2012.1.20, the Novad(s) -‐ to mØma!
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[Part III]
HEY mØma! wHy U STEAL teh BANNERz?? ?? : The Value of "the Banner" and of All Artistic Objects (In Themselves) for the Art Handlers Union and for all People Exploited in the Service of Art ...NOTHING AT ALL of monetary value was created on Friday, January 13, 2012, when "the Banner" to which this title refers was dropped in YOUR Museum of Modern Art (hereafter, mØma) in New York City. But there was something going on in which things occurred. Let us see if we can understand a few of them. But first, for some context: "The Banner" in question was an art object which bore a set of text and images portraying something like the subject of the following:
2012.1.20, the Novad(s) -‐ to mØma!
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<on red velvet> <in whitish blue acrylic> MOMA: </in whitish blue acrylic> </on red velvet> <on black felt> <in white acrylic> When </in white acrylic> <in gold acrylic> Art [curvy, zig-zaggy stylized font] </in gold acrylic> <in white acrylic> Is Just A </in white acrylic> <in gold acrylic> <w/ white chalk outline> <FONT: stylized block-ish> Luxury </FONT: stylized block-ish> </w/ white chalk outline> </in gold acrylic> <in white acrylic> "Art" Is A </in white acrylic> <in red acrylic><FONT: block-ish> <b> LIE </b> </FONT: block-ish></in red acrylic> </black felt> <on orange silky fabric> <in dark blue acrylic> SOTHEBY'S: </in dark blue acrylic> </on orange silky fabric> <black felt> <in white acrylic> HANG (A)RT [circle A, duh!] NOT [in a diagonal-wise line] <in chalk> [X-eyed Hangman body strung from roof of the T] </in chalk> <FONT: something serif> WORKERS [in a similarly diagonal-wise line] <in chalk> [X-eyed Hangman bodies hang from most edges of WORKERS, and bodies piled up under the S] </in chalk> </FONT: something serif> </in white acrylic> <on black felt> <on red velvet> <in chalk> [X-eyed Hangman face] </in chalk> <FONT: bubble><b outline> END YOUR LOCKOUT </b outline> </FONT: bubble> </on red velvet> </on black felt> [red velvet t a s s e l] + [a n c i e n t k e y]
2012.1.20, the Novad(s) -‐ to mØma!
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[You can find the above-described art object documented in various forms by following these links: Photo album: "#OCCUPYWALLSTREET MoMA Action" https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3053492618949.166473.1312313911&typ e=3 YouTube video: #J13 #OCCUPYMUSEUMS #OCCUPYWALLSTREET - MoMA BANNER DROP @ DIEGO RIVERA" http://youtu.be/xHjGlX-M21c] “The Banner” was thrown over the glass of mØma's 5th floor atrium balcony, on the northwest side. "The Banner" was unfurled at approximately 7:30 pm (or a few minutes after). One Mic Check later (which enunciated each word of the sign), and one rousing chant of "All Day, All Week...", and suddenly "the Banner" was being pulled up by mØma security guards, only about 1 min. after drop. An account of the dialogue prior to its removal went in the following manner: "Excuse me, ma'am, you can't hang that here."
"Oh really? I'm sorry, I didn't know that..." And, with that, the banner's holders -- names of H and G (and in THAT order!) -- were pulled into a down-going elevator and escorted out of the building. The following is an approximation of their conversation over the course of their trip, based on eye-witness accounts. LJ Hartman, Director of Security: Oh and we've been so nice to you all day... H: Well, I just got here so I'm not going to say... LJHDoS: You can't take that with you. H: But it's ours. Why can't we keep it? LJHDoS: Don't worry, we'll hold on to it... G: ....well you have to promise not to destroy it. LJHDoS: Oh of course not. We really appreciate artists here at mØma. This is "art." We may even hang it up some day... [H & G lay the still-wet painted banner out to dry on the floor of a storage area; some minutes later, as they are being ushered toward the door LJ puts in some final words] LJHDoS: Truth is...it'll probably just end up hanging in my office.
Thus was "the Banner" coercively donated to the Museum of Modern Art of the City of New York. And to what end no one yet does know! What exactly has been accomplished here or therein? Was there some further victory in receiving the mØma's blessings, to collect our piece for its collection of rich and varied treasures? Despite the fact that "the Banner" had subversively entered and flown in the white hallowed atrium, having foiled the flustered security guards, and disrupted the steady flow of artconsuming tourists who were forced to have their steady gaze broken by an act of spontaneous creativity, the mØma might seem to have GOT OFF scot free.
2012.1.20, the Novad(s) -‐ to mØma!
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2012.1.20, the Novad(s) -‐ to mØma!
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We think NOT. The words of COERCIVE DONATION! should be heard from the tips of the skyscrapers, down to the gallows of every beast, in the sounds of every hall, and in the walls of every womb.
COERCIVE DONATION! A process by which the elite have required us to acknowledge their supreme judgment and appreciation of what is OUR ART. mØma's guilt in this act of COERCIVE DONATION!, as in their pocket absolution of Sotheby's attempts to bust Art Handlers Union, must be repaid! But NOT in monetary OR contractual obligations. Rather: in Respect. (And perhaps, a donation in kind: Self-Respect.) Thus, we finally come to a thesis re: our subject here: i.e. value, viz. the value of "the Banner" and All Artistic Objects (In Themselves). For 1, if you still think in terms of value of this object by monetary standards, then the answer is simple:
NOT HING AT ALL. So it is in all objects of art or otherwise.
This thing and these things are both within our minds and without them. ....errr, weird? They are a set and a set which includes itself! hmm...errrr.... paradox? This thing is a set of some thing which even excludes itself! ....aaaagGGHHHHHHHH, TRUTH!
2012.1.20, the Novad(s) -‐ to mØma!
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"ART IS NOT BUSINESS!...Art is like white clouds in blue sky! ART IS CHEAP!" (Req'd reading: the WHY CHEAP ART? manifesto by Bread & Puppet Glover, Vermont. 1984) <http://www.aisling.net/bus/cheapart.htm>
[Thus,] what is the value of the object in mØma's hands, the pile of rags now sitting somewhere below ground, locked somewhere within the hollow walls?
NOTHING A T ALL. This is not a donation. This is a message. What? Is it so hard to believe??? That object has already passed into the annals of history! And now, the object's sole existent purpose and its only relevant value is to resurrect or recall conceptions of what the thing already was! And yet, do we not have that already? The thought, the smoke, the motivation, the imagination, the thoughtful consideration, the sketches, the drafts, the hopeful gasps, the assumption, the ambition, the (im?)perfect contrition, the delay, the documentation, the people, the guards, the stress, the pass, the ascent, the sneak, the sight, the ORGASM!, & the speechlessness after, the slow come-down, the thoughts, the fury, the thoughts, the fury....the silence. Do we not still have all of THAT?
NOTHING AT ALL. Perhaps there may yet remain some textural flavors which belong to it which cannot be simply be recalled via the photograph, the oral history, the exciting story of how it was smuggled in and dropped from on high! THUS, must it not be the case that this art MUST BE TOUCHED? How can the mOma, the King of All "HANDS-OFF! the 'public art'" institutions, ever claim to legitimately exhibit it? How can they NOT but mar the value and flaunt their injustice by disrespecting the intention for this ephemeral act-cident of nature? To paraphrase an apt proverb (often in use today),
2012.1.20, the Novad(s) -‐ to mØma!
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FL*OCK the mØma!
They proclaim themselves to be the police, the guardians of our culture! This is not a donation. This is NOTHING AT ALL. This is a curse. FL*OCK the mØma for STEALING OUR BANNER. FL*OCK the "GUARDIANS" of OUR CULTURE. This thing is not worth ANY money (which seems to be the only thing that they can understand). This is not a donation. ONLY WE ARE OUR CULTURE; SO LET US PROTECT IT; FL*OCK mØma FOR STEALING OUR CULTURE; WE CAN PROTECT OURSELVES. FL*OCK the mØma. WE CAN PROTECT OURSELVES.
2012.1.20, the Novad(s) -‐ to mØma!
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Love, The Novad(s) P.S. You took this thing. You took it for the wrong reasons. It's up to you to recognize what you did wrong. We leave it up to you to decide how to right your wrongs. P.P.S. But perhaps all of this -- the denouncements, the demands, the overzealous rhetoric (which even we can recognize - we know we're in a sadomasochistic relationship with the mØma...but HEY! they created a PERFECT SPACE for us to hang a loooooooongggg-assssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss banner!) -- even this can serve as an invitation. An invitation to recollection, mØma. We want to PLAY with ART! To Revolution. We want PLAY with ART! To Self-respect. Come out and PLAY with US!!! P.P.P.S. And also to you, dear reader, wherever you are: consider our capitalist culture of "art". Consider what this thing, ANY thing, is really worth. Because we don't find anything in it; nothing at all...If 1) you have come this far and, 2) you agree, send
a copy of this letter to
LJ Hartman, Director of Security 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019-5497 lj_hartman@moma.org
to demand the release of this hostage (b/c it's yours TOO!)
2012.1.20, the Novad(s) -‐ to mØma!
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--- Appendices on The mØma Letterʼs theoretical-praxis --Appendix 1. Part I – abridged introduction to the anarchives Appendix 2. Part II – Dialogue re: the authenticity of the infamous mØma folder
2012.1.20, the Novad(s) -‐ to mØma!
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Appendix 1. Part I – abridged introduction to the anarchives Where an "archive" might falter in this World of the Forgery, the anarchives THRIVE(s)! Think of the already ancient thing: an object is somewhere placed in a folder. Marked or unmarked, the object in the folder has now disappeared. It is GONE. The folder is physically empty. This is so in the sense that the object so enfolded has become entirely obsolete. All that the object now represents is an idea; and the archived object l'objet archivé? which is merely a memento for a memory of a place or thing or MOMENT (or more...) has itself passed into Eternity. Into Nothingness; the Void. Upon its entrance into some sort of canonical legacy, the object itself has become its own forgery!
2012.1.20, the Novad(s) -‐ to mØma!
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Appendix 2. Part II – Dialogue re: the authenticity of the infamous mØma folder [open the ancient FedEx envelope* containing the mØma banner drop documents and dump the contents out on to the table. there are a few things contained therein: two pages with sketches of "the Banner", one of many Join/Ignore the Teamsters flyers that were dropped into the lobby of the mØma atrium, "Floor Plan and Guide: English" mØma map (with optional future banner drop location(s)!!!!! (see floor 5)), three tickets to mØma's "Target Free Friday Night" 1/13/2012, business card for LJ Hartman, Director of Security] [Begin Dialogue!] Do you see the blue cot bag with the rip in the lip? Now tell me, do you see the REAL blue cot bag with the rip in the lip? NOT the dummy bag, which looks exactly the same, but which doesn't have the "rip in the lip", but the REAL thing? No, you don't. What difference would it make, if this object were that, or vice versa, from one moment to the next? No matter whether it is in absolute or relative space and time, the object has become nothing of consequence for it has passed into history, and legend, and myth. These words are not unrelated, not unconnected, and not ultimately connected in something very important! ...time&space have altered...IT IS now A CONCEPT. Thus is the physical passed into the ethereal, making it possible to be conceived and received by collective consciousness. The physical world just sits out there ALL DAY, EVERY DAY, and it does not quite exist until we "archive" it. But what if we archived it all...? What if we were aware that All of It was, and Every Where It is at all times is already worthy of documentation? What if the "archives" were every thing, every where, every when! Then this would be the anarchives, par excellence! And this, the world of the anarchives, is the world in which the forgery can exist without endangering the Truth. For the truth iS whatever iS there! Which is nothing at all! None of this is Real. Which is why it all iS the way it iS. Remember this. [*The thing to which we have alluded REALLY EXISTS. Definitely believe me. I'm not joking!]