2006 Workshop

Malado Baldwin (USA)
Laura Belem (Brazil)
Andras Bojti (Hungary)
Rodrigo Bruna (Chile)
Richie Budd (USA)
Lucie Chaumont (France)
Hee Jung Cho (USA/Korea)
Roberto Coromina (Spain)
Amy Croft (UK)
Samantha Donnelly(UK)
Gregory Forstner (France)
Guillaume Mathivet (France)
Nora Herting (USA/NY)
Jack Holden (UK)

Jason Lujan (USA/NY)
Els Vanden Meersch (Belgium)
Jim Morris (USA)
Edgar Orlaineta (Mexico)
Avani Patel (USA)
John Rasimus (Sweden)
Ricardo Rendon (Mexico)
Mana Rouholamini (Canada)
Michael Schall (USA/NY)
Michael Soi (Kenya)
David Webb (UK)
Allison Wiese (USA)
Rosemary Williams (USA)

 

Events

Politics of Art: Democracy and Selection in the Art World (Exhibitions, Biennials, Residencies)
Panel Discussion
Monday, October 2, 6pm
Location: 20 Jay Street, Ground Level

Panelists:
Trevor Smith, Curator of The New Museum for Contemporary Art (moderator)
Jane Farver, Director of The List Visual Arts Center at MIT List
Tumelo Mosaka, Assistant Curator of The Brooklyn Museum of Art
Marsha Pels, Artist and Triangle Board Member
Christian Rattemeyer, Curator of Artists Space

Many observers criticize the art world for being an elitist jungle, and others argue that it is necessarily so, and always has been. A quick scan of the most visible events during the course of any one year: from major exhibitions, survey exhibitions or institutional group shows, to biennials, art fairs and gallery events will see a number of names appearing recurrently. A closer investigation will reveal numerous crossovers. Many of the major art fairs share selection committee members, for example, or include dealers from different galleries who also tend to share the same artists. That many of these same artists are also those visible in museum shows worldwide, suggests that the top end of the art world is a self-protective closed shop- OR that these are simply the best artists, (and galleries) of the moment.

Further down the scale, on national and local levels the equation generally seems to repeat itself, and it seems that everywhere today, innovatory new art is already official when it becomes visible. The impossibility of the existence of an unofficial "avant-garde" was described by Joseph Beuys as "the principle of disaster." Beuys, of course championed democracy in art, but it seems that this notion, however hypothetical it may have been, has long since disappeared, and indeed the idea, and even the term "avant-garde" have similarly fallen into disuse.

These issues are vast ones, and for our panel discussion, we were interested in exploring the question of democracy or the lack of it in the selection processes that exist in the art world, on local, national and international levels. It seems particularly apt to discuss these questions from the vantage point of the self-styled capital of the art world, and on the occasion of the launch of an event (the Triangle ArtistsÕ Workshop), bringing together almost thirty artists from all corners of the globe.

More Photos

©2005 Triangle Arts Association. All rights reserved.
All photos ©2005 Etienne Frossard, unless otherwise noted. Design by Mark Forscher.