Thinking Out Loud: Books! Books! Books!
Once again the National Endowment for the Arts is being threatened. In the past the threat was mainly budget cuts, but thanks to the Heritage Foundation and their ilk, the entire fate of the organization is at stake. Naturally I must figure out what the heck is going on.
I am embarking on a path in which I plan to argue that if the NEA is defunded, the space between museums and commercial art galleries will be blurred. Keep reading these posts and someday it will all be clear...I hope.
I have been reading some great books regarding political economies and museums. Please read them when you get a chance.
The Birth of the Museum by Tony Bennett
Ever wonder how museums evolved? Me neither. But this book is amazing, describing how museums were originally considered places to reform lowlifes like myself. Rather than going to the pub and drinking all day long, the working public was to visit museums to create public discussions about art and literature. Beautiful theory. Bennett refers to Foucault throughout the book; I will be viewing these issues through the lens of Althusser, however.
Dollarocracy by John Nichols and Robert McChesney
If you haven't felt disgusted and disturbed by contemporary politics, then this book will open your eyes. And if you have felt disgusted, well, this book will aid in confirming your suspicions. Nichols and McChesney state that it is no longer "one person, one vote," but "one dollar, one vote" (p. 17). The more money you have the more influence you have in the American government. Frightening book, but a must read. See the video below for more info.
Surpassing the Spectacle by Carol Becker
Paul Robeson once said "Artists are the gatekeepers of truth. We are civilization's radical voice." Carol Becker agrees and argues that artists need to be free to "speak the unspeakable and find form for the invisible" (yup, got this from the back cover). Art has and will always shape societies; artists must always be free to create.
I will be focusing on chapter four, Brooklyn Museum: Messing with the Sacred (shout out to Andy Maus!). In short, Guiliani pulled funding from the museum because he didn't like the artwork. I will pull from this case example throughout my research.
