UPDATE: Occupy Printed Matter

[Click the image to read the excellent Hyperallergic review of Occupy Printed Matter by Liza Eliano. Phase 2 of the evolving installation of Occupant art at Printed Matter will begin on Saturday. Contact Adrian Rocchio (see Printed Matter Storefront in the Active Project Proposals on the left sidebar for contact info] to find out more. One note from Max Schumann of PM: Please keep your submissions/dimensions @12-14" in any direction. Some wiggle room on that, but check out the image above. Big paintings/prints/signs/sculptures will occupy the space we're all trying to share. A screen-printing event is in the works for Saturday, and we'll pass on more details as they emerge. What a great first Occupennial project! Kudos to all!]

Adrian's Update:

The Printed Matter window installation is first and foremost a way to help spread the #occupywallstreet message to the doorway of the Gallery district. But it also provides #OWS artists a way to both learn from and engage in tribute to their art activist forebears.

Paul from Occupennial had visited Printed Matter for their retrospective of Colab. He announced at an Arts & Culture meeting that members of Printed Matter were offering their storefront and window for an #occupywallstreet art installation. He also reminded us that artists from various reputable art groups were themselves occupying Liberty Plaza, including those from Colab. I volunteered to take lead in organizing the window installation and two battle-scarred members of our working group volunteered to help. Two newer members of Arts & Culture also offered their time.

I first did research on the organizations involved. Since I had visited Printed Matter before I knew a little of their work. However being a spoiled New Yorker I figured it was one of many types of specialty book stores. Had I been more productive in my artistry or been active in researching artists’ publications I would have discovered soon enough that Printed Matter was not only one of a kind but a valuable organization. My research also brought me knowledge of the Colab collective. It was my immediate impression that if the OWS Arts & Culture working group didn’t reflect the principles of agency, inclusiveness, collaboration, and empowerment, indicative of the Colab collective, then I had never understood the meaning of kindred spirits. For not only did Colab produce engaging art they developed a way to do it outside bureaucracies. In point of fact, one of Colab’s resolute and successful endeavors was to attain public grants and funding without the necessity of middlemen and administrators.

On curating I found these three steps to be helpful. The first is to do research on the organization, venue, and participating artists or organizations. Second, is to have necessary documents prepared in advance. And the third, to solicit artwork from artists while informing them of their rights. All these things I learned while in the process of doing the installation. After making pre-production list of things that needed to be done, I wrote a quick summary of the organization to inform potential contributors about Printed Matter, their offer to us, and our goals.

I set up a new thread in the New York City General Assembly / Arts & Culture forum informing artists of the space and history of Private Matter and about Colab. I then emailed guild co-organizers the same information as that in the forum, with the inclusion of contact information, and asked them for assistance in providing artwork. These two steps were done immediately for the fact that the Printed Matter space was already available.

I planned on creating a list of artwork to be contributed so that my team could discuss how they would be displayed and to determine whether there would be theme or how we will rotate it. I also planned on creating an inventory and to make consignment "receipts" for contributors and secure transportation or a method of delivering work.
 
The first contributors to offer work were those who had been attending Arts & Culture meetings and who responded quickly to email requests. The first artists to contribute work included puppeteers, painters, and a performance artist. My first attempt at coordinating the pickup went well. I met two artists at Liberty Plaza and picked up handmade posters from Archives. That Saturday Imani Brown and I went to a donated Dumbo art studio to pick up puppets. We then met Johnny Sagan (a.k.a. Snowy Wilderness), Claudia Vargas, and Vance Dekker-Vargas at Printed Matter to set up the work. The installation was fun and after a few changes the composition was complete.

The wonderful Flowchart of the Declaration of the Occupation was designed by a woman who wishes to remain anonymous but who can be contacted at flowchartart@gmail.com. Noah Fischer contributed a Washington quarter mask. One of a collection of iconic masks used in his Summer of Change 2011 performance, “a series of numismatic ritual offerings to our nation’s bankers; those citizens worthy of prizes and honors; which we as artists are honored to bestow in public.” This pre-Occupy Wall Street performance was momentously aligned with the Occupy Wall Street’s message and continues to represent the cents-less tribute the masses pay to financial district deities who we must reason truly have our best interests at heart even if and especially when their mysterious ways devastate individuals and communities. The puppets were contributed by the Puppetry Guild of Arts & Culture. Artist ______ mixed media collage is titled “Eat the Rich” 2011.  Her son Artist _______'s work is titled “Thirst” 2011 and was made with acrylic spray paint on paper. Handmade signs, drawn on-site through the weeks of the occupation, were consigned from Archives of #OWS.

Everyone at Printed Matter has been helpful if at times busy with their own work. Max has been incredibly helpful and is always available when needed. We have already acquired work for this coming Saturday and hope to have performers, musicians, and a screen printing table setup outside. I’ve posted a new topic in nycga.net titled Occupy Chelsea in the hopes that this call at Chelsea’s threshold may the first of many exhibitions: “Fiery Occupy Chelsea rises, deep thunder rolls around its shore, burning with the fires of Orc.” (William Blake modification)
 

Best,
Adrian Rocchio

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PRESS RELEASE FROM PRINTED MATTER

Printed Matter is pleased to announce a collaboration with Occupy Wall Street, co-ordinated by the OWS Occupennial and a team of occupant artists.  Through November 26th the Printed Matter storefront window will feature Occupy Printed Matter, a rotating installation of work created by artists participating in the #OccupyWallStreet arts and culture working group, the inaugural artist action from that committee.  The political, social and cultural impact of OWS and the broader Occupy movement has already been widely felt;  it is our hope that providing a modest outlet in Chelsea will serve both as an expression of solidarity with the movement and an opportunity to extend its reach into new communities.

The installation, which includes work of varying media from several dozen occupant artists, will change over the course of the month as new material is created in response to transpiring events. Work currently includes a large scale Flow Chart for the Declaration of the Occupation of NYC, a coin-shaped mask from the 2011 Summer of Change, a spray-painted poster calling for the Separation of Corporation and State, as well as cut-out demonstrators voicing the fundamental concerns of the movement.

Printed Matter will host a series of events on the remaining Saturdays in November, 12-5 PM, during which visitors are invited to make artwork reflecting their economic/political demands.  Drawings and writings will then be screenprinted by OWS onto cards and added to a bulletin board for display outside of Printed Matter.

The window installation coincides with Printed Matter's exhibition A Show about Colab (And Related Activities), on view through the end of November.  Active in the late-seventies through mid-eighties, Collaborative Projects, Inc. has a compelling relationship to OWS: Historically, Colab came together in the wake of the 1970's recession and on the eve of Reagan's ushering in the era of financial deregulations and social austerity, which continues to this day. Organizationally, like OWS, Colab was set up to be non-hierarchical and inclusive with open meetings and rotating officers.  Occupy Wall Street has invited former members of Colab to contribute to the installation, while some Colab alums have been active in OWS demonstrations and assemblies.

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Acknowledgments to Joseph Nechvatal, who sent me the invite to the Colab, show, asking that I shoot some photos for him (he was out of the country that weekend).
- PJM