Occupy Wall Street’s Art and Culture Group Launches "Occupy Museums" Movement

Artist Noah Fischer has started a new movement, with the blessing of Occupy Wall Street’s Art and Culture group, called Occupy Museums. He told ArtInfo, that it's "definitely not just my personal project, it’s broadly part of the Occupy Movement’s aim to claim back the commons back from the 1%—from economic justice to public space, to art.” So, what is it? The entire outline of the project, as well as the schedule the occupiers are following for Day 1 (today), can all be found here, but here's the gist:

We see through the pyramid schemes of the temples of cultural elitism controlled by the 1%. No longer will we, the artists of the 99%, allow ourselves to be tricked into accepting a corrupt hierarchical system based on false scarcity and propaganda concerning absurd elevation of one individual genius over another human being for the monetary gain of the elitest of elite. For the past decade and more, artists and art lovers have been the victims of the intense commercialization and co-optation or art. We recognize that art is for everyone, across all classes and cultures and communities. We believe that the Occupy Wall Street Movement will awaken a consciousness that art can bring people together rather than divide them apart as the art world does in our current time.

The organizers say there is an "absolute equation of art with capital" in the world, and are now taking aim at museum boards in an effort to "bring forth an era of new art, true experimentation outside the narrow parameters set by the market."

They're taking to the streets today, with plans to meet at Zuccotti Park at 3 p.m. After a teach-in there, statements will be read over a Livestreamed broadcast, and then by 5 p.m. they'll be Occupying MoMA, followed by the Frick (6 p.m.), followed by the New Museum (7 p.m.). (It doesn't really seem like they're leaving enough time for commutes here!) We've contacted the museums for their comments, and will update when we hear back.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on October 20, 2011 9:50 AM

Comments [rss]

chee1rs

get this idiot to a methadone clinic ASAP

John Sabotta

The National Socialist leadership also tended to have a lot of failed artists, failed novelists, etc, - most notably their late unlamented leader, who can be described, at least partially, as a hipster given absolute power.

Alicia J.D. Cooper

There is nothing wrong with protesting at museums! Don't put them up on a pedestal - they will just be getting away with more. Yes, they are mostly funded by the 1%, so what better way to get the attention of the 1% than by protesting the practices of "culturally sacred" institutions?

Daniel

I hate to break it to Noah but that has always been the history of art as tied into civilized societies. It's always been tied to capital. Just who does he think has patronized and funded most lasting art throughout history, people with disposable income or wealth, whether it has been individuals, institutions, rulers or governments. Even 20th century abstract modern art that was supposed to be the western movement of the masses, has it's roots in endowments and patronage from Vanderbilts and Rockefellers, and other old rich elite families, whose money created the scene for it to thrive in.

Jeremiah

There are no artists left in NYC except for trust fund babies and those going down on their rich patrons and deliberately making 'art' for our decadent rulers. No one else can afford to live here anymore and the city is far too uptight. Real culture has long since moved elsewhere....

Therefore the first protestor to piss in Duchamp's urinal at MOMA will be a hero to everyone....

RobertMosesSupposesErroneously

There is an ABSOLUTE correlation of art with capital wealth, and for many of the elites I deal with in business, a Picasso is interchangable with a yacht or a stock certificate with no interest in the cultural and emotional value of the work.

HOWEVER, museums are not the problem. You want to protest this, go down to Chelsea, knock on some gallery doors, harass Larry Gagosian. Museums are only in bed with corporate donors because it's the only way they can keep their doors open to the public in this country where federal arts funding is breadcrumbs.

Rejinl

Most arts workers (administrators, assistants, museum educators etc) barely earn a living, while the directors and department heads of the museums and other institutions they work for make big bucks. Sounds almost Wal-Martian to me, and definitely a system worth protesting.

DeS11

As a museum professional, I disagree. Very few museum workers "make big bucks" - even the higer-ups. There are a very select few institutions that have been around for centuries that may have directors in a high income bracket, but 99.9% of all museum professionals make very little. We're all non-profits.

Gilsharkey

You have got to be kidding me!!! Occupy Museums??? Really??? Of all the places to occupy, like toxic waste dumps, strip mines, refineries- they pick Museums?

Unkle_Bob

What? Is that thing even written in English? I feel awfully stupid for not being able to understand a bloody word of it.

JenEsss

Update from MoMA: about 15 people showed up and read a manifesto. One guy wore a gorilla mask.

Samantha Nicholson

Sounds about right.

xXxMExXx

Why isn't Occupy Wall Street’s Art and Culture group focusing their crosshairs on nightclubs? They can start with the insane New Years Eve party cover charges.

Samantha Nicholson

Oh lord don't even put the idea in their heads haha. Next they will be boycotting door admissions policies at clubs.

sleepswitheyesopen

OWS needs to pick their battles.

theflaminlamaeo

"Of course, there are artists of hipster-related sensibility who remain artists. In the neighborhoods, though, there was a feeling throughout the last decade that the traditional arts were of little interest to hipsters because their consumer culture substituted a range of narcissistic handicrafts similar enough to sterilize the originals. One could say, exaggerating only slightly, that the hipster moment did not produce artists, but tattoo artists, who gained an entire generation’s arms, sternums, napes, ankles, and lower backs as their canvas. It did not produce photographers, but snapshot and party photographers: Last Night’s Party, Terry Richardson, the Cobra Snake. It did not produce painters, but graphic designers. It did not yield a great literature, but it made good use of fonts. And hipsterism did not make an avant-garde; it made communities of early adopters." -http://nymag.com/news/features...

Samantha Nicholson

Occupy Bergdorf Goodman starts this weekend. Give me free clothes damit!

destroy_all_humans

this is stupid

LePouteen

They should occupy the Temple of Dendur at the Met. Pharoahs are like the 1% of the 1%.

Spirit of 76

They need to Occupy Themselves. They've become living proof of the old saying, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop." Their entire philosophy seems to boil down to something akin to the tantrums of a pre-schooler. Basically, a belief that if they piss off enough people, they'll get what they want.