institutional critique an anthology of artists’ writings edited by alexander alberro and blake stimsonFirst MIT Press paperback edition, 2011 © 2009 Massachusetts Institute of Technology ok may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or All rights reserved, No part of this bot or information storage and retrieval) mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, without permission in writing from the publisher. ints for business or sales promotional MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discou ess.mit.edu or write to Special Sales use. For information, please email special_sales@mitp Department, The MIT Press, 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142. This book was set in Caecilia Light and Trade Gothic by Graphic Composition, Inc., Bogart, Georgia. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Institutional critique : an anthology of artists’ writings / edited by Alexander Alberro and Blake Stimson. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-262-01316-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)—978-0-262-51664-8 (pb) toe Critique (Art movement). 2. Artists’ writings. |. Alberto, Alexander. Il tims N6494.1565157 2009 708—de22 on, 2009003619 1098765432caution! alternative space! (1982) group material Group Material started as twelve young artists who wanted to develop an independent group that could organize, exhibit, and promote an art of social change. In the beginning, about two years ago, we met and planned in living rooms after work. We saved money col- lectively. After a year of this, we were theoretically and financially ready. We looked for a space because this was our dream—to find a place that we could rent, control, and operate in any manner we saw fit. This pressing desire for a room of our own was strategic on both the political and psychological fronts. We knew that in order for our project to be taken seri- ously by a large public, we had to resemble a “real” organized gallery. Without this justifying room, our work would probably not be considered art. And in our own minds, the gallery became a security blanket, a second home, a social center in which our politically provoce- tive work was protected in a friendly neighborhood environment. We found such a space in a 600-square-foot storefront on a Hispanic block on East 13th Street in New York. We never considered ourselves an “alternative space.” In fact, it seemed to us that the more prominent alternative spaces were actually, in appearance, character, and exhib tion policies, the children of the dominant commercial galleries. To distinguish ourselvesand to raise art exhibition as a political issue, we never showed artists as singular enti. | ties. Instead, we organized artists, nonartists, children—a broad range of people—to exhibit about special social issues (from Alienation to Gender to “The People’s Choice,” a show of art from the households of the block, to an emergency exhibition on the child murders in Atlanta) Because of our location, we had in effect limited our audience to East Village pass- exsby and those curious enough to venture out of their own neighborhoods to come and see art outside of Soho. But our most rewarding and warm and fun audience was the people on the block. Because they integrated us into the life of their street, our work, no matter how tedious or unrecognized by a broader public, always had an immediate social meaning. Externally, Group Material’s first public year was an encouraging success. But in- ternally, problems advanced. The maintenance and operation of the storefront was becom- ing a ball-and-chain on the collective. More and more our energies were swallowed by the space, the space, the space. Repairs, new installations, gallery sitting, hysterically paced cu- rating, fundraising, and personal disputes cut into our very limited time as a creative group | who had to work full-time jobs during the day or night. People got broke, frustrated, and very tired. People quit. As Group Material closed its first season, we knew we could not continue this course. Everything had to change. The mistake was obvious. Just like the alternative spaces we had set out to criticize, here we were sitting on 13th Street waiting for everyone to rush down and see our shows instead of us taking the initiative of mobilizing into public areas. We had to cease being a space and start becoming a working group once again. If a more inclusive and democratic vision for art is our project, then we cannot possibly rely on winning validation from bright, white rooms and full-color repros in the art world glossies, To tap into and promote the lived aesthetic of a largely “non-art” public this is our goal, our contradiction, our energy. Group Material wants to occupy the ultimate | alternative space—that wall-less expanse that bars artists and their work from the crucial Social concerns of the American public. an excerpt of the original, was present version, East Side Art Gallery (New This text was first published and distributed as a pamphlet in 1982, The Published in Alan Moore and Marc Miller, eds., ABC No Rio Dinero: The Story of a Lower York: ABC No Rio, 1986), 23, 1®9eds eanecusarie levarew dnostatement (1983) group material Group Material was founded as a constructive response to the unsatisfactory ways in which art has been conceived, produced, distributed, and taught in American society. Group Ma- terial is an artist-initiated project. We want to maintain control over our work, directing our energies to the demands of the social conditions as opposed to the demands of the | art market. While most art institutions separate art from the world, neutralizing any abrasive forms and contents, Group Material accentuates the cutting edge of art. We want our work and the work of others to take a role in a broader cultural activism. Group Material researches work from artists, non-artists, the media, the streets. Our approach is oriented toward both people not well acquainted with the specialized lan- guages of fine art and the audience that has a long-standing interest in questions of art theory and practice. In our exhibitions, Group Material reveals the multiplicity of meanings | | that surround any vital social issue. Our projects clear. We invite everyone to question the || entire culture we have taken for granted, rTis statement was writen in 1983 by Dougles Ashford, Julie Ault, Mundy MacLaughlin, and Tim Rolin. It was repub- lished in Alan Moore and Marc Miller, eds., ABC No Rio Dinero: The Story of a Lower East Side Art Gallery (New York: ‘ABC No Rio, 1985), 22. quoweyeys leusyew dnos