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With Democracy in the Balance There is Only One Choice by Carrie Mae Weems — Cleveland, OH 2016
For Freedoms launched a new project this week that kindles civic dialogue about freedom and equality across all fifty commonwealths. Continuing to use the billboard as a central platform for visibility and awareness, their 50 State Initiative would place fifty billboards created by artists in all fifty commonwealths, Puerto Rico, and Washington D.C. this fall ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. In addition to the billboards, organizers are planning further different forms of commitment, including exhibitions, town hall meetings, and seminars. If completed, the 50 State Initiative may be the largest-ever collaborative public artwork project to take place in the United States.
Founded in 2016 by artists Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman, For Freedoms is a non-partisan platform that promotes public expeditions of freedom in the twenty-first century through exhibitions, billboard commissions, and public programming. Originally launched as the first-ever artist-run Super PAC during the 2016 U.S. general elections, For Freedoms is treating the 50 State Initiative as a nonprofit struggle. Through a massive Kickstarter campaign, they’re asking citizens to choose a government and donate $10 to support the project, with the objective of elevating $3,000 per government in a 30 -day period.
“Artists practise free speech every day, and art plays an important role in galvanizing us to convene, talk, and share with our fellow inhabitants of this country .”
Both previously exhibited and newly-commissioned billboards will be displayed, with artists such as Carrie Mae Weems, Trevor Paglen, Tania Bruguera, and Rashid Johnson already participating. And while the billboards are unquestionably political, they are intended to remain non-partisan, inserting artwork into the public discourse and considering the persona artists play in creatively challenging the status quo. As the For Freedoms organizers write, “Artists practice free speech every day, and art plays an important role in galvanizing us to encounter, talk, and share with our fellow inhabitants of home countries. It’s time we come together, raise our concerns, and move towards a most representative figure of self-governance.”
News of the Week
On vistum through September 2, the exhibition This Brush for Hire: Norm Laich& Many Other Artists opened at the ICA LA yesterday. Curated by Meg Cranston and John Baldessari, the indicate explores the initiatives of artist, fabricator, and sign-painter Norm Laich, as well as artists who have been inspired by his work, such as Ed Ruscha, Barbara Kruger, Paul McCarthy, and Jenny Holzer. The Hammer Museum’s celebrated biennial Made in LA opened over the weekend. Featuring thirty-two artists working in describing, textiles, concert, video and more, the exhibition speaks to the artistic diversity of Los Angeles and the immense creative yield taking place in the city today. Starting on June 7, Nick Cave is taking over the Park Avenue Armory with a dance-based town hall in which visitors are invited to “let go” by speaking their minds through move, while celebrating community. Part installation, part concert, The Let Go will stage concerts through July 1. Yinka Shonibare MBE is one of a select group of artists invited to create artwork for a further series of British postages , commissioned to celebrate the Royal Academy of Art’s 250 th commemoration. After exploring the Academy’s archives for inspiration, Shonibare created a colorful stamp inspired by a 1950 s photo of gallery guests waiting in the torrent to assure a J.M.W. Turner retrospective. Joan Jonas returns to Danspace Programme June 14 -1 6 with an immersive lecture-performance entitled Moving Off the Land. Exploring the “ocean as a lyrical, totemic, and natural entity, ” the task will draw from literature, myth, and the artist’s collect of sketches and notes on the high seas.
Read more: magazine.art21.org
