#no wave performance task force

[christenclifford]

In réponse to Leslie Hewitt's comments during her artists talk, as reported by Hyperallergic

This is part of a larger discussion, and not all members of the No Wave Performance Task Force agreed with the action to begin with. I didn't want to let it go without comment. And this is off the top of my head, so I may want to think and revise later. I wrote to Leslie Hewitt personally and asked her why her previous artist talk had been cancelled. Had she really taken ill? Did she decide she didn't want to do the talk? Did Dia cancel and notify her? I made clear that We Wish Ana Mendieta Was Still Alive was an action to protest Dia's support of Carl Andre, not Leslie Hewitt, not her work, not his work even. That it was part memorial, part protest. Done on that date because it was the ONLY event Dia had planned in NYC - all other events were Beacon or LI. Hewitt's comment, "a feminist group protesting the talk of another woman, whose position was assumed powerless, and whose voice was registered inert or lacking a critical stance" is, as Task Force member @Amy Finkbeiner put it "assuming and presuming a stance on our part, while complaining that we have assumed and presumed."  As the lead artist on this project, I made it very clear that in coming back on the 30th we did not mean to interrupt her talk at all.  From the reporters summary on Hyperallergic, Hewitt's view of Andre's work through the lens of political upheaval and mathematics is personally fascinating to me and deserves all of the attention she can bring to it.  On the 30th, the protesters met on a corner and arrived after the beginning of the talk on purpose, and hoped to leave traces for the audience to confront on their way out. Unfortunately, Dia was prepared and all blood and signage was removed before the audience left.  I see so many Anas- the woman and artist, the work, the legacy and discourse, and the internalized Ana that I hear about from so many women for whom her work is a lifeline. It is tragic and unfortunate that she has become a symbol of patriarchy in the art world, but she HAS. From all accounts, Mendieta was devastating and charming - and she still brings people together.  In the swirl of attention Andre has had recently- and remember, his work is worth plenty and people don't want to see it decline in value- just didn't think Ana Mendieta deserved to be forgotten.

(see Hyperallergic for posts related to Carl Andre, Leslie Hewitt, and No Wave Performance Task Force's protest outside Dia Art Foundation)

[globalarthobal]

In protest of the Dia Arts Foundation in Chelsea, NYC, the No Wave Performance Task Force was responding to the space's retrospective of the artist Carl Andre and his relationship with the late Ana Mendieta. The NWPTF donned white hazmat suits, with the words, "I wish Ana was alive" scribed on them in sharpie. Together the group laid out a hand written banner with a similar sentiment, "I wish Ana Mendieta was still alive," on the ground in front of the entrance. An activist artist, Karen Malpede read from Christa Wolf's Cassandra, Christen Clifford spilled out the contents of plastic groceries bags filled with chicken blood and guts across the sidewalk and banner. This same material had been used by Mendieta in her own work as an artist and symbolizes her body in death. The smell of the rotting meat and blood could be experienced around the block.

  The protesters actions begged a couple of poignant questions about the exclusion of artists like Ana Mendieta from larger institutional representation and retrospectives, but more significantly the mystery that surrounds her death and relationship with the artist Carl Andre. During the height of Minimalism’s art world fame, Andre and Mendieta were a maried couple, both experiencing fame and success through their work. In September of 1985, Andre and Mendieta got into an argument in their Greenwich apartment, ending with Mendieta falling thirty-four stories from the window onto the pavement below. Andre was accused of murder, but the surrounding art world intervened within the legal proceedings, allowing Andre to be acquitted of the crime three years later. Ana Mendieta’s death sent a message to women artists during that time, that if they brushed too closely to fame, they could face violence.

  This history and context of the actions of the No Wave Performance Task Force highlight the still relevant need for feminism in the global art worlds. Although I did know of both Andre and Mendieta, I had no prior knowledge about their relationship and Mendieta’s cause of death. Protests and activisms like NWPTF’s produce vital dialogues about the lack of visibility of certain peoples, their stories, their backgrounds, and their importance. Violence still happens towards women, famous women to women with no power, globally. By making the private, public, groups like NWPTF allow for these conversations to be started. 

  To read more about the protest, click here for the link to the Hyperallergic article.  

[hollyannwist]

Ana Mendieta fell out of her apartment window to her death during an argument with her husband, Carl Andre. This is a protest performance that took place outside Carl Andre's retrospective exhibition by No Wave Performance Task Force.