publish.nyc.indymedia.org | New York Museums Find 'New Acquisitions'

March 25, 2005 02:32PM EST [general.addtranslation] Download Article (PDF) [ insert language bar ]

New York Museums Find 'New Acquisitions'

By Lance Murdoch

(from the Open Newswire): A British artist by the name of Bansky managed to surreptitiously hang four pieces of his art in four elite New York Museums - The Brooklyn Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Natural History. He said he did so during normal viewing hours. "I've wandered round a lot of art galleries thinking 'I could have done that' so it seemed only right that I should try," says Bansky. "These Galleries are just trophy cabinets for a handful of millionaires. The public never has any real say in what art they see."

Keywords: News, elsewhere,

British artist anti-war prank on New York museums

This has been written up in the New York Times and elsewhere. An Emglish artist who calls himself "Banksy" hung anti-war paintings in the Met, Moma, the Museum of Natural History and the Brooklyn Museum. http://www.woostercollective.com/ http://www.banksy.co.uk/menu.html

Download Article (PDF) Add to PDF Compilation Download PDF Compilation Email Article

Add your comments

Smile He's on Candid Camera

Mar 27, 2005 03:09PM EST

Art Lover

"These Galleries are just trophy cabinets for a handful of millionaires."

If that is the extent of his perception concerning these works all one can say is, "what a shallow fellow."

Re: New York Museums Find 'New Acquisitions'

Mar 28, 2005 03:29AM EST

revolution not art

who cares

Re: New York Museums Find 'New Acquisitions'

Mar 28, 2005 08:16AM EST

jason

Unlike the first two comments, I feel that this was a great culture jamming project. It brings attention to how we often like "art" simply because of its framing, usually consisting of "museum status." I am confident that many museum goers saw it and said, "hey, look at the piece." But yet, if it was on a street corner, they would pass it by saying it's not real art. Also, I respect the effort that goes into such a project. And as far as "revolution not art," well, since when was art not potentially revolutionary, and revolution not fueled by art?

Re: New York Museums Find 'New Acquisitions'

Mar 28, 2005 11:33AM EST

15 minutes

this is great!

creates ruptures along all kinds of Normal, status quo lines of conciousness/understanding...

i.e.

what art makes it in a museum and why? why is it 'good'?

where is the political discourse/outrage in these spaces? and how come there is so much silence? and metaphorically, why is there so much silence from the 'best and the brightest' of western culture, today? Who does this war effect?

how does the Art world (museums, galleries) relate to the political economy of Imperialism, Privitization & War (a very impolite topic for corporate sponsored museum spaces)?

Why is art which is about what is going on today and which is overtly or implicity political, somehow not as 'good' or valid as Art which is about 'eternal themes'/ apolitical or which approaches political dimensions in a sexy, ironic, post-modern way, in museums and galleries? It's like when Goya did his anti-war, and totally devestating pieces, he wasn't aiming to do this for reasons of making masterpieces or being alongside them... He was interested in expressing just how f*&ked up and awful war is. This is what is lost in the art experience today, of walking around 'contemplating' one 'great' work after another, and then getting a poster or something...

How does Art (and all its institutional structure: museums, its apolitical in the here and now bias, galleries and their commercial priorities, etc.) work with the status quo?

There is so much more here, least of which is simply the way the whole thing pranks at the very security of the whole refinement of Art.

I wonder how many people looked at these works while they were up and thought they were as valid as anything else up there... And actually enjoyed them or had reflective, art-experiences with them!!

______

Capital A Art needs to let it's masterpieces be available for all to see, but at the same time, culturally, we need small a art to be alive and well, even dangerous to the system!!

**********

this action suggests an arbitrariness to the great golden Masterpiece Curator of High Museums...

if for only a moment, one of the golden rules of the museum space's very reason for being: that it makes the decisions for us, as to what is great art and what is not, was broken up... to reveal just how much its a storage-center switcheroo, leaving all kinds of works out of the picture.

it let the cracks in the system shine some light...

the masterpieces are great, but they aren't all.

Re: New York Museums Find 'New Acquisitions'

Mar 28, 2005 03:21PM EST

j-No

I think this guy is great and I'm sorry that I missed seeing his work on the wall. He's not the first to do it, but I admire the additional fact that his work has political content. A perfect example of positive anarchy.

Re: New York Museums Find 'New Acquisitions'

Mar 28, 2005 11:12PM EST

to j-no et al,

it's an interesting pre-determination we have in the usa that the first to do something is what is really, really important.

it's like if you're not a 'true pioneer' or something, then somehow you're work (in art) is less-than, or rather needs to be put down, somehow.

i have the same bias. but, you know, art isn't measured along this grid, so much, in other parts of the world.... i.e. russia, etc. etc.

in fact in say russian literature, it isn't a bad thing if you are working in the art history/cultural 'space' that some one else has opened up, and developing a different poetics, a new contribution, and/or even refering in part to the 'original' pioneering work. Such a scene where originality is not the main thing, but rather nuance, dimension and even style (in the broader concept of style then the usual connotations of the word -- as a manner or quality of the contemporary which very much includes political sensibilities and identifications) are more important and/or as important as this great pedestal of originality.

This is way of thinking we in the usa give lip service to, but are on the whole, not really, down with. Originality is the main thing, no matter what, most often.

I wonder why this is so.

Why we are almost ashamed, if something is 'derivative' in part. At the least, we are likely to radically dismiss or 'put in its place', if something created, out there, isn't the bold new original break thru.

I only wonder this, cause it has the effect of leaving so much out of the picture, and closing us off to what is being expressed. Not to mention how it makes us slaves to the brand New.

And I wonder because it is the dominant sensibility in the USA, for certain.

And so, one wonders how much this pattern, this reasoning of common-sense thinking, is also a linkage or partner in a larger system -- working well with other common-sense thoughts in the dominant status quo.

A formula in Normalcy?

Re: ''derivative' '

Mar 30, 2005 03:58AM EST

j-No

fg:
there was nothing in what I said that constituted a put-down. "Great" "admire" "sorry I missed" "perfect example".

I guess I could have used a few more superlatives in my brief comment. Maybe I should have used all caps and a bunch of exclamation marks.

Re: New York Museums Find 'New Acquisitions'

Mar 31, 2005 05:13PM EST

to j-no,
sorry. didn't mean to slam. wasn't the point. was just thinking about how much there is this thing about being first, in the usa, and how obscuring/deadening that is, in one way... like i said, i have the same frame of mind.. was just exploring what it means, from a certain point of view...

Re: New York Museums Find 'New Acquisitions'

Apr 01, 2005 12:35AM EST

maze

good example of nonviolent anarchy. good work, Mr. Banks.

home mortgage loan

Jun 10, 2005 06:40AM EDT

home mortgage loan