Committee on Global Thought / Columb
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UPTOWN PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY: FACING THE RAGING PANDEMICS June 12, 2020 / 4pm Session Host: Committee on Global Thought / Columbia University Featured Speaker: Vishakha Desai, Chair of the Committee on Global Thought, Principal Investigator of the Politics of Visual Arts Project. Betti-Sue Hertz, Director and Chief Curator, Wallach Art Gallery Vishakha Desai: Thank you very much, Vivian (Vivian Kurutz, Harlem Wellness Center). Listening to Sweet Honey in the Rock reminds me of some 40 years ago when I had invited them to sing at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to work on an African American exhibition, and so it brings it all back. And the phrase itself, “We're the ones we've been waiting for,” also reminds me of the wonderful phrase by Gandhi, which is to say, to see the change in the world, you are the face that you have to see. So thank you again. I am Vishakha Desai with Columbia University's Committee on Global Thought and it is my pleasure. And Andrew, if we can start the slides, please. (Begin showing PowerPoint) Thank you. We are going to go from something very personal, something we feel in our body, as Vivian talked about - the body that also is about our mind. This is really to take us out from our body to the world, our mind to the world, especially looking at art. When I first was invited by the Wallach Art Gallery, I of course immediately thought of trying to do something with arts. And part of the reason for doing that is also because I've been thinking about art, partly as an art historian, partly as a museum person, partly as a dancer, but also because I have been working on this research project on politics of visual arts in a changing world for the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia. So what I want to do with you this afternoon is to really kind of think with you and reflect on this particular moment, these turbulent times. And what does it really mean to be making art as artists, or to be presenting art from the perspective of an art institution - something that I've done for a long time. A word about Global Thought and Committee on Global Thought at Columbia is that we are always interested in looking at an issue from both a global perspective with local relationship, or a local dimension of a global idea. And so COVID19 is a perfect example of why we need to think about things, both from a personal, national, and global perspective. And so my small presentation and reflection is very much about thinking of that idea. I want to thank the Wallach Gallery, especially my friend Betti-Sue Hertz, for inviting us to start this conversation. And I want to focus on really thinking about the role of art and art institutions at this moment. I also want to think about whether this is truly an unprecedented moment, or have we gone through this 1 before? And will this moment again escape us, in terms of the kind of changes that we’re going to have to make? So let me take you - as a historian of art, I always think about whether this is a special moment by looking back to the past. So if we can have the next slide. I always loved this image, this is by a 14th century Chinese artist Wu Zhen. Wu Zhen was a scholar, was an official. He served in the courts, and then the court changed. The Mongols invaded China and he went away from the court and actually spent his time fishing, writing poetry and painting. And when Wu Zhen actually thought about this - I want to read the text that you see actually in Chinese calligraphy - he actually called himself an unemployed scholar, this is by choice. He moves away from the court, goes south and this art is an art of resistance, where he actually talks about thinking of returning home. He, the fisherman, actually dressed as a scholar, puts aside his fishing pole, and he thinks about whether he will or will not catch no more. This is, when you look at it from our perspective so many hundreds of years later, we might think it's a very beautiful picture but it is actually an act of resistance. It is a political art, and it is a political art that actually is about reclusiveness, to go away and putting his back against the imperial power that came to China in the 14th century. Similarly, if you go to Picasso and Guernica - I'm going to take you very quickly through this so that we can get to the present moment. When Picasso painted this (Guernica) right after one of these casual bombings that occurred in the town of Guernica as part of the Spanish Civil War and the fights and fascist fights that are going on, he's extremely upset. And not only does he paint this very soon after, it actually is shown all over the world, especially in Europe and America. And out of that emerges the power which through this painting people actually learn and think about the Spanish Civil War, and it becomes a more of a rallying cry to change. So one could say that here, art is not just a personal reflection, but it's an art that's an instigator for change that can occur in other parts. Next (slide), please. And then we come to Civil Rights struggle and come to Vietnam War movement in the 60s. This particular work by Jacob Lawrence, who did amazing series of the migrants coming from the South to the North - African Americans who are trying to come to a new life in the North - as well as pictures like this, which actually happened later, Soldiers and Students, where he gives voice to what is going on in terms of civil unrest. And again it's a way of reflecting on where things are, but it also can be used as a catalyst for other ways of thinking about challenge. That was also true of music. It was true of dance. It was true of visual images. So arts have always been part of some kind of reflection and giving voice to the type of social unrest, or the type of social challenges that we face in life. Artists have understood that, activists have understood that, and they have often put these together. And we have next (image) please. So when we see Dáreece Jordan Walker's Made in USA 2015 I found this particular work very, very powerful, which happened soon after the Black Lives Matter movement started. That very idea of painting something on a cardboard, putting the hand out and having a flag of “Made in USA”. I need not say more, we all recognize what kind of an image this is. It gives us that kind of a shock and sadness that five years ago we actually were feeling this and now we're here again. So part of this is that there is a power in art that perhaps gives us a, a moment of reflection, moment of agitation, moment of action, and moment of moving forward. Next (image), please. 2 Similarly, if we come to other parts of the world, such as the protests that are going on in Hong Kong - and in Hong Kong this has been going on for some time, and it has actually not let up. It has been pre-COVID, post-COVID and it is still going on in public spaces, where artists are choosing many, many different kinds of media. So here using Anime, sometimes using the metaphors from Joker, from Star Wars, from Batman and actually creating a vivid movement that, a vivid expression of the movement that people can begin to feel - especially young people - that this is about them, it isn't something outside of them. And these kinds of images are actually placed in public spaces, not institutions, where people can actually look at that and not only think about what it means, but also they're encouraged to put their own voices through the visual images, poetry and otherwise in those public spaces. Next (image), please. So when we see an image like this, which is actually - these are all post-it notes that are part of a big wall called the Lennon Wall in Central Hong Kong. And here (this image) quotes pro- democracy movement against the Chinese and the civil rights bills that are being threatened, and these are – they’re a kind of pressure, they're kind of feeling that they have no choice in the matter. And in that sense, one could say that it's also they're being suffocated by other powers. And at the same time when you see that man walking through, rushing, it reminding you of the capital, of capitalism that Hong Kong has been, the way it has connected to the world and how it actually gets disrupted with this sort of movement. So this is really to give you some sense that when we think about art in turbulent times, arts have always been part of the expression of turbulent times. Artists have never been silent, they do take this in a way, to give us some voice. At the same time, art can be seen in many different places, as you see here, this is really because in Hong Kong the only way to do this is to be in public spaces.