OW 73 - Outweek.net

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ARTCETERA
ContlnLled . -from. page 54
energized by creative arts i.e., painting,
Broadway, music-but rather by
activism currently, AIDS activism.
Corporate leaders know it and are on
the brink of becoming activists.
Night Without Light is a subtle
form of activism on the part of these
building owners: It is not a charity ball
that they independently attend to raise
funds for an organization but, rather, a
cooperative statement which will be
heard across the country and by their
corporate peers. This event will be a
catalyst for the corporate communities
to start lobbying, pressuring federal
offices and making larger donations to
AIDS service providers. Let's not forget
,that Leona is going to turn off the red,
white and blue of the Empire State
Building .for 15 minutes for the men,
women and children who are dying
because of government inaction, the
same lights that she vowed to keep on
until the hostages are freed.
Due to the' enormous growth of
Day Without Art over the past year,
next year we can expect a tremendous
response for Day Without Art 1991.
We can expect the scale and impact of
Night Without Light to extend beyond
Manhattan to the rest of America,
where AIDS education is desperately
needed through the cooperation of
creative and corporate leaders, Day
Without Art has the potential to
become a national grass-roots event of
sorts Oike Earth Day?), a way of educating
the public and forcing them to
address the classism, 'racism, sexism'
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and homophobia that have propelled
this disease into a social crisis. This
event will not remain a one-day event
If ther~ is involvement from the community;
Arm yourself with information
and participate in events around the
country on Dec. 1. Tell the organizations
·involved that cooperation
between artists, arts organizations and
AIDS service organizations will continue.
to take place throughout the year.
'We must not let this nationwide
. activism tum Into a movie of the week
or flavor of the month. ~
Alexander Gray is an administra-
. .tor for Visual. AIDS. He. is also active
In the National Campaign for Freedom
of Expresston and its efforts concerning
the National Endowment for
the Arts.
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FRANKLV
ContlriLied -from page 5'
way for them to deal with it. On the
other hand, the artist will eventually get
inflamed, but the bureaucrats never
will. That's why I'm glad to bean artist
who's running a place, so that I can
identify with both sides.
PM: Is the NEAitself worth saving?
MW: We'll see how the destruction
of the peer panel goes. I've spoken to
some of the lay people they've put on
the panels, and they're, all wonderful.
I'm worried, though, because the job of
the artist is to break: molds, and the job
of the lay people in that situation is to
preserve the status quo.
PM: You know a lot of artists at all
different points' in their careers. I've
always found artists remarkably apolitical.
MW: I've never admired the artists
who are apolitical. The media of publishing,
installation art, perfonnance art
are media that engage with the real
world, and even If it never changes the
real world, it tries. Whereas painting
and sculpture are often the choice of
the more introspective artists. You don't.
have to talk to anyone but the canvas.
At the same time, I've come across
many, many painters and sculptors who
are politically engaged, so I think it
comes down to the individual.
PM: Do you think perfonnance is
still a vital art form?
MW: My answer to that is, "Look at
which fonns are under attack-the new
forms of photography and perfor-.
mance." David Salle is not under attack,
and he's doing stuff that's just as erotic,
but it's a painting. Painting's been
around for 30,000 years. People are
unnerved by the fad ti~at there's an:
actual body which is being smeared,
with chocolate, and that it's real urine.
on that crucifix. It's too real somehow.
Performance is not at all dead. It's just
getting started,
PM: Also performance doesn't.
have a market. David S~e doesn't give
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a shit If he gets a grant.
MW: Yes, but there also wasn't a
market for Jenny Holzer when Franklin
Furnace showed her ten years ago;" .
That's our job-to launch ideas that
will later become successful. We also
presented Barbara Kruger and Eric
Bogosian, and now all these people are
on the board. Luckily they're still interested
in Franklin Furnace and whether
the next generation gets a chance, I try
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to keep the artists who. Qave come
through Franklin FUnlac~' lDvolved' in
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some way.