Strike Moma: David vs. God-zilla
“Art exists beyond MoMA. Art is not a luxury, and it is a vital part of our communities and movements. Art is one of the few means of production available to oppressed peoples for the creation and sustaining of worlds in the face of death and destruction.” Strike MoMA, Frameworks and terms of struggle, IIAAF 2021
I have always thought that any kind of art is political, and the situation that has been popping up in NYC in front of the MoMA demonstrates that this is true. Art, or what most people know as art, is a concept created by society but is a concept that is alive and dynamic. It is a constant change because art is life and all things in life are in constant shift. Everything in life is cyclic, and art is no exception to this rule. Ideas, concepts, things have to die to give place to new ones, and art has died many times and has been reborn again in many forms. Now we are witnessing the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one.
Isabell Graw mentioned in her book: High Price: Art Between the Market and Celebrity Culture: that art is so attached to the art market that it has become urgent to separate them. It is confusing where one starts and where the other ends. The relationship between definitions of “good” and “bad” art and its subsequent price and fame has become the main paradigm that rules the art world. Art is now also used as a mechanism of prestige and elitism. We see art collectors manipulating the decisions of the exhibitions in museums with the goal of expanding the value of their collections.
“Almost one third of solo shows in US museums go to artists represented by just five galleries” (Julia Halperin, The Art Newspaper)
Phase 1: 10 Weeks Strike MoMA
In 2004 I went to NYC for a period of 10 months. The first thing I did was to try and find a place to live. Everybody hears stories of how expensive the apartments and rooms are in this city, but I managed to find an affordable place just thanks to the fact the owner of the apartment, like me, was Latin American. This made me realize how sectorized society was in the USA by origin and social status.
According to the document of the IIAAF, their fight is not against the dominance of the rich in the art world, but it is against what MoMA represents. As they see it, it represents the values our current society is based on: racism, abuse of the weak and poor, misogynism, corruption, manipulation and nepotism, among many others. These are symptoms of a disease produced by an expired economic system.
Being art so attached to the art market and the art market to the economic system, art has become what the values of the economic system have sown and reaped. IIAAF will use this strike to take the attention to the media and bring to the table all people who feel the same to discuss a radical change:
“The subsequent ten weeks will encompass a variety of activities, including trainings, writing projects, agitprop campaigns, and direct actions at the museum and beyond. Weaving these activities together will be a series of movement conversations, online and in person, that will function as the intellectual and relational infrastructure for phase 2 of the process” Strike MoMA, Frameworks and terms of struggle, IIAAF 2021
Palestine
As the conflict between Israel-Palestine takes the attention of the news, Strike MoMA takes this opportunity to remark all the connections that are between the directors of the MoMA and the support they made to this conflict siding Israel.
This life is totally governed by duality, where there is light there are also shadows, where there are rich there is also poor. But all are part of the same coin, one cannot exist without the other. Protesting against something confirms and affirms the existence of the other. So I don’t think the solution of the remarkable difference between rich and poor will be solve making demonstrations and complaining about it, but implementing mechanisms to damage and to make it change from inside as a computer virus do.
Phase 2: Transition to a Post-MoMA Future
This situation reminds me of the anecdote of David and Goliath, or should I say David and Godzilla? Honestly, I can’t think of a stone big enough to knock down the Goliath / Godzilla and I think this situation needs more of a Delilah to defeat a Sanson, that is more strategic than random, as Dale Carnegie said in his book, How to win friends and influence people: “If you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive.” The IIAAF tries to give a good punch to the structure that sustains the big three of interests created by the most powerful persons in the USA. This mentioned in their manifesto as a second phase of the process:
“Determine the next steps for disassembling the museum in light of its harmful history: determining the mechanics of divestment and transfer of assets, the redistribution of properties and the repurposing of infrastructure; establishing funds for reparations, repatriations, and Indigenous land restoration; sustained support for just transition of workers to cooperative self-management and solidarity economies” Strike MoMA, Frameworks and terms of struggle, IIAAF 2021
Maybe this event can or will be seen as a political art project, the word “determine” in the sentences is talking about creating documentation of a set of procedures that want to be executed, it sounds like writing a letter to Santa Claus. But independently of the results that will come out of this event, all that will come will be definitely positive. This event is definitely writing lines in the history of the art world and hopefully will seat the base of possible changes or at least the necessary adjustments to create more justice and a more fair system for all, where not only some are benefited but all.
