DOCUMENTS OF RESISTANCE 1 @ Free University NYC – July 5, 2014

Uncovering histories and amplifying voices. Letters of protest by artists of color, past and present. 

“Subtleties of Resistance” Free University NYC @ Kara Walker/Creative Time

Freeuniversitynyc.org | free.artinoddplaces.org

Why did people of color protest museums and art institutions in the 1960s and ‘70s, and has anything changed today? Inspired by the Civil Rights movement, Black and Puerto Rican artists began organize themselves during the 60s and 70s. Spiral, and later the Black Emergency Arts Coalition, The Puerto Rican Art Workers Coalition, AWC Black Bloc all questioned the position of people of color in major New York museums, galleries, and other cultural institutions. Many demands were made to the Metropolitan Museum, Whitney Museum, and the MoMa. These groups demanded that more artists of color be included in all levels of the museum operation–from staff, directors, and curators, to exhibiting artists and permanent collections.

[Protest letters and documents from people of color from the 60s/70s and the recent open letters will be distributed by Arts & Labor Alternative Economies Working Group in anticipation of “Alternative To What?”, a collaborative group reading series exploring the idea of ‘alternatives’ in the art world.]

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