EDITOR’S STATEMENT // problem-solving. imaginative and tion - As a nomadic research and event space, UltraViolet Archive provides Queens International: Volumes // participa civic hands-on through lems - visibility for and access to challenged creative works. Named after Queens Museum prob common approaching are who the wavelengths of light outside the visible spectrum, the material October 7, 2018 - February 24, 2019 people creative other and artists nurture featured within this archive has faced the threat of public invisibility, to programs creates that organization Culture Push Culture due to banning, cultural amnesia, bias, self-censorship, and other Since its inauguration in 2002, Queens International has highlighted the contemporary cultural production of Queens communities in formats driven by the artist-run an is challenges. artists represented, the perspectives of its curators, and current social and cultural issues. QI 2018, titled Volumes, follows in this tradition, and for the frst time includes a partnership with the Queens Library. For Queens International: Volumes (2018-2019), the participatory installation features items on loan from the Queens Library relating QI 2018: Volumes is organized by QM Assistant Curator Sophia Marisa Lucas, with New York-based performance artist Baseera Khan and additional collab- to the censorship history of New York. Items in the installation will orators at the Queens Museum and Queens Library including. An exhibition website and web-based catalog accompany QI 2018, co-edited with QM Curator continue to be available to the public at the Queens Library follow- Larissa Harris, with design concept and development by Queens-based artist Ryan Kuo. Learn more at qi2018.queensmuseum.org ing the exhibition. By featuring visual arts, literature, flms, graphic novels, music and performing arts, the installation highlights that no medium is immune to censorship. Over the past 6 months, as a Culture Push Associated Artist, I have expanded the scope of the project [UltraViolet Archive], conducting a series of interviews with experts to further understand limitations to artistic freedom in the United States. Wanting to better understand legal defnitions and precedents, as well as standards based on international law, I was curious about several basic questions: What is artistic freedom? What does it mean to be censored? Who can censor whom? Do you need to have struc- tural power to censor? What are the boundaries around that? No one wants to think of themselves as a censor. but when is censor- ship appropriate and necessary? I used this issue of PUSH/PULL as a platform for this investigation, conducting interviews with Srirak Plipat (Executive Director of Freemuse), Svetlana Mintcheva (Director of Programs at the National Coalition Against Censorship), and Dread Scott (an international- ly-recognized artist whose works have faced content-related censor- ship). Scott Dread Plipat, Srirak Mintcheva, Svetlana // Contributors . In the interviews we discuss a range of events, covering a time period large at world the and community, Editor // Christina Freeman, Culture Push Associated Artist Associated Push Culture Freeman, Christina // Editor that extends from the 1980s into the present day, with points of view Push Culture the artists, Push Culture tween acts as a forum for an ongoing dialogue be dialogue ongoing an for forum a as acts ranging from the international NGO perspective on cultural appro- - priation in the U.S., relocating oppressive monuments, defnitions of and discourse, critical a within do they work hate speech, social media censorship, and economic limitations to Censorship of Notions Expanded + Freedom Artistic visual artists in the United States. the and artists our situate helps PUSH/PULL other issues that need attention. need that issues other This project was supported by Culture Push, Freemuse, Danish Arts and practice, social engagement, civic on allows us to present a variety of perspectives perspectives of variety a present to us allows Foundation, NCAC and Queens Museum Assistant Curator, Sophia 2019 WINTER // 7 ISSUE Marisa Lucas. Transcription support from Aroob Khan. Design advice that venue virtual a is PUSH/PULL opment. ideas and thoughts that are still in devel in still are that thoughts and ideas from Tim Laun. Life support and emotional labor from Brian George. - sponsored by Culture Push, a platform for for platform a Push, Culture by sponsored PUSH/PULL Many thanks to Culture Push and all who have participated in this journal online an is endeavor. Special thanks to Sophia Marisa Lucas and Baseera Khan, curators of QI: 2018 for giving this project its frst home. Christina Freeman, UltraViolet Archive @ultravioletarchive Image: Christina Freeman, UltraViolet Archive, 2018 in Queens International 2018: Volumes Photo: Hai Zhang Srirak Plipat // Based on the international human rights law, you have to look at the That’s where censorship and the culture of silencing is growing. We’ve seen this in- intention and the likelihood that people will actually do the violence, creasing in the U.S. in the past few years. Once Trump came into power, we’ve seen Censorship in the US: A Global Perspective as the artist suggests. If a musician sings a song and says let’s burn the society as more divided. If you have a look at our State of Artistic Freedom report police station, then you have to look at how likely is it that the audi- you’ll see in some categories, the U.S. has been among the highest in the world in ISSUE 7 // In August 2018 I sat down with Srirak Plipat in Copenhagen to get a global ence will go and burn the police station. In the latest State of Artistic terms of censorship, but the scale is certainly different. The level of punishment in tra- perspective on artistic freedom and censorship issues in the United States. All interviews have been edited for EDITOR // Freedom, on the allegations against artists, there is an 8% increase in ditionally repressed regimes includes putting artists in prisons, and the U.S. doesn’t clarity. Full issue is available online Dr Srirak Plipat is the Executive Director of Freemuse, where he works with do it at that level. local and international partners to devise a comprehensive approach to C: In the U.S., are you seeing an even amount of voices on diferent with additional images + references: Christina Freeman is an interdisciplinary artist based defending artistic freedom and cultural expression through research, advo- If a musician sings a song and says let’s burn sides of this polarized line, censoring one another? http://www.culturepush.org/issue-7 in New York City. Her work takes on various forms including cacy and policy infuencing. Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, Freemuse is photography, video, artists’ books, multimedia installation, partic- an independent international organization advocating for and defending the police station, then you have to look at how freedom of artistic expression. Freemuse publishes an annual report titled, ipatory performance, and curatorial projects. Whether initiating The State of Artistic Freedom. The 2018 report was released just before this likely is it that the audience will go and burn spontaneous conversation with viewers in public space, or work- interview. the police station. CONTRIBUTORS // ing with an anthropologist or another artist, her practice has a porousness that relies on the participation of others. Creating un- C: If you were to imagine a society that had real artistic Svetlana Mintcheva is Director of Programs at the National Coalition freedom, what would that look like? conventional rituals, she invites the audience to join in disrupting Against Censorship (NCAC) and the founder of NCAC’s Arts Advocacy Project. dominant cultural norms. Intervening in systems often taken for governments using the rationale of hate speech to imprison artists. S: That would be the world where anyone can express any opin- Mintcheva co-edited Censoring Culture: Contemporary Threats to Free Expression granted, she approaches culture as something we actively shape ion, feelings, personal or political views, in an artistic way, without C: Have you heard about the concept of no-platforming? (2006, The New Press) and has written and spoken widely on issues of artistic free- together. Community-building through transformative conversation restriction. Except for very few cases, that have been agreed upon dom. She has taught literature and critical theory at the University of Sofa, Bulgaria, motivates all of her work, regardless of whether she is perform- by international law, and that is any propaganda of war and inciting S: Parts of it, but tell me a bit more. and at Duke University, from which she received her Ph.D. in critical theory in 1999. violence. ing, curating, or teaching. Freeman received her MFA in Studio She has also taught part-time at New York University. ncac.org Art from Hunter College, City University of New York in 2012 and C: I understand it as diferentiating between the idea of censoring someone and choosing not to provide a platform her BA in Spanish and Latin American Studies from Haverford for their opinion. College in 2005. Dr Srirak Plipat is the Executive Director of Freemuse, where he works with S: I think this has come up on our radar screen on a regular basis, local and international partners to devise a comprehensive approach to defending Freeman’s projects have been featured in Artforum, Vulture, when we establish whether there’s censorship happening or not and artistic freedom and cultural expression through research, advocacy and policy infu- Hyperallergic, Art F City, Frieze, Observer, and Greenpointers. sometimes things are in the gray area. Let me give you one example: encing. Plipat was Director at Amnesty International (AI) in London, managing oper- When you have a museum, especially private ones, they have the right She has also been interviewed on Bulgarian National Television to pick and choose the artwork.