups and
Yes. Not integration in the total sense, all ofus together, one planet, one people, all hnlding hands I don't think we wiD. Not in my lifetime. I've worked really hard for twenty-five yearS to make things different and I've watched most of the gains rolled bad. What about these gains? You've done local work, but you're also out there

on the national level, dealing with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and with national commissions. There appears to have been, at least until recently, an Iaereaee in NEA funding for community organiza.. deas. Is this good or bad? Where do you see it going? I think the NEA is not a good example because you probably would not see more money going to community groups from the NEA. But you do with organizations like the Lila Wallace Fcundanea, the e. e. cummings Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation,
JUDITH F.SACA

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geles. It is the opposite afthe Convention Bureau, which puts out videos that say you can come to Rodeo Drive and to Universal City and they don't show one person ofcolor. OUT program is very different.·It takes tourists around the city to places like The Gnat Wall. People are .enraged about it. We got calls all the way from the U.S. DepamnentofCommerce. They fear that community-based people will destroy the tourism industry in Los Angeles, which means, basically, that we will share part of the wealth. You want to kn ow what happened to Rodney King? Let's go out to Pacoima and the Foothills Division police station and hear the perspectives ofcommunity leaders. People are being given an alternative for the first time. And all of the tours are sold ou t during the World Cup soccer games. Yesterday I addressed a group of American Studies scholars from Syria, Israel, all over the world. There were forty chairs of American Studies Departments in various universities all over the world at The Great Wall. They want to know about race relations in America. They want to know if there is apartheid here. They want our perspective on what is happening. It's pretty exciting. There are spaces in between being made.

Do you see any down side to the increase in funding for community-based ventures by the foundations you just mentioned? Absolutely. The Lila Wallace Foundation bas been the most problematic. They've been giving major amounts of money-5 million dollars-to the Mark Taper Forum to expand their audiences. Not to build a Chicano theater in Los Angeles. but to put Chicanotheaterunder an all-whiteboard of directors that comes from the very basis ofpower and authority in Los Angeles.Hke the Chandlers of the LosAngtUs Times. You're never going to get that board ofdirectors to change. So what do they do? They go to a Mo:icano, Jose Luis Valentino, who was at the Los Angeles Theater Center (LATC) with the Chicano theater. Mind you , he's Mai<mw. That's very critical because a Chicano would never have done it. A Mtri&anc will. Because they're not born, raised here. They don't know the politics. They always feel like they can make an alliance with the Anglo. They don't have the history of racism from birth, so they're a little more negotiable. So instead of giving him the LATe when it goes under, the Mark Taper Forum says, "Hey, there's a talented young guy. Let's get him.· So they got him. They bought Chicano theater. Five years from now there won't be a Chicano Theater Center. There won't be a parallel group to the music cen~er that is ethnically run and governed and developed. There will be an inCorporation within the music center ofChicano Theater. When he leaves they'Ujust get a replacement, Maybe at th e end of five years they'U h ave

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one Chicano on the board. They'll have all of our mailing lists. They'll have Latino theater with out the control of the Latino population. There are many examples ofthis kind ,o f funding, which is not about self-empowerment, Now, people would argue with me vehemently about this. But I hon estly believe that the only thing to do in terms of cultural d evelopment in Los Angeles is to develop parallel institutions of equal size and stature for the ethnic populations. But wouldn't you end up still having to accept money &om these same institutions? I ha'I'C another quote I wanted to read to you from Octavio Pars recent collectiou Essay. on Maican Art (1993): ~'The idea ofpuhlic art strikes me as a sentimental nostalgia and a dangerous anachronism. .• Public art has invariably been the religious an ofa state oro!a church as powerful as a state. By definition, there is uo such thingaspuhlic art made by isolated individuals or private groups•• • • The phrase 'revolutionary public art' Dot oaly contains a coD~dictioD but is, in fact, meaniDgless .• •only through an abuse oflanguage • • • is it possible to speak ofa rev0lutionary art sponsored by the state."

Well, there's some validity to what he 'says. Yet if you look at The Gmu Wall, it received a certain amount of public dollars but it also received such

a patchwork offunding from so many different sources that no one source could control the conten"t of the piece. American philanthropic giving is not the same as Mexican philanthropic giving. They have no philanthropic giving in Mexico. They have patronage and they have government spons orship, which is very direct, We have this other thing called nODprofit giving. I think it's still possible, with multiple funding sources and with an artist who is uncompromising, to create work that does challenge the status quo. I think my Bald win Park Metrorail Project is quite revolutionary (Figures 5 an d 6). It really chall enges the whole colonial missionary sys tem.

Did the people in charge know what you were doing? Absolutely. Because I explained it to th em. And because there were enou gh Latinos in that group. There were also people from Arkanqs There was an African American woman who came from the oldest black famil y in Baldwin Park. The head of the Department of Educadon for Baldwin Park was Latino. The mayor himself was a twenty-four-year-oJd graduate of Harvard. a Latino . There was a Chicana. a working
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abou t the who le issue of the m<stiftu or mixing of races. The only problem I had was with one of the Catholics. The woman was working<1ass and vely Catholic. She j ust wanted to make sure I wasn't going to offend the padn from the local mission. And then when I turned him upside-down on his head in one of the images, I said, "You know, Lupe, I'm turning him upside -down and, I'll tell you the truth, in native sign language it means ' not'." And she said, "They shouldn't have done what they did." Who, the padns? Yes, the padres. That's what she said,linaiIy. Right on, Lupel But I gave them a complete an historical lesson. I brought the research in. They were with me through the whole process.

-so they were n ot only engaged through the whole process, but had decisiODamalring power, rather thaD simply beiDg in aD advisory position.

That's right. It was remarkable. Not to say they were all liberal and incredibly progressive thinkers. They said , "We want you to do something on the missions," and I think they thought "Taco Bell" They wanted my name recognition too. They wanted to say they had Judy Baa in Baldwin Park. It's interesting. They didn't really get what that meant. They just knew that I was a famous mural painter and I was a Chicana and had worked on projects with young kids . When they told me the subjea was the missions, I said, "Okay, I'm going to do the missions but I have to tell you, I'm going to do the truth." ' Well, we wouldn't expect any less; they said. So when I started developing the information I started bringing it in because they met with me as I was progressing to the design. I started to tell them the numbers ofpeople who were murdered, the numbers of native people lost. the loss of their names. It was really also about my passion for what I was doing and my belief system. I brought in Vera Rocha , the chiefof the Gabrieliiios who lives in Baldwin Park, as an advisor for the project. And they know her. They've always known her because she had pow-wows in their parks. And she has rwenrytwO grandchil dren who who are all native people there. Her fu.mily grew up in a mission. Her great-grandmother made candies. She hates the mission . She wouldn't even step on the ground. She stood on the outside waiting for me when I went there to pick up niaterials. So convincing people was a combination of my passion and my abiliey to articulate it and Vera's ability to speak to what it meant to her. The mission father's didn't participate except to impede the informational Bow. But I had historians who , helped me and I just started bringing in material I said, "FIrSt let me tell

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Sl4tWn. 1993. Loading platfonn. parking lot with plaza in background. sle-'COlor Plate 11. Figure 6

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FRANCES POHL

you what I'm going to do. Do you know what an archaeological dig looks like?" "No," they say. So I had to go through all these photographs ofarchaeological digs. That's how I began. I showed them photographs ofarchaeological sites. I really like the way they look. "I think this should be like an archaeological site," I said. "We're going to dig it up. We're going to dig it up and we're going to putit back in the ground. We're going to puJI away the layers of the earth, IiteraIly, and see." Then the forms in the ground. the shapes of the mission, the native village, became the design in the concrete. And they really liked that. I was listening to Lupe talking to SOme kids on the of the dedication. She said, "Well, just think of itthis way. It's like she took a big steam roller and she smashed everything flat, " which was a pretty dose description ofwhat I didl I wed the language ofthe rednecks in the piece: "It was better before they came." And then there's GJo. . ria AnzaIdl1a sandblasted into the big arch: "This land was Mexican once, was Indian always and will be again." And the words of this extraordinary young Asian woman, who said. "You know, it's not the adults leading only. it's the youth leading too." And so I wed that too. I had such a good time doing it. It was diflicult working with the eontractors. And the commjssion.fough~me on a couple ofthings. which I lost. I lost the benches in the plaza area. I wanted people to be able to sit in the plaza by the monument. And I wanted them to be able to cut 1IDfI4liIDs. I wanted edible food in the planters. I did get the oak tree. which represents the indigenous people. and I got the cactus. but not edible cactus, and I didn't get the benches because they didn't want people hanging out. So I didn'twin everything. But I really felt like it was successful. And they seem very happy with it. The mayor told me. "I go to the Metro station and I sit on the bench and look down at my feet and it says ' memory' and 'will power' and I remember what myjob is today." That's how you preserve a culture. It can still happen.

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C O N N.C Tl VE AE STH ETI C S, AIll T ", 'TEIll INOI Yt D lI "' l ISI'I } S ill.

hIve been intern.lind by our whole culture andmade to pervade every experience. It is nor hud to sec how the inl1ituliorn and praClices of the aft world have been 'nodded on the same configurations of power ana profit that support '1a maintain our socie~Y'1 dominant worldvlew. Th is - business as usual" psychology of affluence is now threatening the ecosystem in

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which we live wilh its dysfunction al values and way of life; it is a single system manipu lating the individual into the spiritually empty relationsh ip of the producer to the prod uct.

As a critic in the nineties, I am not really interested in writing catalog essayl or art reviews. w hat I am concerned with is unde rstanding the nature of ou r cultural myt hs and how they evolve-c-rhe institut ional framework we take for grant ed but which nevertheless determines our

Many people arc aware that the .ystem isn't working, th at it is time to move on and 10 revise the destructive myths that guide us, O ur entire

lives. One question that has preoccupied me, for instance, is what it means

cultural philosoph y and its narrow ness of concern are und er int ense scru-

to be a "successful" artist working in the wo rld toda y, and whether the

tiny. Among snhu, there is a greater critical awareness of the social role

image that co mes to mind il one we can supp Ort and believe in. Certainly

of art, and a rejection of modernism's bogus ideology of nClllrality. Many

it seems al if tha t image is undergoing a'radical re-visionie g at lhis lime. Th e dom inant modes of thin king in our society have cond itioned

artists now refuse the notion of a co mpletely narcissistic exhibitio n practice as the desirable goal for art , Fo r inua'nce, perfor mance aTlist Gu illenno

us to characterize art primarily as specialized ob jects, created not for moral or practical or.social reasons, but rather to be cont emplated and enjoyed,! Within the modern era, art was defined by its auton omy and self-suffi- • eiency, and by its isolation from the rest of society. Exposing the radical autonomy of aeseherics 11 lo mtthing thu is no t "ne utral" but is an active participant in ca iulist ideolo has been a rimar accomplishment of

G6 mez· Pena n ates: "Most of the ...c rk I'm doing curre ntly comes, I think, from rhe realiu tion that we're living in a state of emergency. , . . I feci thar- -. more than ever we must step outside th e strictly art arena; It i. not enoucii to make art . In a similar vein, arlS admin istrator Lind a Frye Burn ham na claimed that gallery art has lost ill resonance for her, especially gallery art by what she terms "white yu ppies.- "T here is too much going on outside, ~

t e aggressive ground-clearing work of deconn rucric n, Autonom y, we now see, has con demned art to social impote nce by turn ing it into just

she says. "Rcal life is calling. I ca ll no longer ignore the clamor of disaster-economic, spiritual, enviro nmental, polit ical disaster- in the ....or ld

another clan of objecu for marketin and conI um tion .

in which I move." Perceptions such as these are a direct challenge to th e

amc prod uction and consumption, competitive self-assertion, and the maximizing of profiu are all cru cial to ou r society 's notion of success.

artist's norma tive .e nse of his or her role in the world: at stake is one's

Th ese same assumptions, leading to maximum energy now and mindless waste at the u pense of poore r countries and of the environment, have also

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personal identity in relation to a particular view of life that ou r culture has made available to u ~, Th at the art world 's values, structures, and behaviors arc in great

become the formula for global destru ction . Art iuelf is not some ancillary

ferment has been evident for some lime, and the deconstructions of the

phenomenon but is heavily impljcated in this ideology. In the art world,

eighties continue to reverberate pr ofou ndly. A climax in these up heavals

we are all aware of the extent to which a power-ori ented, burea ucratic

was reached for many with the cont rovers ial 1993 Biennial at the Whitney

professionalism has promoted a one-sided, consumeristic attitude towa rd art. ln srlturional models based on n oti ci~s of prod uct develop ment and

Museum of America n Art-the fi rst multicultural and political Biennial-

career achievement echo the stereotypic patriarchal ideals and values that

professional elitism and th at its closed, scM-referential ranks are under

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"

COHH I C TI VI AIIT H IT' C h AU A" I.

heavy siege. Much o f t he new art foc uses o n soc ial creativ ity rather th an on self-expressio n and co ntr adicts the myth of the iso lated gen ius=private.

' N D I V'D"' A~lI H

.In cOfllidering the implicat ions of t his · sea chang e: one th ing is

clean-to be able to see Cl,lrrent aest hetic id eolo gy as actively co ntr ibu ting rc ,

su bjective, behind closed doors in the studio, separ.He fro m o the rs and the

the mo st serio us p rob lems o f ou r ti me means break ing the cultu ral trance

world. As I shall ar gue in this uu

and requi res a change of heart . The wh ole fram ewo rk of mod ernist aes-

creativity in the mod ern wo r l

go ne an In an with ind ivid ualism and hu been viewed stricti a

n

th etics Will tied

to

the objectify ing conscious ness o f the scientific world -

indi vi ua p enom eno n. I believe this conceptio n o f art is o ne o f the things

view; like scien tists, artists in o ur cultu re have been co ndi tio ned not to

th·at are now cha nging.

wo r ry about the ap plicatio ns or consequences o r moral purpose o f their

As t he work o f ar tists w ho are d iscussed in this book makes clear, there is a d istinct shift in the locus o f creativi ty fr o m the auton om ous, self-

activ ity. It is enough to genera te resulu. But just as the shortcomi ngs of " obiective ~

sc ience are becoming apparen t, we are also begin ning to ~ r­

contained ind ividual to a new kin d o f d ialo gical st ruc tu re that freq uen tly is

ceive how the reductive and neutrali zin g aspects of aesthetics and "art for

not the p ro duct of a single indi vidu al but is the result o f a co llabo rat ive

art's sa k e ~ have significantl y removed art from any living social co ntext or

and interdependent pr ocess. As an ists step ou t o f t he old framew ork and

moral imperative excep t t hat o f acade mic art hino ry and the gallery sys-

recon sider w hat it mean s to be an artist, they are recon stru ctin g the rela-

tem . We are beginni ng to perceive how, by disavowing ar t's communal

tionship between ind ivid ual and co m mu nity, between art wo rk and publi c.

dim en sion, t he romantic my th o f au to no mo us ind ividu alism has crippled

Look ing at art in ter ms of soc ial purpo se rather than visual style, and

art's effect iveness and influ ence in the soc ial world.

sett ing a high priority on ope nn ~ss to w hat is O th er, causes many o f ou r

T he quest for freedo m and au to no my has been now here belle r

cherished no tio ns to b rea k down: the vision of b risk sales, well- patro nized

mari zed for me tha n in these comments by the painter

galleries, good reviews, and a large, adm iring audience. As Richard Shus-

publi shed in the cata log of his exhibition at th e Whitechape1 Art G allery

terman writes in Pragmatist Aesthetia , "T he fact that ou r entrench ed

in Lon d on in 1983:

.

.

inst itutions o f an have lo ng been elitist and opp ressive does no t mean that they must remain such.. .. Ther e is no co mpelling reason to accept the narr owl y aest hetic limits imposed by the established ideolo gy of aut on omo us art. ~ In Feb ruary 1994, I had occasion to tape a co nversat ion wi th the art dealer Leo C aste lli, in w hich he co m mented abo u t t he Whitney

The Imiff is not respomible to .nyone. Hissocial role is ,!Social; his only mpon.-__ sibilit., consists in ,:III altitude to the work he dots. There is no rommNni, . tion with . ny public whlftlonJel'. The .rtist ' . 11 ,u k 110 questioPl, . nJ he m.kcl no Jt.tcmel1tj he offen PlOinform. tion, . nd hi' WICI rk '.nnot be NUJ. It i' the end product whichcounts, in my ra le, the picture.

show: - It was a sea change, not just any chan ge. Because I had to accep t the fact that the wo nderful days o f the era that I pa rticipated in, and in

Mor e tha n a de cad e o ld, these co mments by now may sou nd hope.

wh ich I had played a su bstantial role, we re ove r. ~ In Has Modernism

lu sly out of da le, bUI in a more recent inle rview in Art Neun, it was d ear

Failed? I w rote , "G enerally speaking, t he d ynam ics of p rofessionaliza-

that the artist had in no wa y altered his views. "Th e idea of changing o r

tion d o nOt dispose artists to accept their moral ro le; professionals are co n-

improvi ng the wo rld is alien 10 me and seems ludicr ous, " Baselitz said.

dition ed to avoi d thinkin g about pro blems th at do no t bear di rectly on

"Societ y fun ctio ns. and always hu, without the artist. No aniSl has ever

their work. ~ Since writi ng th is a d ecade ago, it seems as if the pictu re has

changed anylhi ng for ben er or wane. ~ Hidden behin d the. e com ments is

changed. The politics of recon ceptualiution hilS begun, .nd the search

for. ""' Iscnda fOl' an has become .. conaciouI aeuch.

....................,..01...

the pen on.1 and cultural myth that has formed the anisl" idencity in che

_...... Plaubm wrote .t die ~ 01 11M modern en" -daM OM CU CAl,. bear it by 1voidinl it. And diu can be doM' by lim. in lhe world of -"." Por Jean-Pau l San re, the ea-i.fencial trut h of the hum . n . iroltio n WI' iu contingency, man', . en' t that he doe. not belong-i. nOt nt ecnary-to the unlvene. Since life Wif arb itrary and meaningleu. Sartre advised th.t we mun . J1 learn to live without hope. and the English w rittr Cyril Connolly summed up a whole cultural t lho. of alienation with these no w legendary

comments: "It is closing time in the gardensof the West. From now on an artist will he judged o nly by the reson ance o f hi, loJitude and the qua lity

of hi. despair." Writing about thi. form of ~ntological distrust. this vote of "no confidence" in the universe, Co lin Wilson in An lntrod"ction to the NnJI E:tisttnt~ IiJm refen to th e parad igm o f . lieRu ian as the "futility hypothesis" of life-the nothingness, estrangement, and alienation that have formed a considerable pan of the image we have of ourselves. My friend Patricia Ceuc, who teaches at the Kansas City Art Institute, now refers to this particular mind-set as "bad modernism.- In a course she gives on refl"1lming the self, her students are in struct~d about the danger of believing that humans(whether they are artist! or not) are somehow outside of, or exempt from, a responsibility to society, or to the environment. Wehave been taught to experience the self as private, subjective.... separate, from others and the world. This notion of individualism las so completely structured artistic identity and colored our view of art that even for an mist like Christo, whose public projects such as Running Fence and the more recent Umbrel/oU require the participation and cooperalion of Ihousands of people, inner consciousnessis still dominated by the feeling of being inde endent, solitary, and separate. In an interview in Fwh An ,

The wor. of .lIIrt is irtlu;onAl'A"dprrh.ps il7rspomiblr. Nobod, nrrds it. Thr UlOrk isAhugr indifJiduAlisricgrstJI rf tb.t ~ 'i nrirel, drridrd b, mr.... Onr of thr fl'"ttItrJt contrihutioPls ofmod"." .tt is the notion of itrdifJ;Ju.lism. .•. I think thr .rtist CAn do .",t.bing h r "'lUlU to do. Tbis is",h, 1UJOuld Plt tlr r Aeupt . wmmiuion. Independrncr is most importAnt to mr. Th; work of.rt is .. JeTr. m offrredom.

"

---u..

, amno.._ of IrwcIom" m. CfC' pc_t mon1 impennv. t hlt eontin Ueli to be llnndiahed politici lly II we"' .. philolophicilly in . 11 the modern u aditionl 01Wenern thoulht. It revu N r&tt d loudly in the int ense controversy that r&V'd for senTlI Yelrs over the proposed removal of Richard Serra's commissioned Iculpmre TIlled Arc from ill iite at Federal Piau in downtown Manhattan. Although conceivedIpecifically for the site, the seventy-three-ton leaningcurve of weldedsteel, which was installed in 1981 by the government'S Art in Architecture Program, proved so unpopular and obstroclive to local office workers that they petitioned to have it removed. Al one employee of the U.S. Department of Education stated at the time: - It hu dampened our spiriu every day.11 has turned into a hulk of rusty steel and de arly,at least to us, it doesn't have any appeal.It might have artistic value but JUSt not here ... and for those of us at the plaza I would like to say, pleasedo us. favorand uke it away." Serra's response, awash in the spirit of "bad modernism," was to sue the government for thirty million dollars because it had - deliberately induced" public hostility toward hi. work and tried to have it forcibly removed. To remove the work, according to Sem, was to destroy it. Serra sued for breach of conlract and .iolation of his constitutional righu: ten million dollars (or his Ion of sales and-commission, ten million for hum to his arlistic reputation, and ten million in punitivedamages for violation of his rights; In July 1987, the FederalDistrice Court ruled against Serra, and in March 1989, the s~ulpt ure wu removed(rom the site. What the TIluJ Arc controversy forces us to consider is whether an that is centered on notions of pure freedom and radicalautonomy, and subsequently inserted into the public sphere without regard for the relationship it hu to other people, to the community, or Any consideration except the pursuit of art, can contribute to the common good. Merely to pose the question, however, indicates that what has most distinguished aesthetic 'Philosophy in the modern paradigm is a desire for art that is absolutely free of the pretensions of doing the world any good. -I don't know what public art is, really,- the sculptor Chris Burden once said. - J jUst make art. Public art is something else, I'm not sure it's art. I think it's

"

..

.,

about a social agcnda.· Just u disintere sted and ·vatuc-frcc· scien ce con u ins no inner rescraint within iu methodology that would limit what it

" ,0{; ~ U·of ~hich brings me directly to the question of whether art can build commu nity. Are there viable alternatives to viewing the . e1f in an

f« ls entitled to do, ·value-free" ae. theticism reveals nothing about the .

individu alistic manner? And if '0, how docs thi l affcct our notio n of

limiu art should respect, o r the commu nity it might serve.

",ucccu· l Can arti Stsand art insti tutions rcdefine th emselves in leu spec-

Moderni st uschetics, concerned with iculf u th e chief source of

tato rially ori ented waY' in order to regain the aperience of interco nnect-

value, did not inspire crcatin participati on; Nither, it encouNiged discanc·

edness-of subject and object intenwining-that was lost in du alistic

ing and depreciation of the Other. It. non relatio nal, ncninteracrive,

"Enlightenment philosophies, w~jch construc~ "t he world as a spectacle

nonparticipacory o rientation did not easily accommodate the more femi-

elne;...lves of c~Md comp anion, of te eing and ~es ponding to need..The

to be o bserved from afar by a di, embodied eye? "When Cslifornia artist Jonathan'Bo rofsky and his collaborator,

notion of power that is imp lied by asserting one's individuality and having

Gary Glallman, traveled in 1985-86 to three different prisons in Ca liforn ia

o ne's way through being invul nerable leads, finally, to a dcadening of

in o rder to make thei r video d~u mentuy Prisrmen, they did not go in the

empathy. The model of t he artis t"u a lone genius suuggling against society

mode of network reporters intending to oburve It a distan ce and then

does not allo w us to focus on the beneficial and healing role of social

describe the conditions they found. Instead the y went to listen to the

interaction, nor does it lend iuelf to wh,~ p hilosopher David Michael

po.onen in o rder to try and understand their plight. The y want ed to

Levin calls · enlightened listen ing," I listening thac is o riented toward the ...

unde rstand for thems d ves what it mea~ to be a prisone r in this society,

achievement of shared understandings, As Levin writes in Thc Limning

to lose you r freedom and live you r life locked up in a cement box,

Sclf. "Wc need to think about 'p ractices of the sclr that NnJm rt",J the

Borofsky and Glauman invited prisoners to talk about thei r lives and

essent ial intertwi ning of seU and other, self and soci ety, that are aware of

abou t what had gone wrong for them . In the video some of the priso ners

the subtl e complexities of th is intertwining.·

, hare poem l they have written o r .how ertwo rks they have made. Co n-

Ce rtainly the sense of being isolat ed from the world and alone with

. -. '. ,

versing with the video makers, t hey describe the cppressiveoess of life

one's creations is a commo n experience for artists in ou r culture. the result

inside a prison, where everything is programmed and people never get to

of modernism's hiscoric failure to conn ect with the archetypal O ther. As

talk spo ntan eously about t hemselves because no o ne is interested. Th e

N ancy Pras er pUll it in her book UnrNl, Pr.eticcs: "The monologic view is

knowledge that one is being heard , according to Glassma n, creates a sense of empowerment.

the Roma ntic individu alist view in whic h . ..• solitary voice [is] cry ing o ut into the night againn an utterly undifferent iated background. .• . Th ere il

In Suu nne Lacy', The Cr;yu 41Q Ni/t, performed in Minnea polis o n

no roo m for a reply that could qua lify as 11 differe nt voice. T here il no

Mot her', Day in 1987, a procession of 430 older wom en, all d ressed in

roo m for interaction ." "T he artist con siders his isolati on, his subjectivity,

black, sat down together at table. in group s of four, to di. cuss with each

his individualism almos t holy," nates film direct o r Ingmar Bergman.

other the ir accomplishments and disappointments, their hope' and fears

"Thus we finally gather together in one large pen, where we stand and

abo ut aging, in a ceremonially o rchestrated artwork. A prerec o rded sound

bleat about our loneliness withou t listening to each other Ind without

track of thc voices of seventy-twc wo men at t he tables projected th eir

realizing that we are . mothering each o ther to death ." "An canno t be a

reflections loud e~ough to be heard by the audie nce. "We're no lcngee

mono logue," the French writer Albert Camus o nce wrot e. ·Contra ry to

sitting home in the rocking chair and knitting, like you t hink of grandm as

the current presumption, if there is anY'J!I,anwh o has no right to solitude,

in the old day•. We grandmas aren 't do ing that anymo re," comm ents o ne

it is t he artist."

of the wo men o n the audi otape. · 1 think "a lot of senility comes from the

..

.. fact that nob ody asks you anyt hing, ~ Slates another. "No body asks you ro speak. Prett y soon, you lose your memo ry. I suf fer a lot from peopl e nor

can o nly come into its ow n th rough d ialogue, as o pen co nversatio n, in whic h one listen s to and includ es o ther voices. For many artists now, this

tisrclling to me. ~

means leu ing previously exclude d groups speak di rectl y o f t heir own

Empath ic listeni ng makes r oo m for t he O ther and d ecentr alizes the ego -self. Givi ng each person a voice is w hat builds community and makes U I

soci.lllly respo nsive. l neereeuc n beco mes the medium of expressio n, an

exper ience. Th e audience beco mes an active co mpone nt of the work and is pUt o f t he proc ess. Th is listening o rientation challenges the d o minant ocula rce ntric tr:ad ition, wh ich suggests th at art is an experience available

empathic way of seeing t hrough ano ther's eyes. "Like it subjective am hro-

p rimarily

pologist," w rites Lacy, "[the artist enters] the te rrito ry of the o ther, and ...

Michael Levin states in Modernity i". d the Hegemony of Vision, "T his may

beco mes it co nd uit Ior [their] Cl[ perien cc. T he work becomes

it

metaphor

10

she eye, and rep resents a real shi ft in pandigms. As David

be the time , the app ropriate historical mo ment, to encou rage :and prom ote

for rcl:u ionship-whteh has a healing power." When there is no quick fix

a sh ift in pandigms, a cult ural dri ft that, to some extent , seems alread y to

for so me of o ur mo st press ing social problems, acco rding to L;r,CY. the re

be t:aking place. I am referring, o f cou rse, to the drift from seeing to listen-

may

be onl y our ability to witness and feci the reality taking place around

us. · T h is fetlingneu is a service th at ar tists offe r to the world," she says. After Mierle laderman Uk cles became the un salaried, self-appointed

ing, and to t he historical potential for:a paradigm shift di spla cing vision and installing the very-diffe rent influence of listening.· New models pur forw ard by quantum phy sics, eco logy, and systems

art ist-in-residence at t he New Yo rk C it y Sanitation Department in 1978,

Iheory t hat de fine the wo rld in te rms o f interacting p rocesses and rela tional

she went o n rounds wi th sanitation wo rkers and fore men fro m fifty -nine

fields call for integntive modes o f think ing tha i fCK:uSo n the relati o nal

municipal d istn cts, talk ing wid, them and gwing to know them. He r fim

natu re of reality rather than on discrete o bjects. Lacy Slates, " FCK:using on

piece of art wu a performance wor k called TOI4Ch Sanitarian, whi ch went

aspects of in teraction and relalionship rather than on an obj ects calls for a

on fo r eleven months. D uring that time -,s.he visited the five boroughs of

rad ical rearr an gement in ou r expectations o f what:an artist docs. ~ It calls

Ne w York and shook hands wit h 8,500 workers. " It was an eight -hou r-d ay

fo r a d ifferent app roac h to maki ng art and requ ires a di fferent SCi of sk ills.

performance wo rk, " she sta tes. "I'd come in at ro ll call, then walk their

To tra nscend the moder nist, vision-ce ntered pa r:adigmand iu spectarc eial

rou tes with them.... 1 did a ritual in wh ich I Iaced each person :and shook

~p i Slemology, we need a rcf raming process that makes sense of this more

their h:and; :and I said, 'Thank you for keeping N ew York C ity alive.' Th e

inte ractive, irne rsubjecrive p ract ice which is emer ging. We cannot judg e

real artw ork is the ha ndshake itstlf. Whe n I shake h2. nd s with a sani tatio n

the new art by the o ld na nda rds. " Informed by an interact ive :and recep tive

man ... I p resent this ides :and perfo rmance to t hem, and the n, in how t hey

no rmativity, list ening generates a very d ifferent epiJterne and o nto lo gy-:a

respond, they finish the art .· TOl4chSanitation was U keles's first attempt

very d ifferent meta physics ,· writes Levin.

to co mm unicate as an artist with the workers, to ove rco me barrie rs and

Mod ern ism 's co nfro ntat iona l or ientation resulted fro m deep habits

op en t he way to u nde rstand ing- to bri ng awa reness :and cuing into her

o f t hinking th at set in o ppositio n sCK:iety and the ind ivid ual as two con-

actio ns by listening. Art tha t is eoered in a "listeni ng" self, t hat cultivates th e intertwin-

trar y and antago nistic catego ries, neither o f which cou ld expa nd or develop except at the expense of the o ther. T he free :and self-sufficient indi -

ing of self and O ther, suggests a flow-th rou gh experience w hich is not

vid ual has lo ng been t he ideal o f our cultu re. and utislS especially have

del imited by the self b ut extends into th e co mmu nity t hro ugh mod es of

seen themselves as qui ntessent ial free agents, pu rsuing their own ends.

reciprocal empath y. Because this art is listen er-c ent ered rath er than visio n-

BUI if mod ern ism , and t he art that emerged with it, developed arou nd th e

o riented, it canno t be fully realized th ro ugh the mod e o f self-exp ression: it

noti on o f:a un iq ue and separ ate self, the art generated by what I have called

"

"

CO NN 'C \, '''" ..

"connective aesthetics" is very differ ent , As I have argued in The Reen-

,H'Il"U, ........ u

'NO ''' ,OUAlll"

included in this book contradicts, absolutely, these comments. H owever,

chlHl lmt nt of Art, radical relatedn ess has dramatic implications for our

there is no denying that the art world subtly disapproves of artis ts who

undemand ing of art and con tri butes to a new consciousness of how the

choos e interaction as their medium, rathe r th:an the dise mbodied eye. JUII

self is 10 be defined and experienced. For one thing, the boundary between self and O ther is fluid rather than fixed: the O the r is included within the boundary of selfhood . We arc talking abo ut a more imersubjeerive version

as creativity in the Western wo rld has been based on an unders tanding of the self ., autonomous and separate, the hegemony of the eye is very strong in our culture. We are obsessed with the gaze. At Ihis po int, 10

of the self that is attu ned to the interrel:lli~nal, ecological, and interactive

challenge the vision -cente red paradigm by.undermining th e presumed

characler of reality. " Myself now includes th e rainfor est, writes Austra-

spectatorial dist ance of the aud ience, or by empowe ring olhers and making

lian deep ecologist John Seed. " II includes clean air and water,"

them aware of their ow n creativity, is 10 risk the comp laint that one is

M

The mode of distanced, obj ective knowi ng, removed from moral or

prod ucing not art but social work. Person ally, I have never heard of a

social responsibility, has been the animat ing motif of borh science and art

social wor ker who was inte rested in shaking hands with 8,500 sanitation

in the modern world. O bjectivity stri ps away emotion, wants only the

wor kers, or who tri ed to orchestrate a pub lic convers ation among four

facts, and is det ached from feeling. Objectivity serves as a distancing de-

hundred older women abou t aging. Social workers proceed qu ite differently from artists in what they do.

vice, presuming a wo rld that sunds before us to be seen, surveyed, and manipulated. H ow, then, u n we shift ou r usual way of thinking about art so that it becomes more compassionatd H ow do we achieve the • ...orld view of atlac hment M - attachment to and conlinuit y wilh the world- that archetypJ I psychologist James Hillman talks abOUI ?To see ou r interd ependence and interconnectedn ess is the feminine perspective tha t has been missing not only in ou r scientific thinki ng and policy making but in our aesthetic philosophy as well. Care and comp assion do not belong to the false "objectivism" of the disinterested gaze; care and compassion are the

To all these objectio ns, I can only say that co mparing mode ls of the self based on isolation and on con nected ness has given me a different sense of an than I had before and has changed my ideas about what is important. My con clusion is that our culture's romance with ind ividualism is no longer adequate. My own wor k and thinking have led me to a fieldlike conception of the self th at includes mo re of the environment-a seJfhood that releases us into a sense of ou r radical relatedness. It seems that in many spheres we have finally come up against the limits of a world view

tools of the soul, but they arc oft en ridiculed by our society, wh ich hu

based only on individualism. In the field of psychotherapy, to give just one

been weak in the empathic mode. Gary Zukav pUISil well in The Sellt of

example, James H illm:an, in his boo k Wt 've Hlld 4 H MnJ m J Ye,m of Psychothtrapy-And the World ', Getting WOFJt, cUligates therapy for

the So"f, when he states that th ere is cu.rrendy no place for spiritualit y, or the concerns of the heart, within science: politics, business, or audemiJ. Zukav doesn't mention art, but until recently there has been no particular receptivity there either. N ot long ago, I had occasion 10 share a lecture pod ium with the critic Hilton Kramer, who proclaimed, with the force of a typ hoon, that an is at its best when il serves only iuelf and not som e other purpose. Things Ihat in his opinion have no relation to an are now being accepted and legitimized as art when, aeecrdi eg to Kramer, art is incapable of solving any problems but aesthetic ones. I would argue lh:al much of the wo rk

encoun ging us to disengage fro m the world. He maintains that therapy increases our preoccup ation with individual fulfillment and personal growt h at the expens e of any concern for community or the communal good . Many hackles have been raised in the the rapeutic community by H illman's assertion that therapy has become a self-impr ovement philosophy wh ich tu rns us inward, away from the wor ld and its problems. Psychot herapy is only work ing on the "i nside· sou l, according to H illman, while outside, the build ing., the schoo ls, the streets, are sick-the sickness is out there. The pat ient in need of healinc is the "'orld.

Co nnective aesthetics strikes at the root of this alienation by dis-

active and ecological models emerging in our ec ue re. 1 believe we will see

solving t he mechanical division betw een self and wo rld that has pre vailed

over the nat few decades more art that is essentially social and purposeful,

du ring t he mod ern epoch . Worl d healing begins with t he individual who

and that rejects the mod ernin myths of autonomy and neut rality. 'This

welcomes the Other. In Ukele s'. work, for instance, empathy and healing

book bears witness to the increasing nu mber of art in s who are rejecting

arc the pu " meters, th e test of whether the work is, in fact, bein g carr ied

the product orie ntatio n of consumer culture and finding ever mo re com -

OUt paradigmati cally. Th e ope n hand, extended to each worker, evokes

pelling ways of weaving environ mental and social responsibilit y di rectly

q ualities of generosity and care. We need to cultivate the compassiona te,

into their wo rk. In this complex and 'lVon hy endeavor, 1sincerely wish

relonional self as thoroughly as we have cultivated, in lon g years of abstract

them well.

thi nking, the mind geared to scientific and aen hetic neutrality. As more people acknowledge the need for ~ new philosophical framewo rk, we are learning to go beyo nd o ur culture of separation- the gender, class, and racial hierarchies of an elite Western traditi o n that has evolved through a process of exclusio n and negation. With its focus on radical individualis m and its mandate ofke eping art

Il IHI Q G ItAP H Y' ,,,,,,, 1'1 ...,. Uor. .!y " ..,,, ,,, ' - " DiJ.... '" • • J e.oJ,,1ot c..." ..,.••., S«MI V.i." ,;" 01 Mi... ...." " .." I ' ' '. (J .b li~ ,S .u.

If.. MoJ....I,. r.iJ.JI 1'1. ... Y.. ,~

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n.t.,. 1oI;""..""i"

L.........' 11I. .." ••d IIlHl...... 1'1 ;'

separate fro m life, modern aesthetics circumscribed the role of the audience to that of a detached spectator-observe r. Such an can never bu ild co mmunity. For this we need interactive and dialogical practices that draw others into the process and challenge the notio n, in t he words of G ary Snyder, that ~only some people are 'talented' and they beco me ani su and live in San

Francisco working in opera and ballet and the rest of us should be satisfied with watching television.- Co nnective aenhet ics sees that human natu re is deeply embedded in the world. It makes an into a model fo r connectedn ess

._-

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and healing by o pening up being to iu full dimensional ity-noc just th e . " . " e. Social con text beco mes 11 co ntinuum for imera cricn, for a process of relating and weaving toge ther, creating a flow in which th ere is no spectato riel distan ce, no anta gonistic imperative, but tither the reciprocity we find at play in an ecosystem. Within a listener -centered paradigm, th e old specializatio ns of artist and aud ience, creative and uncreative, prc fessional and unprofessio nal--disd!,ctio ns betwee n wh o is and who is not an anist-begin to blur. To follow this path, 1 wou ld argue, is mor e th an just a matte r of

·{"lupi", wirh the Ml!14CAJ,mk fo."", ' of h"prrv;o"l l_ boDIrl. Ih, ...tho. CIxxJI'I to ,limi". r.. fOO!lloltl f rom her tlIriri",.

personal taste; it represents the opening of an experimenta l space in which to institute and practice a new art that is more in tun e wit h th e many inter-

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world and who we are, between who we are and wh at we do. T he artist ' 0 , ,," e N FO' ' N' GOO D AND H'"

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tends th e private garden of t he so ul and gives evidence of t his process publicly t hrough the art th at, in turn, inspires o thers to tend t heir own gardens . Th e often-liked question as 10 how one mo ves from being art in to activist I llnd interesting, because I d o not make the separatio n in my own mind. For me, the two roles exinll a single entity: t he ar tist jJ t he activist.

To search for t he good and make it matter: this is the real challenge for the

Indeed, within the African tradi tion, t he art ist's work has a fun ction just

an ist. Not simply 10 transform ideas o r revelations into matter. but to

like everything else in the world. As the mask is for festivals, and the

make those revelations actually mauer. This quest is measured as much in

grou nd-d rawing for marking a sacred space, and t he dance for healing and

Ihc Inll hs we attemp t to cnflesh as in t he clay we might aesthe tically de-

dra wing energ ies to o neself, so, too , th e rit uals that" we perfo rm and the

. ALMst, utlS!ic works not only inspire the viewer but give evidence

monuments that we make have a functi on: t he t ransfo rmatio n of self and

of the artist's own st ruggle to achieve higher recogniti on of what it means

co mmunit y, which is the extended self. Art is a necessity, IS the poet Audre

to be truly human. The works eejesn menu to the artist's effort to con-

Lo rde says, not a luxury. Th e assump tion th at art co uld be so met hing

vert a pan;cular vision of tru th into his o r hcr o wn marrow.

separate from the life that sustains us, th:r.t art is indeed a luxury, is I I false

As I meditated on the theme of Ihis book, I found myself thinking about territories, bot h public and privatA hoUI political turf and defini-

a theory as the notion that t he cu rer terrain can undergo tran sfo rmation

tive lines, those tha t exclud e and those that include. I began to reflect o n

in the world, are the t rue sites of change. N otio ns of separa tion and c rher-

the earth and all t he red rawn borders t hat we who are involved in public

ness are ingrained in Western thought, and it is this very way of thinking

art must bring to the map if there are to be positive new directions for the

that has wreaked havoc on the cult ures of t he world .

world's cuhc res. f fo und myself co ntemplating, as any artist might, t he

without affecting the soul. And yet, many believe that the places outs ide,

While no single culture has :r. co pyr ight o n tru th, perh aps embracing

correspo nding territo ry- the terrain of the sou l, that sacred space withi n

an African view of t he intrinsic co nnectedness of all things would help us

the self th at must be acknowledged and tended, t hat dr eam space where

to recall t he mother fro m who m we have'al l co me. And in remembering

Ede n and womb are ritualistiu lly related, where co nception is possible,

her, perhaps we can begin mo re profou nd ly to "re-member" ourselves.

where we can receive in o rder to give again.

T his charge of remembering the mo ther is imp ortant because without it

Th e d ream space of the so ul is the real terrain tha t we should map.

If no t. then nOlhing else thJ t we are fighting fo r o r against has any possi -

ou r cultun l and crou-cultural amnesia is never liftedi ou r common hu manit y is never fully acknowledged. We never k now wh o we are, and

bility of transform atio l): not the milita rism th at we resist, not t he opp res~

having no tru e identity, we end up like a perso n wh o suffers amnesia,

sion we deplore, not the toxic waste d umping o n the land of the poo r, no t

fearing every face tha t is not the exact replication of our o wn. And some -

the racism o r the sexism that we expose . N one of these con cer ns can be

times in our despe ration, we even fear our o wn face. We never develo p a

taken on unless they are examined, acknowl edged, and co nfro nted within

sense of co ntinuity o r who leness among peop le. Th e cultures that remem-

the inner terr itory of t he self, the earth Ihat, in facl, we are.

ber t his co nnectedness are recalling the crucial element that has been part of ou r su rvival since ou r beginning.

Th e sou l is t he seedb ed of ou r actio ns. Every thing that we co nceptu alize, create, o r desHoy hll its beginnings there. Wha t we see cultivated

Th e artins who remember o ur-co mmon humanit y and inn igale

and thriving in the o uter terrain is a ma ~i fest at ion of our inner creative o r

recogn ition of o ur tru e natu re are those like Anna H alprin, who wou ld

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have people 1ivi"l "ith AIDS and thoN,,110 Ire not a/llicud Wdc d..

destru ctive impu lses. T here is co nnected ness betw een what we see in the

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em h in a da nce in an attempt to break down the barr iers of fear. They are those like Suzanne Lacy, who would produce a-crystal qu ilt of wome n whose cho reographed laying on of hands helped change the patt erns of their lives and make visible the bonding and power among them . They arc those like Mel Chin. who woul d move us into the mystery of metaphor by

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T his for me-call•.answer. and r~l eue-is a metap ho r for art itself

wo rk ing with scientists to develop hybrid plants tha t absorb po isons from the earth into lu ves whic h can be plucked from our children's surround-

and the po tent ial that it holds. Th e ca.U is i~!ted by the experiences we have wi* the wo rld, by the ~u man condi tions and predica ments wit hin

ings. Th ey arc those like the husband and wife team N ewton and H elen

our terrain that arou se our interest or consciousn ess. Next comes the

Mayer Harrison, wh o have collabo rated for over twenty years, and Mierle

response, the artist's creati~n-th.~ attempt 'to name, recognize, and insti-

Lederman Uk eles, artist-in-residence of the N ew York City Sanitation Department, and Sheila Levrant de Brerreville, and Peter Jemison, and many more who recognize the illusion of du ality, the miracle of collabora-

gate change thro ugh his or her creative expression. But the artist's creation is not the.end of the process, as it.is often thought to be. The process continues as members of the community experience the release, th e inspiration that allows them to enflesh the message and begin activating change in their own terrains.

tion, and the beauty of making truth matter. N one of this is to suggcst that the aesthetic qualit y of any wo rk need ever be sacrificed. 1 say this know ing that it is a critical issue of public art projects involving community participants wh o are not necesurily artists. Someho w, it is Ieared, the parti cipa.n ts' aesth etics will bri ng down the quality of the wor k. But since the a.eSl~etic is determi ned by the artist, perhaps this is not th e ultimate fur of thoic 'who are leery of the new, more collabo rative public an, Perhaps the greater fu r is that elitism will be destroyed, that the fun ction of art will once again be recognized, that freedom of expression will carry the impulse and stark beauty of our first

Th is basic human -to-hum an int eraction signals the symbiotic relationship among human beings. When we understand this, we can go on to bette r appreciate the breath dynamic between ours elvcs and the trees. We can understand our relationship to oceans and ozones and other zones within the universe. Th e blues form is not about being down and out . Th e blues calls to and transfor ms the hcllerer; and cont inues on to tran sform the community. It makes those singers willing to "work the sound" into new and knowin g

breath, and that our own relevance as human beings will come to be seen

people who go about the business of makin g the truth man er. Bessie Smith

in the meaning of our acts. If this is what is so fearful, then we must continue to make such an and to redefine the ways in which th e making is

could not leave halfway th rou gh a concert, We, as the communal singer,

ilself a celebrated process.

dept h of experience is in direct propcreicn to the dedication of our artists.

In deciphering the mystery of th is process, th e blues for m. or formula, from African American cultu re can provide insight. As ethnc-musieolcgists tell us, the blues has thr ee lines: the first line is the call, the second is the response, and the third is the release. The second line might be the ume as the first but with some slight variatio n, and the last is a departu re. The last line rhy mes wit h the first and, essentially, sets you free. Th e whole notion is tr anscendence, as exemplified in thi s stanza I compos ed for illullration:

"

cannot afford to do it either, Th e poet Maya Angelou reminds us that our Indeed, we art ists have to sing the second line in such a way as to signal the possibility for variation in the song. We have to create relevant art , art that invites iu audience into the creative process and empowers them. We must sing in suc~ a way as to promise our lis,teners who would becom e singeu that the third line is a breakthrou gh, proclaiming without a do ubt that "I done checked for myself and there's a sky in you." It seems to me that in order for this transformation to happen, we artiSlS must prepare ourselves to respond creatively and appropriately to

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the calls in ou r enviro nment. Th is is no small cho re, especially for those of

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Th ough the encoun ter with dr eam time is enlivening, it can also be frightening. Th e problem is not our descent into the sou l; it is ou r erner-

us in the public realm, who find ourselves taking on challenging, often emot ionally draining issues; wr iting and rew riting proposals to obtain funding for projects; meeting for what seems like an entire lifetime with

gence, or coming forth . Once we emerge, we muse begin reconc iling what we have come to know with what we n ill sec in the wor ld. We tell ou r-

artistic collabo rato rs; add ressing communi ty participants and relentlessly

selves there is no time to retr eat; we tell ourselves anythi ng to keep from

rallying their interest in the project; gening no funding at all, or just enoug h to present on ly half of the envisioned project; meeting again with collaborators about the meeting on the meeting; encou ntering those critics who themselyes have not decided to be imaginative in their ow n work; and, lut but no t least, never finishing because we are still actively listening to the community's respo nse and remaining sensitive to the sounds and

repeating the ritual of departu re. But if we do succeed in avoiding future descents into the soul, we will more than likely fall into the trap of making art thaI is simply creative rather than tru ly visionary. Th ere is, indeed, a distinction between creative art and visionary art.

I! parallels the difference between the artist who is an ob server; or reporter, and one who is a participant in the creative process-a matter of invest. ment or sou l involvement. Q uite simply, the visionary artist has not

feelings in both the inner and ou ter life. To be an artist amid all these cur rents is demanding. How is the

merely sight but vision , the light the soul makes to illuminat e the pat h for

artin to prepare? Development of one's crah and keen awareness of one's

us all. Th is noti on of the visionary being apart from life, going into his or

surrou ndings are important but are hard ly enough. To be able to make

her dream space, is not synony mous with the Western not ion of the

tru ly visionary art, we art ists must have in our lives the crucial element

mystlc's separation. The vision ary an ist in the communi ty wor ks in the

called dream time, th at is, time when we leave this world and go into our

fields of the person al self, dreams time and engagement with others.

own sacred space, seeking the grace needed to create ou r work . Dream time holds the turm oil and tr auma of the wo rld at bay and allows the

All art ists are able to display their craft without the exert ion and engagement that marks a perform ance from the soul. An artist can simply

vision to be Runted and the huling notes to an une us.

project his or her persona while remaining detached from the performa nce

Some sound levels in the world 's chaos can be deafening. Our wor k in the ou ter terrain C;l.ll beco me so demanding that we think we cannot stop 10 medit ate. But this delib erate pausing is also part of our work, and, in reality, it may be the on ly thin g that distinguishes us from those com-

and the audience. But if you arc · working the sou nds·--if you are invclved in somethin g that engages you; confronting your own prejud ices, fears. and limitations, rather than merely presenting whal you ~ lread y know ; feeling yo ur own discomfort and taking that discomfort into the

munity members who simp ly cannot make the time to take this inner space. Yct they are depending as much on us to hear the calls and to sound

tcrrain where the trU th exposes you-then you are quite possibly in the territory of thc vision. You are close to grasping the mystery of the heal-

the fiut respon ses as we are depending on them to form a chorus for the

ing. You are then, only rhen, within reach of the gift that you can bring back 10 Ihe world.

snnr; in ord er tn release the healing and magnify the mnh. And as odd as it may sound, this is the native territo ry of th e public artin. It is a space (0 which tile community, time and time again, banishes us for its own salvn-

pant. And the du ality between you and your aud ience, you and you r

tion, a space that we ou rselves eventually choose as a healing haven and

work, becomes an illusion . And you have written a poem. You have do ne

hallowi ng cave. The snul, a difficult but necessary terrai n of retreat. hnlds the hlucp rint . or nne might say the "blues -p-in t," of the world we inhabit.

a performance. You have eofleshed the beauty. You have made it mailer.

Once you have glimpsed this vision, then you arc indeed a part ici-

And the communi ty, taking par t in the an, co mpll'les the last line of the blues refrain, initiating a new reality.

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we have lost ou r own places in the wo rld, we have lost respect for the eart h, and treat it badly. Lacking a sense of microcosmic community, we fail to pro tect our macrc ccsmie global hom e. Can an interactive, processhued art bring people ~ c1oser to hom e- in a society characterized by what Georg Lukacs called "transcendental ho melessneu - ? Not since the regional art or thc thirties have so m ~n y people looked

LOO KI NG A Il,O UN D

arou nd, recorded what they see or would like to sec in their own environ-

l've spenr a lot of my life look ing, but less of it look ing around. Ar t history

ments, and called it art. Some have gone beyo nd the reflective function of

and the ~ rt ....orld " m ~ k e prog ress, ~ fows ing on ~n invented vanishing

conventional art form s and the reaedve function of much activist art .

point, losing sight of the cyclic, panoramic vie....s. And of course it's not

Those who have been at it for a lon g time are represented individu ally in

easy to be visionary in the smog. Mean.... hile, H aael Hend erson's "t hink

this boo k. But they also have heirs and colleagues among yo unger artists, writers, and activists who regard the relationship between people and

globally, act locally " has become a truism- an overused idea importan t enough to remain true. T he notion of the local, the locale, the location , the

people unlike them, between people and place, between peop le, place,

locality, the pf.. ce in art, ho....ever, has not caught on in the mainst ream

flora, fauna, and now, necessarily, even atmo sphe re, as a way of under-

because in order to attr act sufficient buyers in the current system of distri -

standing histor y and the futu re.

bution, art must be relatively generalized, detachable from politics and pain. The social amnesia and antihiSlOrical att itudes tha t characteri:r.e ou r society at large aUKt the art ....orld as ....ell. ~ C h a n ge increasingly appears to be all tha t there is.... Th ere is no sense of progress ....hich can provide

The growing reulticuhural" (and cross-cultural, inlercultural) contributions of the lut decade have ope ned up fresh ways of understand ing the incredibly eom plex politics o r nature. Cch ure and the concept of

meaning or depth and a sense of inherit ancc."' But, perhaps because we are at a retrospective moment in hin or y- nearing the end of a millennium and jun past the five hund redth anniversary of the most heralded po int of colonialism- many of us are loo king back to find solid ground from ....hieh to leap forward, into the shifting futu re. It seems significant that what the historian Lawrence G rossberg calls the - ver'y cornerstones of historica l

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place arc in fact inseparab le, yet peo ple (and ideologies) are often left out of art about land and landscape. As Ken neth H elphsnd hu observed, landscapes (wh ich I would define as place at a distance) "carry legacies and lusons· and can create ~a n informed landscape citi:r.enry.-· N ational, global, collective narratives are especially accessible through o ne's family history- by asking simp le questio ns abou t wh y we moved from one block or city or State or count ry to another, g ~ in ed or lost

researc h~ can also be called the very cornersto nes of the art to which this

job s, married or didn't marry whom we did, kept track of or lost track of

book is devoted: ~ a pp rec i alio n of difference, underst anding of comexe.

certain relatives. A start ing poin t, for example: simple research about the

and ability to make critical comp arat ive judgments on the basis of empathy and evidence."! Ecological crisis is ob viously responsible for the current preoccupation ....ith place and context, u is an ongoing noslllgia for lost connectio ns. The G reek recr of the word "ecology" means home, and it's a hard place

place where you live or were raised. Who lived there before? What changes have been made? have you made? Whcn was the house built? What do the deeds in the county records have to say about it and the land it stands on?

to find these days. Precisely because so many people are not at home in the world, the planet is being rendered an impo ssible hom e for many. Because

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How docs it fit into the history of the area? H as its monetary value appreciated or depreciated? Why 1 When did you r family move there? From where? Why ? What Nati ve peoples first inhabited it ? Docs your family have a history in the area, or in any area? Do relatives live nearby? Wh ~ t is

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, diUerem now from when you were yo ung? Wh y? H ow does the interio r

places arc the reservoirs of human cc mem.'? While place and home are

of you r house relate to the exterio r? How docs iu style and decoration

not synonym ous. a place must have something of the home in it. In these

reflect your family's cultu ral b ae ~ grou n d, the places from which your people camc? Is there a garage:? a lawn? a garden? Is the flora local or

chilling times, the concept of place hu a warm feeling to it. Th e implica-

impo rtcd? Is there water to susuin it? Do any animals live there? And on a broader scope, arc you satisficd with the present ? If not, arc you nonalgit for the past or longing for the futu re ? And so forth . Question s like these can set orf a chain of perso nal and cultu ral reminiscences and ramif1 t ations, ind uding lines of thought about interlink ing histories, the unacknowledged Ameriun dass syst em, racial, gender, and cultural division s and co mmon grounds, land usc/abuse, geography, environment, {Own plannin g, and the experience of nature that hu made a "return ~ to it so myth ical. When this kind of research into social belonging is incorponued into int'eractive or participatory art forms, collective views of place can be arrived at. It prov ides ways to understand how hum an occupants are also part of the environment rathcr than merely invaders (but that too ). Accord ing to Wendell Berry, the most consistentl y inspiring writer on Ameriun place, "I be concept of country, homeland. dwelling place becomes simplif1cd as ' the environment'-that is, what surrounds us. Once we sec our place, our part of the world, as flll'l'Oll" di" 8 us, we have already made a profound divisio n between it and ecrsebes." Rcal immersion is dependen t on a familiarity with place and its

tion is that if we know our place we know something abo ut it; only if we ~ k now ~ it in the historical and expcriential sense do we truly belong rhere. But few of us in contemporary North American society know ou r place. (Wilen 1 asked twenty university studen ts to name "their place." most had none; the exceptions were two Nav ajo women, raised traditionally, and a man whose family had been on a sout hern Illinois farm for generations.) And if we can locate ou rselves, we have ne t necesurily examined ou r place in, or our actual relationsh ip to, that place. Some of us hllvc adopted places that arc not really ou rs eKCept psychologically. We have redefined place as a felt but invisible domain . In contra st to the holisti c. earth-centered indigenou s peop les of this hemisph ere (who, over thouu nds of years. had also made changes in the land), the invading Europeans saw the natura l wor ld as an object of plunder to be conquered, eaplcited, and commodified. They import ed denial, still a prevalent disease amnng the ir descendants. The causes of the exhausted resources. Ihe scarcity of wood and arable land in an "old world~ were never ack nowledged; old habits werc simply reasserted in the "new world. ~ Although a sense of collective loss spread through this COUniry at the end of th e nineteenth century, when most of the arable land had Men

hinory that is rare toda y. O ne way to unde rstand where we havc landed is

parceled OUI, most people in the Un ited SUtcs tod ay still want to believe

to idcntify the econom K: and historic al forces that brought us wh ere we

that ou r resources- water. topsoil, Ic rests, fuels, oxygen-arc inf1n ite. Not

are- alone or accompanied. (Culture, said one cont emporary arti n , is nOt where wc comc fro m; it's where we' re coming from.) As we loo k at our-

unrelated is the scant attent ion paid to Ihe ways ru ral and urban spaces arc struc lured and how they affect our national psychology. (H isto rian John

selves critically, in social contexts, as inhabitants, users, onloo kers. tOurists,

Stilgoe says tha t in colonial New England. towns planned in odd shapes

we can scrutini7-e our own part icipatory roles in th e natural processes that arc (nl'ming nur futures. Similarly, the study of place oUers access m expe-

were seen as disorde rly and were "more likely to har bor civil and ccclcsiastical u n rest." ~

rience of the land itself (and what we call "nature" ] as well as to current ecological politics and a sense of responsibility to the future.

Today, according to Rosalyn Deutsch, space as a reflection of power relation s (produced by social relations) "is on the political agenda as it

Jeff Kelley has distingu ished the notion of place from that of site, made po pular in the late sixties by the term "eite-specjfic" sculpture: ~ A

landfills. shopping malls, parks, and other social context! for many years

site representS the constit uent physical properties of a place . . . while

now. Yet the overall tone is not exuberant. I' ve been stru ck by three recent

never hn been before. 0' This is tru e for art ists who have been "Iraming"

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nnming phenomena: First, the posrmod emise impulse (now at least a de-

by modeling themselves o n Indians even while wiping them out.' The

cade old. and supremely rerroacrivc in its own right) has spawned a plct hnra of exhibition s. art icles, and books called re-viewing, re-visio ning,

(a proce ss that began in the sixties) is partl y due 10 India ns' grass-roots

re-mapping, re-Ihinking. re-pholOgraphing. Second, the thles of exhibi-

strength and pr ide at ha.ving survived, partly bolstered by their ugc at the

lions about land and natur e are becoming mdaneholie and even apocalyp-

COSt in Native culture, health, and la.nd. But it is a.lso a prod uct of the

tic: for instance, AgAinst Nat.. re. The Demoraliud undscdpe, The

growing recognitio n among Eurc -Americans that the five-hundred-year-

U nmd1l: mg of Ndfll re. L OSf J/{UJlons, and Usopi«; POlf - U fopiA. Third, the terms - terrilo ry.- "laud,- -ca rt h,· "terrain,- and -mapping- are also

old d ream went awry. Th e search fo r place is the mYl hiu l search fo r rhe

ubiquitous in both theory and practice. Th c map as a micro/macro visual

art iSI Peter Jemison has uid il is not the f1a.g but the pole and cagle on 101'

resurg('nce of mainstr eam interest in Nati ve culture in the Ian few yean

nis mund i, for so me place to stand, for so m('thing 10 hang o n 10 . (St n('ca

co ncept has Io n); been of interest to artists. and particularly 10 "co ncep-

thu mean so m('lhin g to his people; th('y co nnect earth and sky, bod y and

tual" and - eart ll- artists fro m 1')65 10 1975. O n o ne hand , map ping the

spiril.) At the same lime, a. de-idealiaaricn of natu re ana of Nativ e an itud es

turf can be seen as abetti ng surveys. f('net'S. boundaries, zo ning. and orhcr

reward natu re is necessary because anYlhing ser o n a ped estal can SO easily be undermined.

instrumenlSof possession . O n t he o rher hand, maps lcoIls us where we arc and show uS...here ....e're going. Und('rstanding our cuhural geography will be a necessary compc-

A responsible a. rl of place must be pari of a ('entering process. Wave a.ftc r wave of exiles is still co ming thr ough t his land, and we have made

ncnt of t he reinventio n of nature . We need to stop dt'nying difference and

internal exiles even of those who arc iu natives. Th e immigra. nt pop ulation

pr('tending a woo zy universalism Ihat masks and ma.inlains deep social

in the United St.ues (all of us) hu no center, no wa. y of orie nling ilScif. W('

diviswns . W(' !lav(' 10 know mo re about o ur relation ships to each other, u

tend to presume our ancestors had one, but my fa. mily. fo r exampl(', con-

put of the cult ural ecology, to know where w(' stand as artislS and cultu ral

sund y moved around; from the 1700s o n, few genera. tion s stayed in the

workers o n hornd('ssness. racism, I nd land.....l ler. cultu ral, and religiou s rights. wh(,lher o r nOI we ever wo rk dir ectly o n the se issues. Because they

$;lm(' town. Wh('n :t place-oriented sculpto r says, " Plsee is whu you have

art' linked, to be ignoranl of o ne is to misun dersu nd anoth er. Yet such awareness demands extensive visual and verbal (and local) research th at is

lefr,-' I' m not sure whether she means · a.1I tha t remains" or - Ihat which is I('h behind." Although an hu oh('n been used in the pasl as propaganda fo r

not includ ed in tradil ional an edu cation . Multicu llUra.1st udies espC'C ially

colonialism and expansionism (('specially d uring the nine ttenth-cenlUry

need to be inco rporated into :trl abo ut history ;md place. If only wh ite

moveme nt west], and much contemporary public art is srill prop aganda for

histo ry is studied, rhe place remains hidden. For instance, when I taugln a.

('xisting po wer stru ctures {cspeeiaily develo pme nt and ban king), no better

s('minar o n land in Colo rado. I fou nd I had 10 include the way land was

med ium exists in this society to reimagine nature, to negotiate. in Do nna

used and conceptualized by the origina.l inhabitants, the t ragic histo ries of

Ha. uway's wo rds, "the term s o n wh ich lo ve of nature cou ld be pari of t he

Native lands and lives and of the co ntinuing suuggle on Mexican land

solution rather than part of the imposition of colo nial domi nation :tnd environmental dest ructio n." !"

gr ~ O! s.

the roil'Sof black farmers and cow boys, Ch inese n iJroad and

agricultu ral work ers, :tnd Ih(' desert internme nt of Japanese Americans during World War 11. White America. has been deeply affected (so deeply it doesn't often show o n the surlace}by t he [and-based traditions of Na tive and mestizo cultures; colonists inhcritcd agricultural sites and techniqu es and survived

'"

T he upper middle class (fro m which the majority of arliSts emerges) tends 10 confuse place with natur e, because it bas the means and leisure time 10 ind ulge its wanderlust, to tr avel to sites of beauty, difference, curiosity, to have second homes o n sho res, in mc un tnina, o n abandoned farms.

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But u rban envi ron mentS are also places, ahhough fo rm ed differcruly, mo re

A ny ntw k ind ofart prltCfict if going to havt to lakr pltttt at It alf pltrlilt/ly

likely to spawn the multiple selves th aI case cross-cult ural co mm un ica-

o/lu idt oftht II" V1O rl". A nd hard a f il if to m ..bfiJh ontstlfin ,ht .. r/ woTld

tions, that in h CI are the resu lt of cross-cultural cc mmunicarion , Tho se of

I~JJ o"rClmHcribtJ Itrritorit f ..re All Ibt mort frAughl wilh p~ril. OUI there,

us living in any b ig cit y l od ~ y are co nf ro nted by a vast mirror wh enever

mOil art.im art neither w dro me nor rffulivt', bUI in bere if " PO I ~1lfi"lI)'

we step ou tdoors. II rdl ccu us and rhose who. like us, live on this co m'

uoffoe.." n8 cocoo n in w hich .. rtists Are dtludtd lItlo fer ling imporl"»1 for doing only wh .., is UPUItJ ofthem. Wt conlinut / 0 1.. 11: abOHI -nt w f orm J· bre"HlC'

mo n ground; ou r ap pearances and lives often d iffer, but we can 'I look infO the mirro r witho lll seeing them 100 . The recip roc al natu re of cu ltural co mmu nicatio n is th e nail j ames Baldwin hit on t he head when he said. MI( [am nOI who you thought I was, t hen you are not who you though t yo u were eith er.- II T he dialec tic between place and c ha l1~e is a creative crossroads . I' m experi menti ng with the ideas ske tched above as tcaching tool s, as wa ys in which teache rs and stu d ents can co lhbo u te to find th eir places: an increasing number o f M li ~t s arc becoming involve d in .\imih r ideas. l nlu tely ime n liscip linar y and multicultura l, th is line of inq uir y and production relat es to co ntexts and content rat her tha n to style and tre nd s. My models are the arti sts who se co ncep ts o r place and hislo ry includ e peo ple and fo rm th e grass roou of mu ch interacti ve or " new geore" an-from Ju d ith Baca's C rtll' Willi of LOJ Angtft " which b rings togeth er teens fro m d iffer en t

'

Iht nt'W hlH been Ihe fn/ifizi ng fe lifh of th r " vam -garde fin a it drla ,hrd ilulf f rom th r !nf" nll'y. BUI il may be th ltl /Iu te n~w fo rm, ItTt only to br fOHlld bu ried in Jocillf ent rglt s nOI yet ru ogniz rd "J .. rI. t)

N o t allthe var ied [but still no t varicd eno ug h) fo rm s th at have com e: to be called ·pub lic an Mdeser ve Ihe: name . I wou ld define public U I as accessible wo rk o f any kind thaI cares abou t, ehallcuges, invo lves, and co nsuhs. the aud ience fo r o r with whom it is mad e, respectin g co mmu nity and cnvsrc mnem. Th e o dler stu rr is n iH priv ate art, no matter how b ig o r exposed or intrusive o r h yped it may be. In o rd er 10 so rt OUI whe re we srand at th e moment, I've: made a necessarily ten taliv e: list of the existi ng genres o f "ou t look ing " art aUOUI p lace. T hese He not inrend ed as frozen categories, and ma ny obv io usly overlap:

(Uhural backg rounds to create a mu ral o n t he non whit e histor y o f C:tlifor· nia, to Micrlc Ladcrman U keles's wo rk wuh the New Yo rk C ily San it:uiOIl I) CI'.1rt mcn t exposing ho w we: mainra in ou rselves and manag e ou r wasre (,ln cl wilh whom); fro m John Malpcd e's small-scale examinations o f homcle:ssneS$ 10 N ewto n and H elen Mayer H arrison 's large-sc ale enviro nmenta l rescue attemp ts. Anis rs envision (.1 verb tha I embraces a nou n) a process that res uln In an artwork.

I. Wo rk s pr epare(j fo r cou ver uiona l indoor exhibi tion (insu llalio ns, pholog rapll s, co ncept ual art, and p rojecr proposals) Ihal refer 10 local co mmunil ics, h islOry, or enviro nmelltal issues. Examples are Deborah Urigh t and N ancy Go ucha r 's Chicago 5,o ,-ir$, N ewt o n and H elen

M~yer H arr ison 's p roposed Bo uld er C reek Pr oject, and Rich..rd Misne: h 's Bravo 10: Th~ Bom bing of Iht AI1l ~ ri". n Wtl/. 2. Trad itio nal Outdoor public art (no t " p lun k an,Mwhich has simply been

W l·HIl, E WE AIH

enla rged and d ropped o n the SiIC) that d raw s ane:nlion 10 rhe speci fic I've: h"e:n stTuJ,a:lin\; wilh rhcse ques tions fo r a long lime. In 1C)(,7 1 wrote: t hat llisu a l art

wa ,~

hn vcring at a cros sroad s Mthal may weltr urn Out to be

tWO roads 10 one place: art as ide a aocl an as act ion ... . Visual arl is srill visual even wl.en il is invisible o r

'"

v is i"n~ ry. · l/

In 1980 I wro te:

characteris tics o r Functions o f th e p laces wher e il illlcrvcnes, either in p redict ab le lee ..ticns such as p uks. bank plaz u, muse um gardcn s, and co tle: ge campuses (such as Andre:w Leiceste r's mini ng memo rial in r=ro~t bUfg, Mar yla nd; Ath e:na Tacha's Memory Pn{/J in Saraso ta,

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these work s oflen function as ~ wake-up art, ~ a o l:llyst 10 eeneenve actio n, Eltamplcs arc Suzlnne Lacy's Thr te Weeki in Ma, in Los An-

FJorid ~; and Barbara Jo Revelle's Pt ople 's H iuory of Colo rado, in

Denver), or in unexpected and sometimes inaccessible loc.:l.(ion s, such as Streets, store windows, a cabin in the woods, a laundromat , a golf eco rse. an office. a supu market, a crater in the desert, a residential neighbo rhood (such u Charles Simo nds's imaginny landscapes and civ;liu tions for " Linle People" and David Hammons's H OIHt of fin

"

geles, and Guillermo G6 mtz.-Peiia and Coco Fusco's The Year of lhe Whi,e Star al several sites in the U nited Stales and EtlrOPC, 6. Art that function s for environmenta l awareness, improvemen l. or

F" t"rt in Chnleston, South Caro l;na). Th is group would also include

reclamation by transfor ming wastelands, focusing on nalural histor y,

innOvative and officially funded public art and memor;als wit h social agendas and local rde rences, such n Maya Lin's Vielnam Veterans

operating utjlitarian sites, making parks, and cleaning up po llution. An eu mple is Alan Sonfin's Time L.."dJCape of Nr"W York Cif"

Memorial and Barbara Kruger's Linle Tokyo mural at th e Museum of Co nte mporary Art, Los Anj:;e1es.

7. Direct. didactic political art t h ~ t com ments publ icly on local or natio nal issues, especially in the for m of signage on tn nsportation, in parks. on buildings, or by the road, which mu ks sites, events. and invisible histo ries. EKalllples are REPO history's sign pro ject in Lower

3. Site-specific ou tdoor artworks, oh en collabo rative or collective, that significantly involve th e community in execution, background information, or ongoing fun ction. Examples are officially condo ned

M ~n ha tt an , David Avalos, Louis H ock, and Elizabeth Sisco's San

graffili walls; Joel Sisson's G reen Chair I'roje" in Minneapolis; O livia

Diego bus project, and Hachivi Edgar Heap of Birds's HO$l pro jects al muhiple sites.

Gude and Jon Pounds's Pullma n Projects; n Chicago; th e Border Arl Workshop in San Diego and Tijuana; Dr. Charles Smith's African American Heritage Museum in Aurora , Illinois; and works by nun y progressive muralists.

8. Portable pu blic-access radio, television , or print media. such as audioand videotapes, post cards, comics, guides. manuals. artists' boo ks, and posters. Examples arc Carole Co nde and Karl Bcveridgc's book and posler work whh Ca nadian un ions and Paper TIger pub lic-access

4. Permanent indoo r public ins t ~ lIalions, often wa h some function in regard 10 the conlmu nity's hisrory, such as po n office murals across

television . demonn ration art suc h as fhe AIDS quilt, and thc Spu l..de of Tramf orma/lon in Washington , D.C,

the country and Houseon Conwill. Estella Co nwill M;ijo:r.o. and Jc srph De Pace's The RIVers al the Schomburg Ce nter for Research in Black Culture in New York C ily. Th is group also includes historyspecific commusury projects Ihat focus on ongo ing educational processes, such as the C hinatown H istory Project in N ew York C ity and the Lowell, Massaehusclls, national industrial park. $.

Pe rl o rm ~ n e e s or rituals out side of trad itional art spaces t h ~t call attention to places amI their histOries and problems, or to a larger comrnu-

niry of ldenlity and experience. Like street posters, stencils, or Slickers,

'J,

Actions and chain actions t h ~t travel, permeate whole to wns, or :Ippear all over rhe eountr y simultaneous ly to highlight or link cuerem issues. Examples arc John Pekner's stencils in the Bronx, N ew York; the Shadow Project, a nation wide commemoration of H iroshima Day; and Lee Nading's highway ideograms." For decades now a few artists have veraurcd 0 111 into the public

context and made inter active, participato ry, effective, and affective art rd ating to places and the peoplein them. Since the late fifties there have

'"

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' O O~ I" ~ 40 0 "" 0

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been atte mpts by artiS!s ut ili7.ing fo rm, materials, particip ation, cont ext,

and energy that shou ld be going into the mutual and collective ed ucation

and co ntent (e.g., H appenings by Allan Kaprow, Cl aes Oldenburg, and

of artists and bureaucrats and aud iences isn' t av:tilable. O f the peopl e I've written abo ut since 1981 in my colu mns on art,

Ca-olee Schn eeman) to escape from galleries and mu seums . In t he sixties Ihe gerund (t he grammatie.al form of process) o vercame sculptu re, .....hich

politics, and co mmunity,II most arc still o n t rack. Co llabora tion and o rga-

began su tte ring, leaning, hanging, fo lding, stretching, acting out, and

njU l ional suppo rt seem to sustain outreach energies, while "success" and

ot her .....ise mut;uing and mobilizing. Since around 1966 there has been a

the auraction of co nventio nal venues lend to weaken grass-roots invo lve-

body of .....o rk that questio ns all of the struct ures by which an exislS in Ihe

ment, even as they offer higher prof1le o ppo rtuni ties to work in public. A

world -c-rhe modernist myths, the com modi ty SUtuS, effects o n t he ecol-

few highly visible progressive art ists have been able to get their messages

ogy, male and whit e dominance, the precious object, the specialized o r

across to truly large, thoug h not necessarily broad, aud iences by expandi ng t heir media access.

uppe r-class audie nce. and Ihe eultu ral con finement of an ists t hemselves.

Th e ar t worl d's novelty express tr ain, which often rewards the

Pnalleling the develo pment of a socially aware experimen tal an since the sixtie s, a fu gile mo vement for cultural democracy has recogni:r.ed

superficially " new" and igno res tho se who are in for the lo ng haul (un less

art as useful, tho ugh not neecssarily ut ilitarian. T hanks in pan to the

their produces arc n leable), is part ially responsi ble fo r the au ritiO'1 amo ng

wa rne" '5 art moveme nt, which si nce t he earl y seventies llas emphasised

pub lic artists, 1S is the polit ical and econo mic climate. Even as it fails to

social struct ures as form al innovs rio n ( more women make and write abo ut

reach its goals, however, hit- and- run (o r hug-and -sldle-off) art offers

p ~ rtici p uory

tan talizing glimp ses of new entran ces fo r an into everyday life.

public art than men), we have seen a broadening of the no-

Mod ern ist art is always moving figuratively into " uew'trerrain,

tio n of pub lic art into a nurturing as well as entertainin g, pleasure-givi"g,

tl"sting " new " parame ters, demandi ng " new" pandigrns. It remains to be

o r critical enterprise. By the late eighties, rather surprisingly, this impe tus was relatively accepted

Into

the mainstr eam, t hough its antecedents are never acknowl-

edged . nUl the n: is, in fact, litt le fully realized " new genre public art " o ut there yel. The relationships between anist and community have \Isually

seen whethe r t he " new" genre publi c art with which this book is Ca ll ccme d can transcend the boundaries [and the co mml" rcial demand for novelty) that shelter o r imprison even th1l art which moves out into tlie wo rld. Altho ugh I've used the wo rd as much as anyo ne, I' ve come 10

been serially monogamous. Th e art ist (who may live in situ o r may have

understand that a truly pu blic art need

parachuted in) goes o n to so met hing else, and th e co mmunity is often

since the social eerucxts and audiences so crucia l to its fo rmatio n arc ,,/_

insufficiently involved ro co nt inue o r extend the pro ject on irs o wn. Too many m ists who had hoped

to

help change the world th rough making

issuc-o riemed art fo r larger audien ces in more accessible places have be-

w.,s

changing. As I go

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1'1 0 1

be '" new " to be significant,

the ecological art that has been made in the

laSt t wcnty years (especia lly the ephemeral landseape art of the late sixties and early seventies, and the spiritually orie nted feminist art of t he seven-

co me disillusio ned wilh the accomp anying bureaucracy. " Public art sucks "

tics), 1 am simultaneously hea rtened by ils variety and disappoi nted by its

is the o pinio n of one much -respected and lon g-commiucd public an isl.

communicative limitalio ns. Helen Mayer Har riso n says, " We havl" n't

Another rclls me she is finished wuh public art after worki ng for years o n

spok en the voice of the river; cultivate humility..... T he interactive aspl"cts

a project t hai was fully ok ayed and fund ed until an officially co ncocted

of the o Ulreaching an -abo ul- place that has been developed duri ng the last

glitch appeared and .....iped ;1off t he screen. Idealistic ani,!S all over this

few yurs may be fragile and tenta tive, bUI they are budd ing, composred in

co untr y arc being strung up with red tape, marty rs to rhe hopdul cause of

a renewed sense of memory, ready to blosso m if we can creat e a welcomi ng o ut-of -an conte xt (or them to venture into.

a truly pub lic, interactive, participat ory, and progr essive art . T he money

'<><> ~'NG

W >!E R E WE CO U L D BE

T here is no reason to cut the tics tha t bind such an to its home in the com munity, which at wor st con stricts and regulates it and al ben shares ils concerns, offering rt Jp0>lSt-iblt criticism and support . lnstt ad, the task is to establish an add itional set of bo nds radiating 0 1.1 1 to part ieipam ccmmunities, audiences, and other "mugina lizc:d ~ artists, so that the art idea

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mechanisms, into the possibilitiu dll t a life or nt making holds for Ihose temp ted by such risks ? With Iew exceptions, the an schools 'l.1ld departmenu in this country still teach a nineteent h-century notion of the function (or funclionlessness) of art . Th ere arc a few Rart in a social context courses sprinkled arou nd the world," but they remain overwhd med by M

beeon-es. linally, part of the Center-not an elite center sheltered and hid-

conventio nal views. Mon art studen ts, even sophisticated ones, know lin le o r nOlhing about rhe history of attemp ts to break dow n the walls. The

den from pu blic vit w, but an aceessible center to which participants art allr acttd from all sides of art and lift .

Iacr is, we nctd 10 change the syste m under which we live and make art .tS citizens and as art workers . We art laying OUt the ingredients but still

To aUtet perccprio n iudf, we need to apply ideas as well as forms to the ways people see and act withi n and on their surroundings-in muse-

look ing for the recipe. O nce there are morc coo ks, everybody will usc the ingrtdients differently. We cou ld be Rtt'aching Rfuture an -not wllal's

ums, parks, and N ucational institutions. Ideas catch lirt in dialogue, when onc person's cyes light up as anothe r conjures imagt s. Art iudf, as a dema-

already been made, and nor nCi;tssnily in institu tions. Wecould be propagating rhe sources and comexrs of the an thai hasn't been madc yCI. This is

terialiud spark , an act of recognition, can be a eaulyst in all areas of life once it breaks away from the cultu ral conlinemcnt of the muket realm.

where thc absolutely crucial multicultural and interdisciplinary components of an about place come in.

Redefinition of art and artist can help heal a society thal is alienated from ilSlife foren . As Lynn Sowder has said: "We mun shift our d1inking away from bringing grcat an 10th e people to working ""ith people to create art that is mean in~fu 1. " " Feminism and activism ha\'e created models, bu t

Cul ture is what defines place and its me.ming 10 peop le. The apolitical and "cu ltu rd ess ~ cultu re in which moSt of us live in the Unitcd States inevitably leaves us placeless. Tod ay, in tht nineties, some artists have

we've barely touc hed th e depth of complexity with which art could inter-

t!Jat's nOI hierarchal but temporal, ongoing. Some art Iu s become a catalySt

act with society. To change the powe r relations inherent in the way art is now made

ventured to make known a broader sense of culture as a pan of our lives or vehicle for equal exchange among culture s, helping us find our multip lc selves as opposed

10

one-dimcnsional stereotypes. Regard less of class

t ntrgil'T not yet rl'Cogni ud as art. Some of the moSt inleresting an empts arc

and oppo n unity, we all harbor several identilies- religious and political af/'llialions or lack thereof, cultu ral and geograph ical backgro unds , marital

those that reframe not -necessarily-an practices or places by seeing rhem

or parental status, occupation, and so on. To learn to U St these multiple

and distributed, we need to continue to seck ou t new form s bu ritd in social

through the eyes of art. T his, too, is an idea that or iginated in the mid-

idemitie s, not just 10 know ou rselves but to empathi 7-c and work with

sixties. At that time such "lo oking aroued " was the product of a rejection

ot hers, is one of the lessons an interactive art can offer. On e of the work

of art as "precious objects. ~ as more w lff lilling up the world. Thc idca was

gro ups at the "Mapping tile Terrain" conference summarize d: Acn hetics

to look

If the rat's lIest of prob lems that accomp anies any foray out of the

shapes relation ships between people. Co nstant negot ialion s of life arc reenacted and released in art. You can't do communi ty work un less you listen, usc intuition.

StIJdin has deflected marr y artists from new nr old genre pub lic art, tlO artist who has ventu red out returns without being changed, and charged.

Community doesn't mean und erstanding cverything about every. body and re s olvi n~ all the differences; it means knowing how 10 work

l-low cnn we bu ild these changes imo art education, into the career

wit hin differences as they change ,1nd evolve. Critical consciousness is a

M whal was already in the world and transfo rm it imo art by the process nf .~ cc i n g- n a m i n g and pointing ou t- rather than producing.

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process o f rewg nizing bOlh limita tion s and po ssibi lities. We need

10

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relat ion ship s an d histor ical co ns tructio ns of pla~e . Wle need artists to gu ide

laboratc with small and larg e social, pol it ical, specialized gro ups of peo ple

us rhroug h the sensu ou s, kin esthetic resp on ses to topography, to lead us

already info rme d o n and imme rsed in th e issues. An d we need

into the archaeology and resu rrect ion o f land -ba sed soc ial h islory, to bring

10

teach

them to welcome art ists, to u nd erstand ho w Mt can concretize and en vi-

o ut multiple read ings o f places that mean different things to d ifferent peopl e

sion their hoals. At th e same t ime we need to co llaborate with th ose wh ose

.1ml at d ifferent time s. And th ere is mu ch we can learn from the iron ically

bac kRrou nds and maybe foregrou nds are un familiu to us , rejccting th e

labeled " primiriv e" cult ure s "b out u ndersta nd ing ou rselves as part of

insidiou s noti o ns o f "divc rsiry" thaI simp ly neut ral ize diffe ren ce. Empalhy and excha nge are key wor d s. Even for int eractiv e

anworkers who have

all the r ight ideas, elit ism is a hard habit to kick . N o thing t hat exclude s the places of peo ple o f co lor, wom en, lesbia ns, gays, o r working peo p le can be

nature, interd epend ent with ever ythi ng in it-c-hccau sc natu re includ es ever ything, even techn olo gy, created by humans, wh o arc part o f natu re, Wh:lt wou ld it be like, :ln art produ ced by th e im:lgin:ltion :lnd respo nses o f its view ers or users? H ow can art acriv sre loca l act ivities and

called inclusive, un iversal, or healin g. To find th e wh ole we must know

local vnlucs ? Wit h ade qu ate fund ing reso urces, publi c art ists might set up

and respec t " II th e pans. So we need to weave a relat ion ship and reciprocal theo ry o f multi-

social and po litical spaces in which energies cou ld come to gether. di alogue

plicity about who we n e, wh at is ou r place, and how our cu ltu re affecta

in relat ion to rhc famil iar "f ramin g" st rategy, in wh ich wh at is alre.l d y

o ur enviro nme nt. We need to know " lot mo re ab out how o ur wo rk "HCC IS

there is put in sh arp relief by th e add it io n o f an art of calling atten tion.

and disa ffect s the peo ple exposed to it, wh eth er and hn w it docs and docs

«Parasit ic " art forms, like co r rected bill bo ard s, can ride th e dominan t

co mm unic ate. T his tOO ca n be bu ilt into experim ental educ atio n in

cu lture physically whi le challe nging it politicall y, creat ing o pe nly co n-

1"'1

and alternatives o r oppo sit ion co uld be concretized. Thcse mig ht be seen

bot h an histo ry and stu dio co urses (the two rem ain absurd ly separa led at

test ed terr ains th at expos e th e tru e ide rllities of existing pbces and spaces

mOS I scho o ls).

and th eir function in social co nt ro l. Another set o f possi bilities is art thaI

To return to th e not ion of place, art can no t be a centering (grou nd ing) device un less th e artis t her self is cente red and grou nde d. This is nor to

activ ates t he co nscious ness of a place b y subtle markin(;s without disturb. ing it- a boo klet gu ide, walking to ur s, o r di rectional sign s capt ioning the

say th at th e alien ated, th e di sori ent ed, th e derac inarcd. t he nomadic [i.c.,

hist o ry o f " hou se o r a fam ily, suggesting t he dep th s o f a landscape, th e

mos t o f us) cannot nu ke art. Bill SQme po rtable place mus t rest in ou r

ch aracte r of a co mm u nit y.

souls . Perh ap s we arc luck y enough to hav e so me sust aini ng ch unk of "nature"

10

nou rish us. Per hap s the cit y is just as satisfy ing. Perh aps the

stu dio is the d en wh ere we lick o ur wound s, dr eam u p images, p lan new

Art is o r shou ld be gen ero us. Bu t arti sts can on ly give what th ey receive from th eir sou rces. Believing as J d o tha t co nnectio n to place is a necessary co mpo nen t o f feeling clos e 10 peo ple , to the eart h, I wo nde r wh at

slrategies, gath er the st reng t h to go om again. Perh aps t he limitalion s o f

wi ll make it possible for arti st s to «give" pl aces back to people who can no

the ivory gallery and th e pag es o f art maga?in es arc stu nting th e gro wth of

lon ger see th em. Becau se land plu s people-their pr esence and absence-is

an art that d reams of str id ing fearlessly into th e streets, int o the u nkn o wn,

wh at make s place reso nat e. Ahe-narives will have to emerge o rganically

to mcer an d mingle with others ' lives.

fro m th e artists' lives and expe rie nces. And th ey wo n 't u nless a b roader set

As "onvisionaries;' art ists sho uld. be able to provide a wa y to

o f option s is laid out by th ose wh o arc explo ring rhese " n ew~ ter ritor ies.

wo rk :I~a inSl the do minant cult ure's rap aciou s view of nature (~ M :l n ifcH

The arti st has to be a parti cipa nt in process as well as its d irecto r, has to " live

D estin y"), to reinstat e th e mythical and cuh ura l dim ension s to "pub!ic"

t here" in so me way-physically,sy mbo lically, 0 1 el11 pathet ically.

exper ience and

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sec t he mu rals of Los Tres Grandes or the ritual sand paintings and totems of Nativ e peoples. So meone s~id t h~ l the purpose of a monument is to

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br ing t he past into t he present to inspire the future. Monuments may be like the adobe fo rmed from the mud of a place Into the buil din g blo cks of

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cnt i m ~ges to mind in e~e h of us. Perh ~p s some of us envisio n the frescoes and statues of the [t~lian R el1~; s s ane e or C hriSlO's umbrellas. while oth ers

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their purpose may be to invcsngarc and reveallhe memory co n-

tained in the ground beneath a "public site, " mark ing ou r passages as ~ people and re-visioning official histOry. As art ists creal ing the rnouum ents

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of t he nineties, the ultima te question far us to co nsider is, What shall we choo se to memorialize In o ur lim e?

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O ver the pnst t wenty years ~ s .1 public artis t, I have been stru ck by how our co mmo n legacy in public art is deriv ed from the "cannon -in-rhc-

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at Sunda y picnics. T he pur pose was to evoke a l ime past in which d' e , . d 1'. I',i<, i. ' 110." /II.... nO ' ('01 , ), ,-11 ,

"splendid lriumphs" and "struggles of o ur forefathers" shifted the co urse

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par k" impuls e, which causes us to d rag Oil! the rusty cannons fro m pas! wars, po lish them up, an(l place the m in the park fo r ehild ren to crawl over

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of history. These expositions were meant to inspir e an awe of o ur gre.1 t nation's power to assert its militar y will and prevail over enemies. Runnin g o ur hands over the po lished bro nze, we shared in these victor ies and became cnlisrcdio these causes. Never mind if fo r us as peopl e of colo r they were not o ur forefath ers, o r even if the triumphs were often over our own peop le. A more co ntempo rary example of di sp!~ ying cannons in th e par k

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occurred dur ing the prom enade of military weapons

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ingron, D.C. , immed iately aftef America declared victory in the G ulf

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War. In an exhibition prepared fo r A m e r i c ~ n families in rho adlo ini'll; Slllil hso n;al1 Insnnnion Ha ll of Science, a grandfatherly voice (sollnll' "g

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rcmu kably like Ronald Ru gan) soothed us into believing the war was a

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wh ich displaced a historic Mexican community; Bunker Hill, now home

bloodless, compllu:rized science demonstra tion of gigantic proport ions.

to a premier arts center, which displaced aeorhe r; and the less well docu -

Young American men with adroit reflexes trained by:t video -game ClillU re

mented hin or y of how four major freeways intersected in the middle of

demonStraled our superi ority as a nation over Saddam H ussein th rough

East Los Angeles's Chicano communities. O ne of the mOSl eatastrc phic

video-sc reen slrategic air strikes. From the Irium pha nt bronze general on horseback-the public's

consequ ences of an endless real estate boom was the concreting of the enrire Los Angeles River, on which the ciry was fou nded. T he river, as the

view of which is rhe underside of gallopi ng hooves-to its more contem-

earth 's arte ries- thus atr ophi ed and hardened-ccrened a giant scar across

pou.ry corpo rate versions, we find eumpln of public an in the service of dominance. By the ir daily presence in our lives, these artw ork s intend to

the land whic h served to furth er divide an already divided city. II is this metap hor that inspired my own half-mile-long mu ral on the history of

~rs uade us of the justice of the seu they represent. The power of the

ethnic peoples painted in the Los Angeles river conduit. Ju st a$ yo ung

corpo rate spo nsor is embodied in the sculptu re su nding in front of the

C hicanos la UOO battle scars on their bodies, the Grtaf Wall of LOJ Angeles

Inwer;ng office build ing. T hese grand work s, like their military predeces-

is a tatt oo on a scar where the river once ran.' ln it reappear the disa p-

sors in the park s, inspire a sense of awe by their K;lle and the importance of the artist. Here, public art is unashamed in its int ention 10 mediate

peared stones of eth nic populations th at make up the labor force which built our city, srarc, and nation .

between Ihe public and Ihe developer. In a - lhings go do wn beuc r with public u t" ment alu y, the biue r pills of developm ent arc deli vered 10 the

many inna nces, art uses beauty as a false promise of inclusion . Beauty

publ ic. While percent -fer -art bills have heralded developers' creation of amenable public places as a positive side effeel of Kgrowth," every inch of urban space is swallowed by skyscrapers and privatized inlo the so-ca lled public space of shopping malls and corporate plazas. T hese developm ents predcrermi nc the pub lic, selecting O UI the homeless, vendon, :tdo leseents,

Public art often plays a suppo rtive role in develope rs' agendas. In ameliora tes the erasure of ethnic presence, serving the transformation into a homogenized visual culture: give them something beautiful to stand in for the loss of their right to a public presence. Two N ew York - based artis ts w('re selected to decor ate the lobby of the new skyscrape r of First Interstate Bank in downtown Los Angeles. To represent muh iw hur alism

urban poor, and people of color. Planters, benches. and other· public arllen;ties Karc suspect as potential hazards or public loitering places. Re-

in Los Angeles, they chose angels from the Basilica. of Santa Maria dq;li

cent attempts in Los Angeles to pass laws 10 stop or severely restrict push-

Europ ean angels, "b orr owingKthe pr e-Columbian feathered serpent

cart vCIlI/cdorCI from sd ling tloItJ, fr ut,u , pa/ef tlf. and raJpadoJ made

Qucrzalcoetl from the Au ecs, the cro wned mahogany headpiece from Nigerian masks, and the eagle's wings from our N ative peoples as "em-

aelivists of noruggreesive merchants who had silemly approp riated pub lic

Angeli near Assisi, h aly. Th ey then lacked eth nic emblems ont o the

spaces in lar ~e1 y Latino sections of our city. Vendt dorcJ, loved by the

blems of a variety of cultu res." Th ese symbols replaced th e real voices of

peop le for offering not only pop ular produ cts but familiar reminders of

people of colo r in a city torn by the greatest civil disord er in the United

their hom elands, provide a Latino presence in pub lic spaces. Any 105$ of

States in decades. At the ded icatio n, which loo k place shortly after the

bottf nicaJ, mtrcadoJ, vcndtJo res, and things familiar reinforces segreg:!-

as ,1 100110 colonize and displace elhnie commu nities. l nh mous develop-

rebellion (the Los Angeles riots of 1992), black and Lai no children unveiled the angels in an elaborate ribbo n-cutti ng ceremony . Hailed by the developers u a great symbol of · unity,- these artifacts stood in for the real peopl e in a city terrified of the majoril Yof its citizens. Tragiea.lly, the

ments abou nd in public record , if not consciousness-Dod ger Stadiu m,

SSOO,OOOspent on this single work was more than the whole eifYbudgel

non. as ethnic people disappear 10 anot her corner of the city. Los Angeles provides clear and abundant eumplcs of developmen t

10

fund public murals by et hnic arlisu who wo rk wilhin Los Angeles's

co ncept o l " ma.n over natur e- on .....hich Ihis count ry was founded, a heri-

d iverse C hinese, African America n, Korean. T hai, Ch icano, and Unl NI

tage of thought t hat has brou ght us c1ear·cuning in first growth fore us and

American neighbo rhoods. Nn singk view of public space and Ihe arl Ihal occup ies il will wo rk

co ncrete co nduiu t hat kill rivers as an acceptabl e meth od of flood co ntrol.

in a mct ro po li., of multiple perspectives. While compeliliorl lor publ ic

T hese: ideas find rheir parallel in the late mode rnist and poStmodernist culu 01the exalted individual, in which personal vision and originality are

space ~ro w s daily, cult unl communilies call for if to be used in d r;l.mali-

highly valued. As a solitary creato r the artin values self-expressio n and

cally d ifferenl ways. Wha t co mes into qu estio n is th e very d ifferenl sensi-

"artistic freedom" (or separateness ral her than co nnectedness). H e is

bilities or ord er and beauty that op erat e in different cultures. When

therefore responsible o nly 10 himself rather t han to a shared vision, failing

Cilriuo, for example, loo ked lo r the firsl lime at £ 1Tejo n Pass, he saw

10 recon cile the individual to the whole.

pOlelllial. He saw the po lent ial lo create beau ty wit h a pcrso nal vision

Whe n the nature of El Tejon Pu s-a place k now n to locals for its

imposed on thc landsc.ape-a bc.auty th.at fil his individual vision of yello w

high winds-asserted iu elf d uring C hris to's project and up roo ted an

umbrellas flunering in the wind, march ing up tbe sides of rolling hills.

um brella planl ed in the ground, causing the tragic death of a woman who

TIle land became his canvas, a backdro p for his perso nal aesthetic. Native peop le might loo k atlhe same landscape wilh a very differ-

had co me 10 see the wo rk, C hriSto said, "My pro ject imitates real life." I co uld n't help musing o n what a diffe rent project it would have been had

cut idea nf beauty, a beauty withoUl impositio n. T hey mighl sec a per'[ect

the beautiful yellow umbrellas march ed through Skid Ro w, where L05

orde r exemplified in nature itself, imegral ln a spirit ual life gro unded in

Angel es's 140,000 ho meless lie in t he rain . Art can no long er be tied to the

place. Nature is not to be tampered with ; hence, a plant taken requires an

no nfuncrionalist st ate, relegated by an "arl for art 's sake- t yranny. Would

offering in return . Richard Ray Whi tman, a Yaqu i arlist, said, ·Scienlifi-

it nOIhave been more beautiful to shelter peop le in need of sheller, a ges·

cally co hesive-I am the ato ms, molecules, blood , and du n of my ances-

tu re and state ment abo ut ou r failure as a society to provi de even the most

to rs-not as histo ry, but as a co ntinuing people. We describe o ur culture

basic needs 10 the poor? Why is it nOt possible for public art to do more

as a circle. by which we mean lhn it is an iht egrated whole .-, Maintaining

Ihan · imitate-life? Pub lic art co uld be j1/Seplmtbfe Iro m the daily life or

a relatio nship wilh the dun of one's ancestors requ ires a generatio nal

the people for which it is created . Developed

rcl.u io nship with ,he land and a respectful rreatmcm of ot her life found

puh lic space, it cou ld have a fu nction with in the co mmunity and even

011

the land . O r perhaps N ative peoples could not rhink o r this area with ou t

recalling FOr! Tejo n, o ne of Ihe nrs t Ca lifornia Ind ian reservations esob-

10

live harmoniou sly in

provide a venue fo r t heir voices. For t he Mexican sensibility, an impor tant manifesta tion of pub lic ar t is a wo rk by Mexican artis t David Alfaro Siquciros o n Los Angeles's

lished ncar t his site in rhe Tehachap i Moumains, placed the re to " pro tect"

hist oric O lvera Suect. Thi s 19J 3 mural, pain ted o ver fo r nearly sixly years

Ind ians rounded u p Iro m various neighbo ring areas, most of whose cui-

by city fathers becau se of its portrayal of the plighl of Mnicanos and

l ures have be en en tirely dest royed . In C hristo's and the Na tive visions we

C hicanos in Califo rnia, is currently in resroreeion. Siqueiros depic ted as

have IWOd ifferen l aeSlhelic sensibilities, as divergent as the nineteenth -

the central figures a mestizo shooling at the American eagle and a crucified

century English manicu red garden is from t he rugged natura l New Mexi·

C hieanoiMexicano. Whi le Ihis mu ral is beco mingM useo·ficd, with mil-

can landscape of the Sangre de C risto Moun u ins. Perhaps a less benign implicatio n of C hristo's idea is that landscape

lions of dollars pro vided by t he Gett y foundat ion lor its preser vation and

untouch ed by man is "un dcvelopcdland." T his is a coruin uario n of the

images would most likely be censored if paint ed today on Los Angeles's

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re-presentatio n 10 the publi c, it is impo rtant to recognize t hat the same

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r streets. T he subject maner is u relevant no w. sixty years later, as it was

mU la ge from the boy in tht' principal's o ffice said, - I need you to come

then. Murals de picting the domi nat ion o f and resistance by l os Angeles's

her e righl away because I' m going to get Ih ro wn OUt of school again.·

Latinos or ot her po pulations of color provok e the "me official resistance

My deal with the boy, fo rmulated over a long merno rship, waslhilt he

u they d id in 19) ) , Despitc t hese s l ru &gl e~. mur als have been the o nly

wo uld not quit schoo l agilin with out talk ing to me firn. I arri ved to find

interventio ns in pu blic spaces that art iculat e the p resence of erhniciry .

the principal towcring o ver the young (bolo, who was holdin g his head in

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a dcfiant manner I had seen ov er ilnd over in my wor k with the gangs.

tics o f colo r in OUTcilY.

Th is stance, reminiscent o f a wurior, called unce remo nio usly - ho ld ing

As co mp<:litin n fo r pub lic space has gro w n, pu blic U I po licies have

yo ur mug,- is abou t maintaininGd ignity in adverse eirt u msu nccs. The

beco me calcified and increasingly bur eau cratic. An Ill,,! is um::tio ned h...s

p rincipal was co mpletely frust rated . " You' ve writte n o n t he school's walls

lost th e polit ic,,] bi te o r th e sevent ies mur,,1s. Nev ertheless. a rich legacy of

and yo u simp ly d o not have respect for ot her people's pro perty. Tell me,

murals ha been produced since Amt r;,. Tropicltl was painted on O lvera

would yo u do this in you r ow n house! " I co uld n't help but smile at his

Srreet by the maest ro. T ho un nds o f public mu rals in places wh~r~ people

adm o nition , d espite the serious ness o f th e situation. This boy was an

live "nd work have become tanGib l~ pub lic mo num ents 10 the shared

imponant gn ffiti arti n in his co mmu nity. I had visited his house and sct'n

ellperience o f cOlnmullitit's of col or. C hiuno mu rals have provided the

t he walls o f his roo m, where every inch was co vered with his int rie:u e

l e ~ d t' r sh ip

writings. Two differ ent notions o f uea.uty and o rd er were o per~li ng , as

and the form for o ther co mmu nities to assert their presence and

artitu lale t heir issues. Today, wo rks appear th at speak o f child ren caught

well as a disp ute abo ut o wners hip o f the school. Th e bo y's o pinio n was

in t ht trnss fire of gang warfare in the burios of Sylmu , the hidd en penh-

thilt he had au thetiully imp roved the propert y, nOt d estro yed it.

lem o f AIDS in the Sout h-Central Afriu n America n co mmu nity, and the

At [h is ti me the co nd itio ns o f ou r co mmu nities are wo rse Iha n t hose

sn uggles o f i m m i~n t io n and 'Issimil:u io n in the Korea n co mmuni ty. T hese

thilt precipitated the civil rig hts activ ism o f t he sixtics and seven ties. Fifry-

mu rals have becom e mo nu ments that serv e 'ISa co mmunit y's memory.

two percent of all African American children and Iony-twc perc cnt o f all

Th e gene ration s who grew up in neighbo rhood s whe re the land scape was dcned by t he munl mo vement have been influen ced by these

Lati no childr en arc living in po vert y. Dropout rates exceed high schoo l graduation ratt's in these co mmun itics. W hat, t hen, is the ro le o f a soc ially

wo rks. Wit h few avenues o pe n to training.and art p rod uc tio n, eth nic

re-spon sible public artist? As the wealth y and poo r are increasing ly po lar-

tecn ilgers have created the graffit i art that has beco me another met hod o f

ized in o ur soc iet y, Ieee-to- face urba n co nfro ntations occ u r, o fte n with

rC5ist ing priu t iud pub lic space. As th e 11m visual art form ent irely devel-

eatasirc phic co nsequences. Ca n pub lic art avoid co rning down o n the side

o ped by yo ut h cultu re, it hn beco me the focu s o f increasingly severe

o f wealth and d ominance in that co nfro ntat ion? H ow can we as an isu

repr isals by aut ho rities w ho spend fillJ-two m illion doll. ,., an nually in Ihe

"void becoming acco mplices to t o lo nizatio n? If we chose not

Ccun ry o f Los Angeles to abatc what they refer to as the - ski n caneer o f

tr iump hs over nations and neigh bo rhoods as vict ories and adv ancements,

soc ict y.- It is no ilccid cnt thilt thc proliferat io n o f graffiti is co ncu rrent

w hat monu ment s co uld we build? How can we create a public memor y

wit h the redu ct ion of all youth recreat ion and

fo r a many -cultured societ y? Wh ose sto ry shall we tell?

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programs in the schoo ls.

Work ing with communities in producing pu blic artwo rks has put

10

loo k al

O f great esr interest to me is t he in vention of syste ms o f " vo ice

me into co ntact with many o f t hese yo uths. On o ne occ asio n, 1 wu called

giving" for tho se left wil ho ut pu blic vee ues in which to speak, Socially

to a loca l high school after having co nvinced o nc of the yo ung Grc.t W..ll

respo nsible art ists from nlarg inalizcd co mm u nities have a pariicular re.

p roduction tcam members t hat he sho uld retu rn 10 school. The urgent

sponsibility to art ieulate the co nditio ns o f thei r people- and to prov ide

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cata lysIs for change. since percepti on s o f U$ as ind ividu als aT C tied to the co nd itions of o ur co mmu nities in a racially u nsophisticat ed soc iety. We

CO M M O N W O R K

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canno t escape t hat respo nsibility even when we choos e to lrYi we are made o f the " blood and du st - o f ou r ancesto rs in a con tinuing histo ry. Being 11 calalyst for change will change us also .

We can evaluate ou rselves by rhe processes w ieh w hich we choose

to make an , not simply by the art ob jects we create. Is t he artw ork the

Ov er the past decade, those of us interested in a serious and challenging

result of a pr ivate act in a pub lic spa cc~ Focusing on the object devoid of

pub lic art have heard often of the benefits of collabo ration between u tists and archite<:lS. Th e convention al w i ~ d om is that ul i st ~ bri og a fresh. uncn-

t he creative pr oc ess used to ach ieve it has ba nkrupted Eu rocc ntric mod -

ernis t and posl modc rn in traditi o ns. Art proces ses, ju st as art objects. may

be cultu rally specific. and with no single aesthet ic, a diverse society will generate very different form s of public art. Who is the public now that it hu changed color? H ow do peop le of

cumbered sense of design to architeclUral projects, and that the peculiaritics of the artist's ego-tenter 50mchow enliven the otherwise conventional, corpo rate'sqJl t environments arehittcts come up with too much of the time. The artisr is assumed to be Irccr than the architect. and freedom is assumed

various ethnic and e1u s groups use public space? What ideas do we want

to be art. The architcct is rcgard ed as a relative technician by comparison,

to place in pub lic memory? Where does art begin and end ? ArtistShave the

constrained as he or she is by the legal, fiscal. and material lilllitations of the trade. The idea is that as artists and arch itccts ·eo ltabora te~ architecture ""ill lx: made mort human, or at lean more art-lik('. Art- likenes.s is assumed 10 be mor e humane.

unique ability to transcend designated spheres of activity. What rep resents something deepe r and mor e hopeful about the futur e of our eth nically and clan-divided cities arc collaoo n tions that move well beyo nd the Ht ist and architect to the artist and the histor ian, scientist. environmentalist. or social service provider. Such collaborations Ire mand ated by the seriousness of

Conventional wisdom aside, true colbboratinn among artists and architccts rarely happens. Given the stereotypical ways in which we sec

the tasks at hand. They bring a n nge of people into conversations about their visions for their neighbo rhoods or their nation s. Finding a place for those ideas in monuments thlt are constructed of the soil and spirit of the

each other. it's no wo nder. What passes today for collabo ratio n tends in fact to be a frustrating process of co mpromise and co ncession. Th e archi-

people is the lOon challenging task for public art ists in th is time.

services. often must fight for recognition as members of a ~ design team:

tect is almon always in charge. and artists, wh o arc paid very little for their Moreover, in Our society the conditions arc not ulually safe for collabora-

N O T ES

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tion to occur. Th e loss of professiona l identity is at stake. and in corpe n te America, professional ident ity is often all one has. Given this territor ial antagon ism and the bureaucratic hassles of the public sector (which i~ usually the designated "client - in 11 public art{archi,ecture pro ject), many artists have simply given up and gone back to the studio. Perhaps the most typical misunderstanding archilecu have about artisu is that they want to build "art " into the project,or that they want to make the architecture iuel (; that is, that artists want to play at being archi' ects. There is some truth 10 this. Perhaps the most typica l misunderstand ing

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