a call for the immediate resignation of all of the rockefellers from the board of trustees of the museum of modern art (1969) guerrilla art action group ‘A CALL FOR THE IMMEDIATE RESIGNATION OF ALL THE POCKEPELLERS FROM THE DORRO OF FRUSTEES OF TUE MUSEUM OF MODERN ARE a ‘hore 48 a group of extremely wealthy people who are sing art as a means of self-glorification and as a form of social acca, tabi lity. = ‘They use art as a Haguise, a cover for their brutal involvencnt in eit siheree Se eke eee ‘Those people seek to appease their guilt with gifts of blood money and dona- thons of works of art to the Museum of Modern Art.” We aa artioes’ fees chet tifloation whatsoever for tho museum of Hodexa Art te pill 4£ {5 must rely solely on the continued acceptance oF dirty ‘accepting soiled donations from these wealthy peopie, the msoun the integrity of art: These people have been in actual control of the misoun's policies since ite founding.” With this power they have been able to manipulate areiste’ i sterilize art of any form of forces in sectety; and therefore ing soctal erisiv. 1. According to Ferdinand Lundbers in his book, the Rich and the super-Rich, the Rockefellers own 65¥ of the Standard oli Corporations; I Teee according to ir M, llersh in his book, Chenicel. and the Standard O11. Corporation of california = whist Is @ specrettateseeee of David Rockefeller (Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Mastin of Modern Art) — leased one of its plants to United Technology Center (Ure) for the specific purpose of manufacturing napeim. 2, Recording to Lundberg, the Rockefeller brothers ovn 20% of the McDonnell Arcraft ‘Corporatéon’ (manufacturers of the Phantou and Banshee jet fighters which were used in the Korean War). According to fieeahe the MoDonnel1 Corporation has boon deeply Anvolved in chemlcal and biological 3+ According to George Thayer in his book, The War Business, tho chase Manhattan Bank (of which David Rockefeller Is Chairman St the Board) — fon and Worth Anerican Airlines sented on the conaittee of the Defense Industry Advisory Council (DIAC) which serves as a Liaison gros between the domestic arms manufacturers and the International Losiatios Negotiations’ Feports directly to the International Security Affairs Division in the Pentagon. fore we denand the immediate resignation of all the Rockefellers from the Board of Trustees of the Musou of Modern Arte New York, Novesbor 10, 1969 GUERRILLA ART ACTION GROUP ‘Jon tlendricks cat So Headadn,Guerrilla Art Action Group, A Call for the Immediate Resi 1.4) from the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, November 1 1969. Courtesy of Jon Hendrie! s.statement of demands (1969) art workers’ coalition A. WITH REGARD TO ART MUSEUMS IN GENERAL THE ART WORKERS’ COALITION MAKES ‘THE FOLLOWING DEMANDS: 1, The Board of Trustees of all museums should be made up of one-third museum staf, one-third patrons and one-third artists, ifit is to continue to act as the policy-making body of the museum. All means should be explored in the interest of a more open- minded and democratic museum. Artworks are a cultural heritage that belong to the people. No minority has the right to control them; therefore, a board of trustees chosen on a financial basis must be eliminated. 2. Admission to all museums should be free at all times and they should be open eve- nings to accommodate working people. 3. All museums should decentralize to the extent that their activities and services enter Black, Puerto Rican and all other communities. They should support events with which these communities can identify and control. They should convert existing structures all over the city into relatively cheap, flexible branch-museums or cultural centers that could not carry the stigma of catering only to the wealthier sections of society.4, Asection of all museums under the direction of Black and Puerto Rican artists should be devoted to showing the accomplishments of Black and Puerto Rican artists, par- ticularly in those cities where these (or other) minorities are well represented 5, Museums should encourage female artists to overcome centuries of damage done to the image of the female as an artist by establishing equal representation of the sexes. in exhibitions, museum purchases and on selection committees. 6. Atleast one museum in each city should maintain an up-to-date registry of all artists in their area, that is available to the public. 7. Museum staffs should take positions publicly and use their political influence in mat- ters concerning the welfare of artists, such as rent control for artists’ housing, leg- islation for artists’ rights and whatever else may apply specifically to artists in their area. In particular, museums, as central institutions, should be aroused by the crisis threatening man’s survival and should make their own demands to the government that ecological problems be put on a par with war and space efforts. 8. Exhibition programs should give special attention to works by artists not represented by a commercial gallery. Museums should also sponsor the production and exhibition of such works outside their own premises. 9. Artists should retain a disposition over the destiny of their work, whether or not itis, owned by them, to ensure that it cannot be altered, destroyed, or exhibited without their consent. UNTIL SUCH TIME AS A MINIMUM INCOME IS GUARANTEED FOR ALL PEOPLE, THE ECO- NOMIC POSITION OF ARTISTS SHOULD BE IMPROVED IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS: 1. Rental fees should be paid to artists or their heirs for all work exhibited where admis- sions are charged, whether or not the work is owned by the artist. 2. Apercentage of the profit realized on the re-sale of an artist’s work should revert to the artist or his heirs. 3. Atmust fund should be set up from a tax levied on the sales of the work of dead artists. ‘This fund would provide stipends, health insurance, help for artists’ dependants and other social benefits. This statement was collectively written and distributed as a pamphlet in 1969. The statement was published in Lucy Lip> ppard, “The Art Workers’ Coalition: Not a History,” in Studlo International 180, no. 927 (November 1970): 171-174, spuewap jo yuowoyers 1209 ,s18410m Ue oH 68art workers’ coalition open hearing presentation (1969) gregory battcock Why do we protest the Museum of Modern Art? A private institution controlled by an unpaid board of trustees, operating at plea- sure of these trustees, has enough problems in bringing art to the public, within the limits of its private institutionalized nature; protest has been termed unwise, ungracious, and misdirected. Well, is it? A museum operating under guidelines that served perfectly well two hundred years ago is a threat to art now; the museums today such as the Moder, the Whitney (god forgive us), and the Metropolitan are dangerous institutions that, in modern society, have no justification except for the fact that they offer solace, amusement, and distraction for the very rich, That's not all they do. If it were, there would be insufficient reason to protest. To day the museum actively supports antiquated values and distorted obsessions that are not simply hypocritical—they are oppressive, reactionary, culturally debilitating, and socially and aesthetically negative. The simple fact is that those who control the museum—whatever museum you care to consider—are the super-rich who control ALL legitimate communicative agencies,‘The trustees of the museums direct NBC and CBS, the New York Times and the Associated Press, and that greatest cultural travesty of modern times—the Lincoln Center. They own AT&T, Ford, General Motors, the great multibillion-dollar foundations, Columbia University, Alcoa, Minnesota Mining, United Fruit, and AM.K, besides sitting on the boards of each others’ museums. The implications of these facts are enormous. Do you realize that it is those art- loving, culturally committed trustees of the Metropolitan and Modern museums who are waging the war in Vietnam? Well, they are. They are the very same people who called in the cops at Columbia and Harvard; and they are justifying their sick, disgusting slaughter of millions of peoples struggling for independence and self-determination by their precious, conscious support of ART. Anyone who lends themselves to this fantastically hypocritical scheme needs their head examined Itcould be no worse if control and administration of the museum were turned over to the department of defense—in fact, it might be a good idea. As long as the museum func- tions under the guise of an artistic and educational operation, under the control of those same people who con other people into robbing, oppressing, burning, maiming, killing, and brainwashing for them, then we must continue our protest and agitate for their complete removal from the art condition. 1 call upon the directors and trustees of the museum to begin immediate negotiations preparatory to turning the museum, lock, stock, and barrel, cover to the department of defense. At least then we will know where we're at, ‘The other day in the garden of the museum, I suggested that the art research facilities of the museum be turned over to service in the interest of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. I've changed my mind—that's not nearly enough. do not think itat all far-fetched to suggest that the museum supply its inactive funds to make up the $700.00 bail bond demanded by the corrupt California court for freedom pending trial of Huey New- ton, Minister for Defense (I'd prefer to say “Offense’) for the Black Panther Party. And this is only one instance of how art can and should begin to find its way back to the mainstream of reality and to supplying the metaphysical and practical demands of the human condition rather than the psychotic caprices of the super-rich. Since the museum, by the grace of its board of trustees, has indirectly supported these many years the international imperialist conspiracy designed to smother the appeals from oppressed peoples everywhere, it is only fitting, now that we realize what has been happening, that we begin to make some amends. In this view I again insist that Mr. Bates z : ypoaneg Auoses8 1692 Lowry (I got this idea from Mark Rudd, incidentally) disclose his role in the worldwide im- perialist conspiracy—I am perfectly serious—there is so much we don’t know and that he could tell us—and that he turn himself in for a trial in front of a people's tribunal. I urge this democratic peoples’ body assembled here to seriously consider the enormous gains toward enlightenment of our knowledge of the contemporary art structure, its reasons, its behaviors, and the far-reaching social, cultural, and ethical implications. in other words, I am convinced that there is a lot to learn, and trying Bates Lowry before a democratic court would be useful, practical; neither Mr. Lowry himself nor anyone else should have anything to fear, other than the truth and knowledge. But have we not been trained to fear, along with god almighty, just these virtues? Tam sick and tired of hearing how the museum cannot afford to give everyone free admission. And, probably as long as it remains a private institution (a private museum is very much like a Catholic university) it probably can’t afford it; but why must it remain a private institution in the first place? Is the administration exploring ways of divesting itself of ownership of the corporation? Has the government been approached to take it over? No, it ‘hasn't I call for the resignation of all the trustees from this museum, the Metropolitan, and the scandalously corrupt Whitney Museum (I keep thinking of those chromographs they sell in conspiracy with Brentano's—deliberately attempting to undo what one hundred years of aesthetic cerebral labor has achieved); suddenly one understands perfectly well how they can drop more bombs in Vietnam than have ever been dropped before, anyplace. Before we can formulate proposals for the future conduct of the museum, we must learn what they have been up to all these years. Then we must examine our own position; we are not students disrupting the university from within it, from a position of, at least nominally, some authority and responsibility—rather we are, I certainly hope, outsiders who hhave nothing to lose. We have truth, understanding, and maybe even hope, to gain. ‘These comments were fist presented at the Art Workers’ Coalition “Open Heating” on Apr 10, 1969. They were sub- sequently published in Art Workers’ Coalition, An Open Hearing on the Subject: What Should Be the Program of the ‘Art Workers Regarding Museum Reform and to Establish the Program of an Open Art Workers’ Coalion (New York: Art Workers’ Coalition, 1965), n..art workers’ coalition open hearing statement (1969) jean toche First, I would like to suggest that the actions should be directed against all museums and all art institutions, and especially against those—writers, critics, collectors, curators ...—-who direct, behind the scenes, that art establishment. Second, I believe that the objective should not be to obtain a series of reforms from the museums, but to get effective participation in the running of these institutions in the same manner as, today, students are fighting for the control of the schools and universities, It should be noted that the directors and curators of the museums have no real power, but mainly carry out the policies of the museums’ patrons. Regarding the structure of the Art Workers’ Coalition, it is evident that we need some kind of organization in order to function efficiently. However, I believe it should take the form of a commune, and not of an authoritarian centralized hierarchy. 1. No leadership and no hierarchy in any form, 2. All ideas and currents among the community must be respected and equally guaranteed, even if they represent only a minority of thinking3. All decisions are taken by vote in a public assembly, open to everybody, to be carried out by action committees 4. all action committees are accountable to the public assembly and their mem- bers can be replaced at any time by the public assembly. However, the action committees should havea great flexibility of action, especially at the level of each discipline represented, in order to be able to respond immediately to any urgent situation 5. Anyone can call a public assembly at any time, on twenty-four-hour notice. The public assembly should meet at least once a week and, in case of emergency, function on a twenty-four-hour basis. 6, Anyone can attend the public assembly, make suggestions, and vote. 7. An information committee should be formed for general research, to distribute information, and to inform the public assembly of any new developments. 8. A vigilance committee should be formed, accountable to the public assembly and with access to all committees, to report any attempt to control information or action, or any attempt of any kind to establish an authoritarian dictatorship. 9. Spokesmen for the community should not have any power of action or decision They are accountable to the public assembly for what they say and write, and they can be replaced at any time by the public assembly. 10. A national and international committee should be formed to support and col- laborate with similar organizations of artists, students, and workers from other cities and abroad. 11. An administrative committee should be formed to coordinate all information and action, and to perform secretarial duties. However, this committee should have no power of decision. 12. A treasurer should be selected who is accountable to the public assembly and can be replaced at any time by the public assembly. 13. A library should be constituted, open to anyone at specified times, with free access to all records of the public assembly and other documents and information. As to tactics, our first objective should be to find out exactly who controls, behind the scenes, the policies of the museums and other art establishment institutions. We should then proceed to tarnish their public image in order to force ther to prove publicly who they really are, that is, the bosses of cultural institutions which manipulate people and are J209 ,s19940 We quowoyes Sujze04 usdo uo} 490) ueat 9696 basically at the service of the repressive forces of society. We must not forget, for instance, that the big banks own a great deal of South America and are therefore responsible for some of the misery and slavery of the workers in those countries. The patronage of the arts by such institutions and personalities explains the very process of alienation of the masses by the art establishment, its use for propaganda, its corruption, and its segregation of black and Puerto Rican artists. We can only do this by direct confrontation. By doing this we will gradu- ally get the support of other artists and other progressive revolutionary groups. We should also participate, whenever possible, in the actions of these other groups in order to expand our experience in dealing with such actions and to develop a binding community spirit A second objective should be the unions of the museums, which are fascistic orga- nizations and very much part of and at the service of the establishment. Their members should be persuaded to ignore the arbitrary orders of their unions and to join us in the fight against all art establishment order, in the same manner as the French workers revolted against the CGT at the time of the French revolution last May. A third objective should be the federal and local governments which finance the public museums. The prolongation of the war in Vietnam will have, as a direct consequence, a cutback of funds for social development as well as cultural funds, and the eventual clos- ing of all public museums. To fight for control of the museums is also to be against the war in Vietnam. ‘Another objective should be a direct participation of artists in the art press, ie,, the possibility of an altemative by artists to what the critics write. This should later be extended to all the press media (daily papers, radio, television ...). However, we will not obtain that objective by cajoling the members of the press and by hiding what we really are. We must not forget that they are on the other side and will always try to twist, ignore, or destroy what ‘we are fighting for. On the contrary, we must try to involve them directly in our actions, that is, make sure that these reporters are not immune to the repressive practices of the police any more than we are, Only then will they be on our side, as happened in Chicago and during the French revolution last May. Finally, we should have a good system of communications (telephone, voluntary ‘messengers... ), especially in times of crisis, and whenever we express ourselves we should use a direct approach, and not a literary one (big posters printed cheaply by serigraphy with the help of art students...)‘These comments were frst presented at the Art Workers’ Coalition “Open Hearing” on April 10, 1969. They were sub- sequently published in Art Workers’ Coalition, An Open Hearing on the Subject: What Should Be the Program of the ‘Art Workers Regarding Museum Reform and to Establish the Programm of an Open Art Workers’ Coaiion (New York: Art Workers! Coalition, 1969), n.p. quowajeys 2upeay uado uo}1/209 ,s19q!0m Ye ‘aya0} ueat 6communique (1969) guerrilla art action group Silvianna, Poppy Johnson, Jean ‘Toche, and Jon Hendricks entered the. ‘Museum of Moder Art of New York at 3:10 p.m., Tuesday, November 18, 1969. The women. were dressed in street clothes and the men wore suits and ties. Concealed inside their garments were two gallons of beef blood distributed in several plastic bags taped on their bodies. The artists casually walked to the center of the lobby, gathered around and suddenly threw to the floor a hun- dred red copies of the demands of the Guerilla Art Action Group of November 10, 1969. They immediately started to rip at each other's clothes, yelling and screaming gibberish with an occasional coherent cry of “Rape.” At the same time the artists burst the sacks of blood concealed under their clothes, creating explosions of blood from their bodies ‘onto each other and the floor, staining the scattered demands. A crowd, including three or four guards, gathered in a circle around the actions, watching silently and intently. After a few minutes, the clothes were mostly ripped and blood was splashed all over the ground.Guerrilla Art Action Group, Bloo100 Still ripping at each other's clothes, the artists slowly sank to the floor. The shout- ing tumed into moaning and groaning as the action changed from outward aggressive hos- tility into individual anguish. The artists writhed in the pool of blood, slowly pulling at their own clothes, emitting painful moans and the sound of heavy breathing, which slowly diminished to silence. ‘The artists rose together to their feet, and the crowd spontaneously applauded as if for a theater piece. The artists paused a second, without looking at anybody, and together walked to the entrance door where they started to put their overcoats on over the blood- stained remnants of their clothes. At that point a tall well-dressed man came up and in an unemotional way asked: “Is there a spokesman for this group?" Jon Hendricks said: "Do you have a copy of our de- mands?” The man said: “Yes, but I haven't read it yet” The artists continued to put on their clothes, ignoring the man, and left the museum. NB: ~—According to one witness, about two minutes into the performance one of the guards was overheard to say: “lam calling the police!” —According to another witness, two policemen arrived on the scene after the artists had left. New York, November 18, 1969 GUERRILLA ART ACTION GROUP Jon Hendricks Poppy Johnson Silvianna Jean Toche This announcement reports on an action, Bloodbath at MoMA, carried aut by the Guerrilla Art Action Group in Novem ber 1969. Courtesy of Jon Hendricks,