Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology - uncopy

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bankrupts choice. Nothing is possible and a self-perpetuating oscillation is set in motion. Faced
with our current situation,recognizing social realities,considering the way I want to act,paradoxes
follow paradoxes. This is nothing new but it is increasingly leading to a kind of pandemoniacal
despair. A moral anguish which so far I refuse to romanticize,but I will if it keeps me out of
the looney bin. . . .
The question remains: who do we direct our activism at and who is it for? Do we simply
assail “the art-establishment”? Our very own privileges? In which case,who listens? Joseph’s [Kosuth]
and Sarah’s [Charlesworth] radical academics? Terry Smith’s radical academics? Michael’s
[Corris] Marxist chums? Maybe,maybe? The greatest subversion of the privileged Kunstwelt
would be to refuse to make art for that Kunstwelt whilst making an art as ambitious as that
usually seen in the Kunstwelt. I have no idea of course how to do this.
DOCUMENT IV, DECEMBER 1975
In the fall, 1975, Art & Language New York received a postcard from the artist Lawrence
Weiner bearing the cryptic message: “a meeting is desired.” Weiner was the go-between acting
on behalf of a larger group of artists and critics, including Lucy Lippard, Carl Andre, Sol
LeWitt, Miriam Schapiro and a collective of African-American artists calling themselves the
“Black Emergency Cultural Coalition.” These individuals and groups, and many others,
formed the nucleus of a coalition named “Artists Meeting for Cultural Change” (AMCC).
AMCC was a very loose “coalition” of mostly artists and art workers who met regularly at
Artists Space (155 Wooster Street, New York City) on Sunday evenings. The meetings were
open, and anyone was able to participate in the ensuing discussions. “Such a process demands
commitment,” writes Sarah Charlesworth in 1976, “and very irregular attendance of participants
poses obstacles to developing group consciousness and effectiveness.” The following is
the first official communiqué of the coalition, addressed “To the American Art Community
from Artists Meeting for Cultural Change,” from which the present text is taken.
Next September, as one of its four Bicentennial exhibitions, the Whitney Museum of
American Art in New York City will present a show entitled Three centuries of American art—
a package deal, originating in April at the De Young Museum in San Francisco.
But this show isn’t simply another example of bureaucratic mediocrity as it is entirely
culled from the private collection of John D. Rockefeller III and includes no Black artists and
only one woman artist.