Art Hoe Journal by Ashley Darrisaw

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

DEFINING THE ART HOE. ISSUE #I

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TH I S I SS U E 06 LETTER FROM THE HEAD HANCHOE

08 WTF IS AN ART HOE REALLY? DE-MYSTIFYING THE ART HOE

14 FATIMA AL QADIRI

BARF TROOP INTERNETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S D.I.Y RAP GROUP

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

ON THE DANGERS OF MAKING QUEER ARABIC DANCE MUSIC

S R

30 THE CLEANEST DEATH

MAKING WAVES

RADICAL BLACK WOMEN WHO CHANGED THE ART WORLD

A CONVERSATION WITH MITSKI BEING A POC IN LOVE & MORE

38 MEET ART COLLECTIVE FOUNDER GABRIELLE RICHARDSON

GABRIELLE EXPLAINS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CULTURAL APPROPRIATION AND APPRECATION

42 LOOKING BACK @ YOKO ONO’S CUT PIECE

THE APPROPRIATION OF THE ART HOE THE MEANING OF ART HOE IS BEING MISCONSTRUED

45 FILM REVIEW AMANDLA STENBERG’S SHORT FILM, BLUE GIRLS BURN FAST

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: HELLO ALL! RIGHT NOW YOU ARE READING THE FIRST EDITION OF ART HOE. THE PURPOSE OF THIS JOURNAL IS TO INFORM & EDUCATE YOU ABOUT YOUR FELLOW ART HOES OF THE PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE. AS WELL, AS KEEPING YOU IN THE LOOP OF ART HOE CULTURE. WITH LOVE, HEAD HANCHOE

ART HOE:

POC, QPOC, WOC, NBPOC, TPOC & allies who are interested in any kind of art.

...see easy enough to understand but, if you need some clarity I completely understand just turn the page for more explanation

ART HOE? OKAY, WTF IS AN

REALLY

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

Art hoe or art ho seems to be the latest trend on the blogosphere, but what it is exactly and what are those crucial points when it comes to its definition nobody seems to know for certain? The descriptions are more than often blurry and incomplete. Is it another art movement, a brand-new form of lifestyle, the evolution of hipsterism? The opinions seem to be divided. Originally it was envisioned as an online platform for the promotion of young artists of color, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. The initial idea was swiftly appropriated by the teenagers worldwide making it the global phenomena and the latest fashion style rather than the significant movement or politically charged art. The art hoe term seems to include different aspects and in the following paragraphs we will try to unravel the mystery ofwhat hides behind the #arthoe label.

ers engaged in the movement when it comes to Art Hoe â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Shattering Cultural Stereotypes

suburban, white girls appropriating their label just for fashionable purposes.

This most recent form of art is already raising controversies and sparkling debates. Firstly, because of its name which is seen through history as an offensive way of referring to women. In the alternative context, the word is used to describe a creative and artistic individuals, who see themselves as outcasts from the mainstream culture and who express themselves through art. By reclaiming the word, art hoes are building their own identity. The co-founder of the movement fifteen-year-old artist Mars stated on various occasions that art hoe, or â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;art hoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was originally meant to represent the shared space for young artist of color to express their internal conflicts and concerns. This online movement encourages people to speak their mind about the issues they are struggling with, with the main focus on gender roles, racial issues and politics of identity.

Art Hoe Aesthetics When in search of those aesthetic elements recognizable for this specific style Instagram and Tumblr profiles are the main sources of information. This online subcultural space seems to be filled with artistic reinterpretation of the selfie medium. Scribbled-on selfies, monochromatic vintage outfits, portraits in front of impressionist masters like Van Gogh and Matisse, queer culture as an inspiration and a chic nonchalance seem to dominate the expressive style of art hoes worldwide. The art hoe initiative is sometimes compared to the Harlem Renaissance, the revival of African American art at the beginning of the past century.

By accepting themselves as they are and speaking confidently about it, these teenagers support each other while at the same time fight against cultural

Is It More Than Just a Passing Trend?

stereotyping.

Many wonder if art hoe is just another passing

Movement and Platform for Artists of Color

empowerment of young, marginalized people

trend. Original political goal and the idea of of color through art seems to be already losing

Although art hoe movement started as an online initiative for empowering participants of color it became widely accepted among teenagers of the different class, gender, and racial background. The founders are happy about the expanding network which was meant to be inclusive and positive. Even some peer celebrities expressed their support for the initiative like actress Amandla Stenberg, singer Willow Smith and the rapper Babbeo Baggins. However, since one of the main concerns and one

itself through commercialization. There are even fashion companies who are labeling their collections with art hoe, and like many other alternative movements there is a potential threat for this one to soon become mainstream and eventually irrelevant. On the other hand, this art movement is gaining much attention and media support and it is praised as a way of young individuals to come to terms with their individual and group identity. The movement is still young as the participants

of the most explored themes in art hoe is the social

themselves and the future and potential outcome

status and the rights of people of color there is

certain level of discontent among the black teenag-

are still to be seen.

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BARF TROOP

Sometimes, I get really worried that kids are not doing anything creative or interesting anymore. I get worried that they’re all just playing Candy Crush on their iPhones while they blast pro-ana cries out into the Tumblrverse. Then, every once in a while, I’ll come across a young person doing something interesting and I heave a giant sigh of relief. This month, I found Barf Troop. They made me stop and breathe. Barf Troop is a group of young girls who all met on Tumblr (because that’s how teenagers meet nowadays) and decided to start a rap group together. Think Kitty Pryde meets Pink Dollaz, but totally outside of the box. Barf Troop rap sweet little rhymes about sexual dominance over math rock tracks, ocean breezes and sometimes, just nothing but a weird, cheap beat. They are a pack of growing, interesting women who have embraced the PUNK ATTITUDE of doing-whatever-the-fuck-you-want and not really caring what people think about it. They are by no means professionals, but they getting there and doing something that takes guts, which I respect. I mean, they are actually making intelligent use of the Internet. FALL 2017 - ISSUE 1 ART HOE 11

Who is all in the Barf Troop?

You can embody the dichotomy. What about

All of our stage names have the word Babe in them. So, there is me Babeo Baggins (a play off of Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings), Babenstein, Baberella Fox, Babe Field, and Justin Baber.

respect?

Justin Baber. [Laughs] Yeah, Justin Baber has a huge Justin Bieber obsession, so it’s only right. She’s out of Richmond, VA. Babenstein likes to keep her age unknown because she’s constantly pretending she’s a 40-yearold mom with a pool boy who drinks vodka nonstop. Babe Field is 19 years old from Chicago. She’s seriously the deepest and most soulful person I know. Baberella Fox is 21 years old and she is in Atlanta and is in school for photography, and she is sassiest thing with the tiniest voice and the biggest talent. Oh, and then there is me, Babeo Baggins, and I’m 20 running on 11, and I’m from the part of VA that no one knows about because about 12 people live there. I’m currently staying in DC.

What are you guys trying to do with Barf Troop? It’s really cool that people can have access to make their own songs just by having a Macbook. What do you think? I’d say what we’re trying to do is support girls and show them that they can do anything they want to do. We’re big on girl power and we all believe it’s a girl’s world and boys just live in it. We’re trying to help girls feel free to voice their sexual desires without feeling ashamed to do it. I’m the dorkiest thing with a voice that is too high, but I’m not scared to let someone know when I want something and how I want it. I want other girls to understand that you can be innocent and goofy and sexy at the same time. You don’t have to choose between being a sexual being and being an innocent one. You can be both.

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

Barf Troop is all about girls and not only boys respecting us but girls respecting each other. I want all the girls who are fans of my music to support each other and realize that all of us have the same struggles and we need the support of other women! Girl empowerment is where it’s at. Barf Troop is about girls having fun and doing what they want to do. I think it’s amazingly rad that it’s so simple not only to make music, but to get it out there to a wide range of people. I love when people I never thought would listen to my music are tweeting about it or posting on their blogs about the Troop. The Internet has helped me connect with people and make music I never would’ve been able to make otherwise.

No kidding. I wouldn’t have a job without the Internet. I also have been thinking lately that rap and punk are the only progressive genres in music today because rules can still be broken—I mean, the attitudes of both those genres more so than the sonics. What attracted you to rapping in the first place and how do you try to bend the rules? I totally agree! I think what made me want to rap in the first place is that hip hop as a genre is so free formed. You really can do whatever you want to do with it. There are no rules, you can say whatever, flow however you want to, and it still comes out in a way that is totally worthy. I like that about rap. I think it really is becoming one of the only truly free range genres, because there really is no limit to what you can do. I try everything, even things that I think might not even work. Like, for our mixtape Hallowcream, I did an entire song without a beat. I rapped over some wind blowing and cricket sounds and other sound effects. It came out so creepy and

weird and I had never heard anything like it before. That’s what I always try to do. I try to do things I don’t think will work out and I try to make them work. Babe Field and myself just recently came out with a mixtape where we rapped over math rock songs, and it was extremely hard because the timing in math rock is really all over the place, but I’m super happy with it. Doing things no one else thinks to do is what makes it fun for us, I think.

What musicians do you guys all look up to? Katie Got Bandz, Lil Kim, Trina, Travis Porter, MF DOOM, Sasha Go Hard, et cetera. Female rappers are life to us and we love them all. But we’re all over the place musically, so we get inspiration from everywhere. For me, King Krule is a huge musical hero of mine, along with a ton of bluegrass artists, and Babenstien is a huge hardcore fan and math rock, as well. Babe Field and Justin Baber are huge old school soulful jam-type fans, and Justin Baber is the pop princess. We really pull from everything that we love.

What’s the DIY rap scene like where you are? There are tons of artistic people in DC, but it’s pretty underground. Around here, I think it’s super important to let the word of mouth do its work because it really is so hush-hush around here.

Totally. If you could tour with anyone, who would it be and what would you put on your rider? I think it would be super fun to tour with Sasha Go Hard and Katie Got Bandz. That would be the most hype show in the world. I’d be on stage and in the crowd at the same damn time. Or King Krule, just because I have a huge obsession with him. Or Trina! Man, there are so many rad people that I’d love to put a show on with.

Do you feel sexism in rap culture, or do you feel kind of removed from it because Barf Troop can exist online in it’s own kind of blog bubble?

I don’t feel like we are removed from it, because it’s not like these things stop existing on the Internet. We all experience it in our own ways, and once we become more mainstream, we’ll experience it in that way. It is different online though, because people feel they can say whatever they like to us and feel like they won’t face any consequence because it’s on the Internet and not direct face-to-face contact. People have this false armor. I have to deal with a lot of shit, but those people who leave nasty comments are cowards.

I agree. Say it to my face, motherfucker. Come to one of my shows when I’m on tour and say it to my face. They wouldn’t dare. How do you feel about that kind of shit? Do you get angry or upset or just ignore it? Obviously, it upsets us, but we can only do so much. If we show people that it gets the best of us, then they’ll only continue to do it. Never show weakness I say.

Agreed.

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COVER STORY

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

Midway through our recent Skype chat, Fatima Al Qadiri tells me that she doesn’t want to get too deep into the themes behind her new five-track EP, Shaneera. With its raunchy, calland-response Arabic refrains set to serpentine melodies and cavernous drums traversing the Mideast and the West, the Hyperdub-released record might be Al Qadiri’s most club-friendly music in years. But as with rest of the Kuwait-raised, Berlin-based producer’s work, grasping the cultural context greatly enriches the listening experience. The problem with this record, she says, is that it’s impossible to explain queer culture of the Gulf to Western audiences without tripping up over the fact that nuances will be lost in translation. “I want to explain this record the least to straight people— it’s none of their business,” she says. “I don’t want to speak on behalf of the queer Gulf. I don’t think it’s fair for one person to assume that role.” The inevitable loss of meaning across foreign borders is a theme that Al Qadiri often comes back to. Her fascinating 2014 debut LP Asiatisch was, in her words, “about an imagined China created through a Western filter—how rap and grime producers took Sino themes, attached power to them, and re-interpreted them in their music.” Shaneera’s title also hints at the circular nature of these exchanges, coming from Arabic slang that one of Al Qadiri’s friends couldn’t wrap his tongue around and later adopted in its mispronounced form by her queer friends back in Kuwait. The term refers to a gender-defying evil queen—a persona that Al Qadiri thinks of as her nefarious alter ego and inhabits, nearly unrecognizable in drag-like makeup, on the EP’s cover. w

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What does the EP’s title mean, and what does it signify to you? Shanee’a is an Arabic word, and like a lot of Arabic words, there are layers of meaning: outrageous, nefarious, hideous, major, foul. A few years ago, we were teaching GCC’s gallerist, Stephan Sastrawidjaja, how to say “shanee’a,” and he kept saying “shaneera.” The meaning is still the same, but it’s a mispronunciation. We fell in love with it and started using it.

What drew you to this term as the album’s dominant theme? Is shaneera similar to what “queen” means in gay slang here? Not really—this is specifically an evil queen. I’m fascinated by evil queens. They’re very alluring and repellent at the same time, and I’m into that dichotomy. I also wanted to explore the fact that it’s a persona—a temporary state or action— and not a person.

When does your shaneera alter ego come out? She comes out when she’s tested [laughs]. I keep her under wraps; she’s definitely not a public persona. But if you really troll through my Twitter feed, you’ll see little vestiges of my shaneera behavior.

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

At first I thought it was a drag queen on the album cover—but it’s you! It’s interesting how a hyper feminine look can be indistinguishable from drag, which is often a subversion of femininity. Was it your intent to explore this ambiguity? I’ve been exploring gender performativity in the Gulf since I was a teenager. I’m not a gender anthropologist, but I feel like there’s an extreme binary between femininity and masculinity in the Gulf. From a young age, I knew I didn’t want to be part of it. Gender is a huge gray area, and the problem with defined roles is that they cover up undefined ones. The cover is inspired by stale pop diva imagery in the Arab world. If you’ve ever seen album covers for Arab female pop stars, it looks like the designer was paid five dollars to make them, and the extreme femme-ness is astounding. I’m almost certain I’ll never be on the cover of any of my records again, but I thought it was appropriate because it highlights that anyone can be a shaneera. Your cat can be a shaneera. With this EP, I wanted to highlight the questions: what is drag? What is femininity? Who is an evil queen? The answer is: everybody.

How might gender performativity be different in the Gulf than in the West? There are lot of words for male roles and, like, two for female roles [in Arabic]. These words don’t exist in English, so there’s already a big semantic gap, and a lot is lost in translation. [On the other hand], “queer” is still an English word, and there isn’t an Arabic equivalent, in a non-binary sense.

Speaking of language, Arabic vocals play a prominent role on this EP. Did you use any samples? No. The lyrics were taken from drag and comedy sketches, but we re-recorded them. For example, “Is2aleeha” is from an iconic YouTube skit by the most famous drag queen in the Arab world, Bassem Feghali, who assumes the role of this very famous Egyptian TV show host. My friends are obsessed with the sketch, but the [sound] quality was terrible, so [my collaborator] Bobo Secret re-recorded the lyrics. It turned out better because Bobo Secret has such an incredible voice.

You also used Grindr chats as material. The majority of the lyrics in “Alkahaf”— which means “The Cave”—as well in the title track are taken from Grindr chats. For instance, the only English lyric on the record is “masc only,” a routine requirement in queer hook-up culture that means “masculine only.” Lama3an, one of the vocalists, says “masc only” and Bobo Secret says back, “Why, girlfriend?” She’s expressing a frustration with the masculine body as a hegemonic type of queer body.

The vocals sound really big and dramatic, especially with the echo effect. It seemed like you wanted to make sure people could understand them. The majority of the lyrics in “Alkahaf”— which means “The Cave”—as well in the title track are taken from Grindr chats. For instance, the only English lyric on the record is “masc only,” a routine requirement in queer hook-up culture that means “masculine only.” Lama3an, one of the vocalists, says “masc only” and Bobo Secret says back, “Why, girlfriend?” She’s expressing a frustration with the masculine body as a hegemonic type of queer body.

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The press release calls the melodies “Arabesque”—what does that mean, exactly? There’s a big difference between the Arabic and Western scales. One uses quarter tone system and one doesn’t. So in order for me to compose real Arabic scale melodies, I would need an Arabic keyboard, and I don’t have one. So I had to compose Arabesque melodies.

What atmosphere were you trying to conjure?

I wanted to create a clubby, fun atmosphere. It’s a light-hearted record, but it’s also a fuck you, which is in the spirit of the shaneera evil queen. I used a combination of Gulf and Western drum kits. Mixing was actually the most painful part, because Gulf drums have very big resonances—they swallow up the whole mix. It was a nightmare to find sound engineers who know how to mix them.

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Did you have any criteria when figuring out which vocalists to collaborate with? Oh my god, I thought this record was never going to be made. It’s really risqué to say things like “whore house.” In English, nobody gives a shit. But saying it in Arabic is taboo. Basically, I landed in Kuwait last November, was invited to a party the same day, and met all the collaborators there. All but one person [involved with the record] took pseudonyms, so I can only say so much about them. After finding the vocalists, the huge question was: where could I record? Studios in Kuwait are super bro-ed out places, and nothing is worse than going to this bro atmosphere and recording really queeny lyrics. But at this party, I also met [multimedia artist] Zahed Sultan, who was friends with practically all the vocalists, and had a recording studio in his apartment. That made it so chill because the recording was done in a safe space where they could be at ease.

That must have been one hell of a party. There were, like, 30 people at the party, and five of them were instrumental to this record. Had those circumstances not occurred, this record would not have been made. It would have been too difficult. I made this record for fun, but it’s going to offend some straight square people, who are the majority in the Arab world.

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These radical black women changed the art world.

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“If we are going to bring about a better world,” Mary Ann Weathers wrote in her 1969 essay “An Argument for Black Women’s Liberation As a Revolutionary Force,” “where best to begin than with ourselves?” More than a rhetorical device, this salient inquiry encapsulates the heart and pulse of a black women’s liberation movement that sought to disrupt the discourses of second wave feminism—which primarily served the interests of white, middle-class women—and a Black Power movement that, at times, reinforced patriarchal authority. In doing so, a generation of black women such as Weathers sought to assert a political ideology that firmly centered the lives and interests of black women. It is through this lens of reclaiming power that visitors should consider the exhibition, We Wanted A Revolution: Black Radical Women 1965–85, currently on view at The Brooklyn Museum. Organized by 22

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Catherine Morris, Sackler Family Senior Curator for the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, and Rujeko Hockley, the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s former Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art and now Assistant Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the exhibition examines the ways in which the cultural production of black women artists during this time period articulated a new message of radical politics. Featuring the work of more than forty artists whose practices span the mediums of sculpture, performance, painting, and photography, the exhibition responds critically to a longstanding gap in the history of art. Following the recent symposium on We Wanted a Revolution, I spoke with Morris and Hockley about the specific ways photography is deployed throughout the exhibition. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Jessica Lynne

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JESSICA LYNNE: This exhibition has been

a few years in the making. Could you talk about the impetus of the project and why it was vital for the show to exist within the museum’s series A Year of Yes: Reimagining Feminism at the Brooklyn Museum?

ment collection of work acquired by the

project I organized with Vincent Bonin,

museum in 2012. We are building on

Materializing “Six Years”: Lucy R. Lippard

institutional history and bringing out sto-

and the Emergence of Conceptual Art

ries that we ourselves didn’t necessarily

(2012), points to the very strong links be-

know that well.

tween conceptual practices and politics. Photography is one of those threads by

MORRIS: This pertains to the subject of photography as well. One of the really important things that comes out, I hope, is the history of art in relation to the tradition of activism—ad hoc organizing,

which you can really trace that connection and I think We Wanted a Revolution does that, too. HOCKLEY: I agree fully. One of my greatest dreams for this exhibition and for the

CATHERINE MORRIS: Several years ago,

building of coalitions, and direct action.

we started thinking about how the proj-

The exhibition starts with the ’60s-era

ects we were focusing on pushed against

Spiral Movement and AfriCOBRA [African

historical orthodoxies, and about second

Commune of Bad Relevant Artists,

wave feminism, which is the founda-

founded in 1968]. It ends with Carrie Mae

tion of the Sackler Center. What are the

Weems and Lorna Simpson, who, begin-

stories that aren’t told? It came down

ning in the 1980s, took up this mantle in

to an exercise of revising revisionism.

a new, intellectual relationship to imag-

Revisionist history is one of the most im-

es, particularly images of black women,

portant contributions feminist theorizing

but also the overall critique of imagery

has made to the history of art, but it was

and interrogation of our assumption of

time to turn that method on itself. We

how images are read.

MORRIS: The history of photography

Lynne: Photographic images exist in a

personal and the political, and a tran-

Wanted a Revolution captures that spirit.

accompanying publication was that it could be taught as a history of American art from 1960 to the 1980s. As Catherine said, during this period, photography became a fully legitimized art form. This is also the period of performance and artists moving out of the studio, of artists moving into public space. And how do you document that? In photographs.

in this period is that mash up of the sition in conceptual practices. You see

RUJEKO HOCKLEY: Exactly. A lot of We

few different ways in the show. We see,

Wanted a Revolution came out of my

for example, performance documenta-

work in graduate school and the work

tion, formal portraiture, and self-por-

I had done about women of color and

traiture through the work of artists such

black feminism outside of the art world.

as Ana Mendieta and Ming Smith. From

There is an institutional history here

a curatorial standpoint, what is gained

vis-à-vis the museum’s community

from using the image in this multifaceted

gallery, a space that existed from 1968

way?

gold, Michele Wallace, and BECC [Black

some ways. And a lot of the work in the

MORRIS: Photography played a role in

journalistic method, and then you move

show is part of the Brooklyn Museum’s

the transition from modernist formalism

collection, including a Black Arts Move-

to the emergence of conceptual art. The

to ’86 which was a problematic space in

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

that great shot of the women in “Where We At” Black Women Artists [founded in the 1970s] that is purely these folks documenting themselves. And you move back and forth between Jan van Raay’s documentation of Faith RingEmergency Cultural Coalition] as a public into Conceptual practices like those of Lorna Simpson, Coreen Simpson, and

Ming Smith.

the exhibition by theme—historical

ic art objects. How do you negotiate

moments, exhibitions, collectives, etc.

that within the larger context of this new

HOCKLEY: The exhibition is about

This was a way to remove an overly

media moment?

self-determination, about women of

didactic curatorial frame, but also to let

color speaking for and to themselves. At

the artists’ moment shine, which created

Hockley: The choices that performance

the time, there was a lack of interest and

a roughly chronological feel. It became

artists make at the moment of creation

understanding of black women coming

interesting to see the places in the exhi-

impacts the work forever. Ceremony for

from the mainstream feminism move-

bition in which people pop up over and

Freeway Fets, for example, only exists

ment, and a lack of the same from the

over again, people like Faith Ringgold,

as photographs. In a film by Barbara

Black Power movement.

but also people like Coreen Simpson.

McCullough, Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual

MORRIS: The exhibition also shows how

Morris: The best way to give the exhibi-

and Space (1979), which is not in the

fully engaged these artists are within

tion breathing room was to unfold the

show, there is brief footage of Ceremony

the art world. “Where We At” brought in

story in the way it actually unfolded.

for Freeway Fets. That is the only moving

professionals to tell to them about port-

I don’t think we ever had a discussion

image documentation, of that work.

folios. There was a very clear interaction

about formal relationships that we might

But I don’t think Senga thinks of herself

between community-based organizing

want to highlight.

as a photographer. Similarly, Lorraine

politics and art world politics.

O’Grady’s Mlle Bourgeoisie Noire (1980– Hockley: But then, that formal approach

83) and Rivers, First Draft (1982) live as

Hockley: And the power of having a

kind of happened anyway. That was one

photographs, even though O’Grady isn’t

group photographer, and using the

of the beautiful surprises of installation.

a photographer.

is incredibly important to the show, but it

Morris: Yes, it’s one of the reasons I love

Morris: To me, the dicier question always

also incredibly important to the people in

being a curator—the opportunity to see

comes up about re-performing. I am

the show! They kept everything.

what the objects will do when you put

much more suspicious about how one

them in a room together.

can adequately restage something, and

image, to create an archive. The archive

Lynne: As you were thinking about how

if one should. So, these materials, and

the exhibition might look, was there

Hockley: And to be surprised, to see

this way of documenting performance, is

ever a moment you considered grouping

those moments of synergy. Painting be-

absolutely of the time, and that is why it

artworks by medium?

gins the show and we end in new media.

fits in the show.

Hockley: The artists wanted to speak

Lynne: Performance documentation

Hockley: It is different in the dance

in their own voices; they wanted to tell

excels within the exhibition. I’m thinking

world than the contemporary art world.

their own stories. They also wanted to

of Senga Nengudi’s Ceremony for Free-

What is the difference, for example,

be contextualized by scholars, and to be

way Fets (1978). You have treated these

between Blondell Cummings’s Chicken

read art historically. So, we organized

works as formal, artistic and photograph-

Soup (1981) and the Rodeo Caldonia

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High Fidelity Performance Theater

cross-referenced it with Saar’s impecca-

wasn’t and still often isn’t used within

Collective’s documentation of their per-

ble records. Saar was then able to find

black women’s communities in particu-

formances? Both have different relation-

the piece, and to connect us with the col-

lar, and yet, this exhibition allows us to

ships to documentation. I’m sure Chicken

lectors, who live in downtown New York.

understand the lives of these women

Soup has been performed by other

We went to their house and borrowed it.

artists within the very real and urgent

people and could be. That is the way that

And now it is in the show!

ideological framework of black feminism.

dance exists. Choreography belongs to

The Sourcebook in particular functions

someone but it is also made to be per-

Morris: And it has never been on public

as an extension of feminist thought.

formed by many different people. I have

view before. The other thing is, the show

Long after the exhibition is down, there

seen Revelations many times, but never

continues to reverberate and feel ever

is this text that can circulate and revive

with Alvin Ailey. It is powerful every time.

more important to the contemporary

itself. And that is equally as important as

conversations. When we started this

the work and the stories of these artists,

Lynne: What surprises did you encounter

conversation two years ago, we had no

their lives.

throughout your research?

idea the election would end the way it would, and that we would need this

Morris: Using the word feminism or

Morris: We got really excited about

show. Looking at social media since the

not—and I will use it for this conversa-

some objects that we were able to shake

show opened, the need that people have

tion as we have yet to find the perfect

out of the bushes. When you are doing

for this show is not something you can

language—feminism existed and it was

primary research, people come to you.

plan for. But it feels to vitally important.

happening. The whitestream world of the

That is one of the most rewarding parts,

Brooklyn Museum and the Sackler Center

because you know this is the first of

Hockley: Catherine and I have had an

needs to know that. So does everyone

what has to become multiple projects.

unshakable belief in the necessity of

else! Walking through the show, and be-

The Sourcebook has long-term value that

the show from the earliest moment.

ing at the symposium, I thought, “Holy

will contribute to those future conver-

We were both so invested, to the point

shit, this happened.” Having this exhibi-

sations. It will allow other people to

of compulsion, probably insanity! Our

tion means that history gets rewritten,

understand what we set out to do.

colleagues at the Brooklyn Museum,

which it needs to be. And that history

they were like, We don’t know what you

needs to be more complex, and more

Hockley: And have a broader context.

are talking about, and we don’t under-

interesting, and more vibrant, and made

We went to see Linda Goode Bryant

stand what is happening, and we don’t

more pertinent.

[founder of the Just Above Midtown

know why you keep adding things to the

Gallery] and she had her whole JAM

checklist. But we were determined that it

Hockley: Instead of being comparative,

archive for us. We live, live, live, live

had to be amazing. It resonated with us

relational, or responsive to whitestream

for those moments. One of the most

in such a profound way.

feminism or accepted narratives of

surprising and satisfying things was the

feminist art history, we were committed

connection between research, scholar-

Lynne: I am certainly also thinking about

from the beginning to centering the work

ship, and real things in the world. We saw

the contemporary moment. I consider

and experiences of the women in the

a reference in an art journal to a piece by

the Sourcebook and the exhibition to be

show. We were talking about them. This

Betye Saar, Liberation of Aunt Jemima:

types of black feminist texts. You both

conversation isn’t that long ago. These

Cocktail (1973). We sent the reference to

remark in your introductory essay to the

people are still alive. They are here.

Saar’s gallery, Roberts & Tilton, and they

Sourcebook that feminism, as a word, Morris: And they are still making work.

AH 26

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

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ART HOE

the appropriation of

culture.

As hegemonic ideologies dominate imagery produced by mainstream media, marginalized groups are often invisible or misrepresented. Consequently, growing up with futile media representation often motivates young people to carve out spaces for representation and expression. Unfortunately, often with the arrival of niches specifically designed for marginalized groups, people in positions of privilege try to appropriate those spaces in order to gain cultural capital. The representation of the Art Hoe Movement, founded by co-curator Mars in order to “give POC a platform to express their internalized struggles,” is one example of the appropriation of spaces (Sisley). The art component of the movement entails collaging selfies or other works of art by Queer/POC over famous works of art in

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

order to produce creative reconstructions with new meanings. In doing so, they are able to carve out a niche for self-expression, as well as make a statement about media representation. Often, we see what Meenakshi Gigi Durham refers to as “cultural hybridization,” the result of a need for alternative representations in mainstream media, or for alternative niches in social media. Durham considers the effects of hegemonic media representation in “Constructing the ‘New Ethnicities,’” when she expresses how Indian American girls “recognized a need to assert a new identity position that, in a sense, rejected the options of Indian as well as American media texts” (461). The Art Hoe Movement uses the reappropriation of famous works of art as their vessel for cultural hybridization. The rhetoric employed by appropriating the very same works of art

that paved the way for exclusion makes a statement about a lack of marginalized representation as a whole. Simultaneously, the movement provides a complex space where individuals can resist their lack of representation in a critical way. With the emergence of spaces designed specifically for marginalized groups comes the appropriation of those very spaces by people in positions of power and privilege. In an interview with The Guardian, Mars discussed how coining the movement as a “movement” was initiated when it “was getting co-opted by this little group of skinny, frail, white girls. To belong in their group, you had to have a $100 backpack, a $20 Japanese sketchbook — shit like that. When that came to my attention, we started to fight back and identify as a movement” (Frizzell). Appropriation in order to gain cultural capital is not a new phenomenon. In “Inventing the Cosmo Girl,” Laurie Ouellette writes about a similar tactic employed by Cosmopolitan, which encouraged readers to “appropriate the surface markers of cultural capital” in order to present an illusion of class. Yet, appropriation of marginalization in order to gain cultural capital is arising more frequently as commodification of feminist discourse

becomes popular. Marginalized groups who resist dominant hegemonic ideologies that permeate all aspects of their lives often do so by creating safe spaces for people in those marginalized groups. The very fact that these spaces arise is proof of how they are necessary in the context of resisting hegemonic representations in mass media. Yet with the rise in popularity of feminist discourse, comes an appropriation and commodification of that very discourse. The appropriation of marginalization in order to gain “cultural capital,” is just another reason why it is so important to establish and preserve these spaces.

FALL 2017 - ISSUE 1

ART HOE

A CONVERSATION WITH MITSKI We first meet on the internet because of Rivers Cuomo, the original soft fuckboy before #soft #fuckboys were identifiable by hashtag. Rivers who went from singing about the woes of being low-key unfuckable to the woes of being a rockstar wholowkey fucked too much. Rivers,the cute, nerdy front man of Weezer who coveted Asian girls and famously sang, Goddamn you half-Japanese girls/ Do it to me every time on “El Scorcho”, an ode or a dragging depending on what side of the fetish you were on. 30

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

We meet online because Mitski read my essay about

and wallet in her hand like a chic clutch. It’s full-on

growing up Asian, listening to Weezer, and waiting

sticky summer outside but Mitski is dressed for air

to be objectified by a man, thinking it would be

conditioned, dark wooded interiors, and I tell her so.

the closest I’d ever get to being loved. Around the

“You look like a hot librarian who loves to enforce

same time I was listening to her music on repeat all

the rules!”

over New York City. I don’t need the world to see/

We hug and shout compliments at each other like

That I’ve been the best I can be, but/ I don’t think I

two introverts who’ve just crawled out of our caves.

could stand to be/ Where you don’t see me. Back

Down in the basement of the packed food court,

in March, Mitski tweeted: “sometimes I wonder

we are surrounded by Asians eating Asian food.

am I rivers cuomo’s dream girl or worst fucking

The din of noise is immense but Mitski feels right

nightmare”. I’ve wondered the same, though in

at home. “My mother recently bought a retirement

high school the question was inverted: Was Rivers

home in a suburb of Philly and the reason why she

Cuomo my dream man or my worst nightmare? Did I

bought it there is because there’s an H Mart next

want to be someone’s Asian fetish more than I didn’t

to the house,” she says, referring to Korean chain

want to feel ugly?

of Asian supermarkets. I cop to having the same priorities. For Mitski, who’s half Japanese, home is

“You feel like a pimple,” Mitski says in between bites

a complicated thing. She was born in Japan and has

of fish dumpling, in reference to being Asian in

lived in thirteen different countries. She moved to

white spaces, though the space we’re in right now

a different place every year of her life until she was

couldn’t be more Asian. We’re having lunch in the

admitted into the classical composition program at

basement food court of New World Mall, the largest

SUNY Purchase in upstate New York. Last year she

indoor Asian food court in America (at least accord-

gave up her apartment in Brooklyn and has been a

ing to its website) located on a bustling avenue in

nomad ever since. “Right now, I’m on my manager’s

Flushing, Queens, one of the most diverse neigh-

couch,” she explains.

borhoods in New York City. Because of the internet,

Last September, not long after we met online, we

specifically Instagram, I have already gazed at her

met in person for the first time when we were

outfit, but when she shows up a few minutes before

booked on the same bill for a night of poetry and

our scheduled meeting time, I’m still taken aback

music at Shea Stadium, an all-ages DIY venue in

by how stunning she looks in a long-sleeved cobalt

Bushwick, Brooklyn. Mitski performed a stripped

blue sweater with a lusciously deep V-neck tucked

down acoustic set without a backing band. The

into a pencil skirt. Her hair is full and loose, parted

room swayed and sang along to “Townie”, I’m not

to the side. She’s wearing round, dark tortoise shell

gonna be what my daddy wants me to be/ I wanna

framed glasses and impeccable eyeliner. Mitski

be what my body wants me to. It feels like we’ve

Miyawaki, who makes music under her first name,

been having one long conversation about our

doesn’t carry a purse, rather she holds her phone

bodies ever since that night. “My body is a temple,”

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ART HOE

Mitski jokes at one point, “in that it’s forbidding. It’s

romantic I’ve ever seen. It opens on Mitski sitting

ancient and forbidding and it won’t go out.” Being

on a chair in a cherry red suit looking forlorn and as

happy with the bodies we are in seems besides the

hair and make-up put the finishing touches on her.

point as Mitski reveals for the longest time she felt it

The camera cuts to a generically cute white guy in

would be easier to not have one. As we’re laughing

a gray tank top, the kind in plentiful supply at music

about how terrible it can be to deal with our bodies,

festivals. They make eyes at each other and wave

Mitski suddenly grows quiet and serious. “I really

shyly. The budding flirtation abruptly ends when a

want to be beautiful though. There’s always a part of

white girl in a flower crown wearing an outfit that

me, at the end of the day, I just want to be a pretty

could be ripped straight from an Urban Outfitters

girl who’s perfect.”

catalogue, complete with a culturally appropriative “native inspired” tattoo and fringe crop top, shows

I agree with her so totally that my body hurts from

up. The two white people make out and grope

nodding so vigorously. Maybe that’s why we’re

each other for the rest of the video. Girl meets Boy

both fascinated by Rivers Cuomo’s fascination with

becomes white girl meets white boy, leaving Mitski

half-Japanese girls—it’s a way to let someone else’s

to kiss her own arm as the power chords kick in.

fantasy of you become your fantasy. “You can be-

There’s real pain when Mitski sings, Your mother

lieve you are not a complex person” she says. “You

wouldn’t approve of how my mother raised me/ But

can believe you are an one-dimensional person. You

I do/ I think I do. Near the end, Mitski changes into

can live your own fantasy if someone sees you that

a long-sleeved gold cocktail dress and heels, and

way. They won’t last, but when I was a teenager, I

shreds on her guitar as the scene of white love gets

would have relationships with boys who exclusive-

grosser and grosser on the other side of the room.

ly didn’t see me as a person because that’s what I

It’s the perfect antidote to the indie rock tradition of

wanted.”

rarely acknowledging its own whiteness, but it’s also a song of pure heartbreak—the POC kind. So when

It’s brutal to hear her say it, not least of all because

Mitski took to Facebook to post a message implor-

so many girls have said or thought the same thing.

ing her fans to not blindly accept what the critics

Watching the video for “Best American Girl”, the

have decided the song is about, I totally get it.

first single off of Mitski’s fourth album Puberty 2, crystallizes something for me. I test out my theory

“Your Best American Girl is a love song,” Mitski

on her. “Soulmates are only for white people. This

wrote on her page. “A lot of reviews have agreed on

idea of finding a home and finding a soulmate—

a narrative that “she wrote this song to stick it to

these are all white dreams in a way. But I love that in

‘the white boy indie rock world’!” but I wasn’t think-

your songs, it’s like, Even though I know that, I still

ing about any of that when I was writing it, I wasn’t

want those things. I still dream. I still want.”

trying to send a message. I was in love. I loved somebody so much, but I also realized I can never

“It’s so true.” She laughs ruefully, but then brightens

be what would fit into their life. How hard I tried, we

a bit. “I feel like POC love is so much more romantic

were from different worlds, and there was nothing

in the classical sense, because it’s like, I love you but

I could do about that. Yes in the musical compo-

I can’t be with you.”

sition I used tropes from “white indie rock” of my adolescence (the chord progressions, the moment

It’s a small consolation, but I’ll take it. And it’s true,

at 2:25, etc), and my mentioning that in interviews

the video for “Best American Girl” is one of the most

was probably what propagated the aforementioned

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

narrative. But I used those tropes to accentuate the

what I wanted to say at Shea Stadium, “I love your

point that I could use their methods and act like I

boundaries. It’s the hottest thing about you.”

was of their world, but I would never ever fit.”

She laughs with relish and confirms that though she’s strict with her bandmates on tour, she’s even

Because there is such a deficit of outspoken, smart,

stricter with herself. “I don’t drink on tour. It makes

funny Asian American women in music, Mitski

me not as sharp. After the show, I take my makeup

knows she can’t just be a musician, she has to be

off first thing, and we load out. I’m not into hanging

a symbol too. “It’s so easy when you are someone

out after the show. I go right to bed. My bandmates

who is in public in any way and an artist to become a

hate me for it sometimes. They want me to hang

character. Everyone wants you to become a cohe-

out, they want me to just eat a bag of chips for

sive symbol and I think I spend 80 percent of my

lunch, but halfway through the tour they always tell

public life energy trying to acknowledge that it’s a

me, Oh my god, I feel so good. I don’t feel like I’m on

complicated layered thing.” It is complicated and it

tour and I’m like, Yeah, because Mom knows what’s

is precisely because she has such a compassionate

best.” It’s only when Mitski refers to herself as Mom

understanding of this dynamic that makes her seem

that I remember she’s only twenty-five years old. To

especially accessible. “I can’t blame anyone for it.”

say Mitski is mature isn’t close to being adequate

She pauses before elaborating further. “I want the

in conveying how far and how deeply she’s thought

artists that I love to become symbols. I seek out

about her life, her well-being, her survival.

symbols. I love Lana Del Rey because she is a sym-

“Do you love my severity?” she asks, smiling sweet-

bol. I want that of her and I do that automatically

ly.

so I can’t blame people wanting that of me as well.

“I do, I say. “I really, really do.”

I might be asking too much to be like, See me as a person, but I still want that.”

When it comes to doing interviews, Mitski pushes

Her twitter timeline drips with the struggle to be

righteously for more boundaries as well. “I wish

seen as a person. When a fan tweets at Mitski, “will

there was a concept of consent in the same way

u adopt me???” she cuts right through whatever

there is in a sexual context but with publishing in a

inaccurate, idealized notions her fans may have and

public context. The thing with doing press is that

want and need of her, and simply responds: “I don’t

once you say something everyone feels it’s now

have a place to live”.

in the public so they can ask or take from you that

Mitski-Tweet-03.jpg#asset:2465

same thing over and over again. I wish there was

After the Shea Stadium show we performed at

something like, I gave it once but that doesn’t mean

together, my friend Tony and I got in line behind a

I have to give it again. I wish I could talk about my

long queue of mostly young women waiting to talk

mother once in one context but then say after that,

to Mitski. We were awestruck by her charisma on

Actually I’m not going to talk about my mother to

stage and when it was our turn to say hi, we ended

you. Another day I might decide to talk about my

up gushing about how amazing her set had been.

mother, but I want it to be up to me every time and

“What are you doing after you get through this

not be like, Well you talked about it last time, so you

line?” I asked, looking back at the kids still waiting to

should be willing to talk about it! It’s like, No, not

meet her.

today.”

“Straight home to sleep,” she answered.

We don’t talk much about her mother today, instead

Nine months later, as we’re digging into our massive

we get deep into sidetracks and tangents—Drake,

wooden bowl of Szechuan style stir-fry, I tell her

the alcohol industry, the inspiration that is the Irish

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ART HOE

“I feel like POC love is so much more romantic in the classical sense, because it’s like, I love you but I can’t be with you.”

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

recording artist Enya hiding away and making music

like organized and nitpicky. The way I show affection

in her literal castle. When we get into the psycholo-

sometimes is to fuss over somebody.” Fussing, ti-

gy of sub-domme relationships, I repeat something

dying, cleaning up we decide is very Asian, where-

I read from the liner notes for “Happy”— “happiness

as joy, happiness, and exuberance is gloppy and

fucks you”—and ask if the idea of being forbidden to

gross—it’s American.

kiss in a sub-domme relationship is related some-

“Happiness is messy and the thing that’s messy

how to why happiness can’t last, and as I’m asking

about it is that it can’t last. Even when I’m having a

my question, I realize I’ve lost track of the staircases

really good time there’s something in the back of

of associations we’ve raced up and Mitski admits

my head going, Okay, something wrong is going to

the same. I’m quickly apologetic. “It must be hard

come. I wrote it because I was thinking, I just want

because all these people are studying what you are

to not feel anything because that would be so much

saying, and you’re just saying things.”

cleaner, so much more balanced, so much easier if I

Mitski is even quicker to clarify, “The thing is if you

could just not go up and down and just go straight

say, Oh, I don’t know what I meant, then that—be-

forward all the time.”

cause of who I am—becomes gendered. It’s like, Oh

I’m reminded of the quiet horror of American

,she doesn’t know what she means, it just comes

weddings and launch into a very well-rehearsed

out of her. She’s just this priestess chosen girl. It just

rant. “When people say your wedding day is going

flows out of her, there’s no art behind it. I may not

to be the happiest day of your life, I’m always like,

understand it all, but it’s not fevered. It’s not like I

Why would you say that to someone? You’re telling

have no authority over it.”

them it’s never going to be better than this day. Why

Listening to Puberty 2, there is authority and inten-

would they keep living?”

tion everywhere. Themes emerge—death, tidiness,

Mitski turns the idea over and contemplates it seri-

heartbreak, love, not wanting to be so emotion-

ously. “Actually that would be the cleanest death—to

ally captive to highs and lows. “I’m obsessed with

die on your wedding day of your own accord. That’s

death,” Mitski confirms when I note that both Bury

beautiful. That’s some samurai shit. That’s like, the

Me At Makeout Creek and Puberty 2 end with her

cherry blossom dies when it’s in bloom. I wish that

singing about wanting to be neat and clean when

was what it meant. Like, This is the happiest day of

the end comes. On “Last Words of a Shooting Star,”

your life so this is where it will end,” she says and we

Mitski sings I always wanted to die clean and pretty/

laugh at the satisfying darkness of it all.

but I’d be too busy on working days/ so I am relieved

In the song that has the most recognizable punk

that the turbulence wasn’t forecasted/ I couldn’t

elements and is the most poetic in name “My Body’s

have changed anyways/ I am relieved that I’d left my

Made of Crushed Little Stars”, a song that is hard,

room tidy/ Goodbye. On “A Burning Hill,” she ends

fast and sloppy, Mitski sings, I wanna see the whole

with So today I will wear my white button-down/ I

world, but before that sentiment has time to sink in,

can at least be neat/ Walk out and be seen as clean/

she smashes it and yelps out her grim reality: I don’t

And I’ll go to work and I’ll go to sleep/ And I’ll love

know how I’m gonna pay rent.

the littler things/ I’ll love some littler things.

She asks me how I afford my rent and then retracts her question, apologizing that “it turns into a ques-

We swap astrological profiles and I learn she’s a

tion about money,” but I’m game and I’m keen to talk

Libra and her Venus, the planet that rules all matters

about money. I find transparency comforting and in

of love and the heart, is in Virgo. “So as a Libra I’m

short supply, and, as it turns out, so does Mitski.

like, Love, la la la but Venus in Virgo people are very

“I’ve kind of become alienated from DIY indie music

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ART HOE

world of Brooklyn. I realized it’s because I’m always

that long for me. I had to learn to say everything

aware of myself at 50 years old getting cancer. I’m

right now, to get your attention.”

not going to sit around getting beers with you be-

Though Mitski regularly sells out her tours and has

cause I need to be thinking about when I’m almost

gotten rave reviews for her last two albums and

dying and need to get medication but I can’t pay for

could certainly afford to be a bit more indulgent, she

it because I’ve been DIY and I’ve been touring with

remains, true to her word, hardest on herself. I tell

you in a van and sleeping on floors.”

her Puberty 2 has some tests—“Happy” opens the

I’m nodding furiously and about to bring up how

album with a headache—but there’s plenty of treats

much socioeconomics plays into it but Mitski is

to be found too, and she admits, “I’m not confident

several pages ahead of me. She continues, “This is

enough to not provide treats to lure them here.”

another class and racism thing. Those people who

When I ask if her approach to making music has

say, Oh you are not DIY or you are so ambitious or

changed now that she’s becoming a public figure,

you’re all about money… I’m not all about money! I

she thinks about it for a while and then responds,

only care about music but unlike you—you, at any

“It’s fruitless to try to maintain your “self” before

point in time can quit music and take over your dad’s

you were aware. The only thing you can do is try

company or you can go back to Connecticut if shit

to adapt and find a new way of creating because

doesn’t work out in Brooklyn. You can go live with

there’s absolutely no way you can make the same

your parents for as long as you want. You can always

thing in the same way as you did when no one knew

leave…. This is it for me. Music is my skill and I have

you. When I’m songwriting, finally everything goes

to make sure it’s sustainable because I want to live.

quiet and I can be in my world and I think that’s why

I think that’s ultimately what alienated me.” Mitski’s

I love it so much. That hasn’t changed. When I’m

voice changes tone a little, betraying her investment

writing a song—maybe I’m a psychopath—I’ll have

in setting people straight on this. “I wouldn’t be

this voice in my head, this awareness that people

doing music if I wanted to make money but I want

are listening, but it almost doesn’t matter. I can still

to be able to keep making music and in order to do

be in my own world. It’s the same thing as being on

that I have to be healthy and I have to live. It’s very—

stage: creating my inner world on stage while phys-

they’re not aware of it, but it’s the same as hating on

ically looking at these people but also being able to

the Asian kid at school who is working really hard to

live in a dream while being aware that people are

get rich. The ultimate privilege is looking like you’re

watching you living your dream.”

not working hard or just being chill. It’s actually

racist to be like, Oh you’re so ambitious it’s so ugly.

All throughout lunch, the question of dreams come

It’s like, No I have to, I have to hustle.”

up again and again. Talking about her teenage years,

And she does, she hustles because she is all too

she reveals, “I would have an one night stand but

aware that many of the luxuries afforded to white

I would never sleep over. It had nothing to do with

dudes in bands—the luxury of being weird, the

boundaries. It had everything to do with: I want to

luxury of being dirty, the luxury of experimenting,

take my face off but I don’t want to do that in front

the luxury of being boring, the luxury of being

of his person so I have to go home and take my

mediocre—are not extended to her. “I used to be

make up off in private. I don’t want them to see my

a three-minutes tops person, and that was only

face without makeup. But it would be interpreted

because I grew up not being given time to speak,

as, Oh, she’s so distant, and she’s so cool—not cool

so that’s how I became—very concise. I always had

in an awesome way, cool as in a chilly way. But it

a very small window. I can’t be a noise artist white

had nothing to do with that. It was very surface. It

boy shredding for thirty minutes. No one would stay

was just—I need to take my makeup off.” Though

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

she says it’s as simple as wanting to sleep with

be your dream as easily she could turn into your

clean skin, when I chime in to bring up how gross it

nightmare, “so he can stay in love.”

is to wake up the next morning in a stranger’s bed

We both arrived at our lunch date with our hair

without brushing your teeth and the stink of last

down and now as we’re preparing to leave, we

night’s cigarettes and booze still on your breath,

simultaneously, while talking about dreams, pull

Mitski agrees, adding, “That’s the thing—you know

our hair back into low ponytails. Mitski is headed to

that you need to keep the dream alive.” We marvel

a fancy photoshoot where she’ll have her makeup

at how ridiculous the “dream” is and how ridiculous

professionally done, something she loves, and I’m

it is that nearly every woman knows about it and

headed home. When the car drops us off in the

seemingly so many men never even notice it.

Hasidic part of Williamsburg, we hug and make

“It’s almost insulting to not go home because that

totally vague non-committal plans to hang out again

means like, Oh you’re not worth keeping the dream

like a couple of introverts who like each other but

alive for,” I say.

can’t risk further energy depletion. I walk very slowly

“That’s another part of feminine labor,” Mitski says.

through the neighborhood listening to Puberty

“It’s hard to explain to men who don’t think about

2. Spending time with her has left me plump with

that. It’s like: we’re thinking about your dream right

fullness, yet somehow I’m even more ravenous

now.”

than before. A tiny taste of a love other people

After lunch, I get an iced bubble milk tea and Mitski

can’t ruin, I sing along as I’m blocks from home and

orders a hot herbal tea. She’s every bit the twen-

get a text from Mitski with a photo of her looking

ty-five-year-old rock star going on MOM when she

like a hot 90’s Barbie: “makeup level: auntie w blue

thoughtfully inquires how I plan on getting home. I

eyeshadow” she writes and I text back: “Omg u r like

live in Brooklyn and the train situation from Queens

Veronica from Archie comics hot and that is like the

to Brooklyn is abysmal and slow. She offers me a

highest compliment known to womankind”.

ride to her next appointment, which is a photoshoot in South Williamsburg. While we wait for the driver

In the days to come, I text her updates on my heart,

my friend Tony texts me: “Best American girl is the

my horoscopes, my feelings, never forgetting how

best song of 2016 lol”. He wants me to pass along

in the car she gave me the four words I needed so

the message, and I do, exaggerating to Mitski that

much to hear: “Love is worth it.” Mom really does

he’s basically in love with her, because it’s harmless

know best, I think even though Mitski’s several years

and fun to talk that way about men when they aren’t

younger than me. I fight the urge to ask: where have

around. “The dream you,” I specify, even though this

you been all my life? When I scroll through her Twit-

whole time we’ve been talking to each other, we

ter, I see someone has already asked exactly that,

might as well have been appending “the dream you”

and in truest Mitski form, her answer is severe and

and “the dream me” to the end of all our observa-

fair: over here caught up in my own life.

tions about how we move through the world as

women. “That’s so sweet of him,” she says. “Actually, you’ve met him before. I don’t know if you remember but he was there at the Shea Stadium show. We all chatted afterwards and he took our photo.” “Maybe I shouldn’t have talked to him,” she says, smiling with the gleam of a woman who might just

FALL 2017 - ISSUE 1

ART HOE

GABRIELLE RICHARSON

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

Growing up, Gabrielle Richardson was surrounded by African artwork. It was through these objects that Gabby felt connected to her cultural roots. “Sadly, not many brown kids are able to be surrounded by art that depicts their own culture, by artists of that culture,” laments the 23-year-old Philadelphia native. “I was raised in a family where not only was art an outlet for me, but it was also a possibility.” Wise beyond her years, Gaby has taken it upon herself to educate the world on cultural appropriation, all the while striving for greater visibility for those who need it. Together with curators Jam and Mars (they met on Tumblr, where else?) she set up the Art Hoe Collective, an online platform dedicated to giving queer artists of color a voice, and thus challenging the white heteronormative narrative that dominates the art world. Currently working on expanding the website — as well as a workshop series in Brooklyn that will allow young kids to explore a range of artistic expressions — we talk to the artist and activist about the dangers of cultural appropriation, the politics of the ghettoizing minorities, and why black lives matter. FALL 2017 - ISSUE 1

ART HOE

What’s the story behind Art Hoe Collective? The collective began when we realized that there are so many talented people of color but no platforms willing to give us a voice. Physical spaces to showcase art are dominated by whiteness. The digital world is full of young vibrant artists of color who are breaking boundaries with their work. They are neither being credited or compensated for what they contribute to culture and society. A space was needed, for us by us. That’s how Art Hoe Collective was created; we saw a problem and remedied it in the best way we could. What does being a part of a-queer-artists-of-color only space mean to you? We think anytime an artist of color makes art it is always automatically political. Our ethnicity defines our art because our ethnicity defines the way we navigate in the world. Safe spaces for marginalized groups become havens where we feel our safest, both physical and in our expression. The world we live in has made it clear that the lives of queer people and black people aren’t worth as much as our white counterparts. If people think our lives don’t matter than what is our art worth? We want to be on the same platform as these white men but we don’t want to be stripped of our identity in order for people to consider us as equals. Often when we are brought into these spaces our narrative is only boiled down to our suffering, to a strange voyeurism. Queer artist of color spaces are important so that we can not only be there for each other in our times of sadness and need, but to also revel with each other and celebrate ourselves and our happiness. We create these spaces so we can have a platform, a place where we can nurture each other and grow. Is there a danger of ghettoizing yourselves I don’t consider it necessarily a danger, I consider it an inescapable reality. People are always quick to label the actions of black people as ghetto, I could simply breathe and people would call it ratchet. I know whatever I do or no matter how illustrious I become I will never be able to remove myself from that word, it’s something that I have accepted as being ingrained in my identity and in my blackness whether or not I want it to be. Cultural appropriation has become a part of the conversation in a way it has never before. Why do you think this is? Cultural appropriation is so much more than white people using African American vernacular or girls wearing dashikis and bindis to this year’s biggest

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

music festival. Cultural appropriation is when those in power siphon marginalized groups and commodify them for mass consumption and profit. It is a capitalist and white supremacist act that has serious detrimental effects on people of color. Black and brown people are dying at the hands of the police, while white people are out here wearing cornrows and listening to NWA. Where does appreciation end and appropriation begin? Appreciation ends and appropriation begins when power comes into play. Appreciation means there is an equal exchange of both power and culture that is acknowledged by both parties and acted out with respect. There is a fine line between celebrating something and commodifying it. Cultural appropriation happens when a history and a lifestyle get reduced down to an aesthetic. It’s painful seeing my features passed down from my family, and having a negro nose that justified Philandro Castile’s stop, being bought and lauded by the white rich. What do you stand for? I stand for marginalized groups having a voice and being treated equally to their counterparts. I stand for reparations and the reclamation weapons fashioned against marginalized groups to be remolded for our own use. I stand for empathy. Too often people are sympathetic but lack the ability to empathize. I’m tired of sympathy and pity, put yourself in someone else’s shoes and assist in change. Staying neutral in times of injustice is a political stance in itself; we need to actively attempt to dismantle structures of power in whatever way we can, we are currently living in the defense. Even just speaking on an issue is a stride in the right direction. What are your hopes and dreams for the future? My personal dreams for the future is to continue being able to showcase the work of all these young artists and do more for them and invest in their dreams work. If I could I would want to make a career out of this. In the grand scheme of things I would like for a future world that is more inclusive, for a future that doesn’t favor cis white men, where black people stop getting killed on the streets, and having their dead bodies being forced into the public eye for consumption.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I stand for marginalized groups having a voice and being treated equally to their counterparts. I stand for reparations and the reclamation weapons fashioned against marginalized groups to be remolded for our own use. I stand for empathy.â&#x20AC;? FALL 2017 - ISSUE 1

ART HOE

YOKO ONOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CUT PIECE 42

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

Art is inexorably bound up in the

placed on the floor in front of her. Members of the

situation where it is produced

audience were invited to approach the stage, one

and where it is experienced. You

at a time, and cut a bit of her clothes off – which

can emphasize this, or you can

they were allowed to keep. The score for Cut Piece

emphasize where it is produced

appears, along with those for several other works,

or experienced: you can even

in a document from January 1966 called Strip Tease

equate them, and emphasize the

Show.

equation. The relationship exists

in any case, and, either as artist

Performer sits on stage with a pair of scissors in

or as audience, we are in a sit-

front of him. It is announced that members of the

Cut Piece First version for single performer:

uation analogous to a swimmer who may fight the

audience may come on stage – one at a time – to

surf, dive through it and struggle against it until he

cut a small piece of the performer’s clothing to take

gets out beyond where the surf is noticeable: or else

with them. Performer remains motionless through-

this swimmer can roll with the waves. Dick Higgins,

out the piece. Piece ends at the performer’s option.

Postface (1964) [1]

nounced that members of the audience may cut

The seemingly sudden and recent popular-

Second version for audience: It is an-

ity of reprise performances of live artworks of the

each other’s clothing. The audience may cut as long

1960s and 1970s has been greeted with an equally

as they wish.

abundant supply of critical analysis, much of which

frames these events as “reenactments.” Such is the

book, Grapefruit, Ono included not so much a score

case with Yoko Ono’s 2003 performance of her 1964

as a description, concluding with the statement

Cut Piece. It was performed by Ono on at least six

that, “the performer, however, does not have to be a

occasions and by others many times more. The first

woman.”

two performances took place in Kyoto and Tokyo in

July and August 1964. The third performance was

hibition, Life, Once More: Forms of Reenactment

presented at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City

in Contemporary Art, Jennifer Allen characterizes

in March 1965. And the fourth and fifth performanc-

Ono’s 2003 performance of Cut Piece as a “reen-

es were offered as part of the Destruction in Art

actment,” and imputes to the artist rather grand

Symposium presentation of Two Evenings with Yoko

ambitions for the event.

Ono at the Africa Centre in London in September

1966. While Ono “directed” later performances of

Theatre, Yoko Ono reenacted her own Cut Piece as

the work, these were – until September 2003 – the

an expression of her hope for world peace…. One

only confirmed occasions on which she herself pub-

could argue that the original performances of the

licly performed it.

sixties and seventies needed to be reenacted in

order to catch up with the spectacle, in order to be

In these first performances by Ono, the

And in the 1971 paperback edition of her

In her catalogue essay for the 2005 ex-

In September 2003 at Paris’s Ranelagh

artist sat kneeling on the concert hall stage, wearing

reproduced, in order to exist. Ono’s intervention

her best suit of clothing, with a pair of scissors

seems to differ since she decided to reenact Cut

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ART HOE

Piece, not for an exhibition, but for the mass media,

would be transformed – not from any authentic

and not merely to ensure the continued existence

original, but from an idea into an experience – each

of her work, but in order to make a difference in

one distinct from the others. Ono has described her

the present. In France, the organizers placed a full –

instruction works – or scores – as “seeds,” activated

page advert for the event with a statement by Ono

individually and collectively in the minds and actions

who described her intervention as a response to the

of those who receive them. And as is often the case

political changes in the wake of 9/11. Her statement

with her work, this germinating idea is manifest in

appeared around the world for a little bit longer than

multiple variations.

fifteen minutes. It seems that Ono hoped that her

performance would reenact the peace movement

has discussed the work in several different ways.

of the sixties on a global scale. In this case, the

As will be clarified below, she has characterized it

reenactment searched for a lost totality, not in the

as a test of her commitment to life as an artist, as a

performance, but in an entire generation. [2]

challenge to artistic ego, as a gift, and as a spiritu-

al act. Critics over the years have interpreted Cut

There are a number of problems with this

At earlier performances of Cut Piece, Ono

assessment. Most importantly, the very notion that

Piece as a striptease, a protest against violence

Ono reenacted her own work seems to miss the

and against war (specifically the Vietnam War), and

point of an event score entirely. In the two score

most recently (and most frequently) as a feminist

variations quoted above, Ono refers to the perform-

work. In September 2003, at the age of seventy,

er in the third person – and makes it clear that the

Ono performed Cut Piece in Paris “for world peace.”

performer may be either male or female. Thus there

Thirty – nine years after her first performance of the

is no sense of an “original” performance – or any

work, she told Reuters News Agency that she did it

sense of priority for the artist’s own performances –

“against ageism, against racism, against sexism, and

even after the fact. The texts are not so much docu-

against violence.” Although neither Ono nor her crit-

ments of a singular performance as the performanc-

ics framed Cut Piece as a feminist work in the 1960s

es are realizations of the score. And whether these

when she was first performing it, she has clearly

realizations are made by the artist herself or another

subsumed the subsequent feminist interpretations

performer – or whether they are made in 1964 or

of her piece into her own revised intention all these

2007 – makes little difference in this regard. While

years later.

Allen suggests that performances of the sixties

and seventies might be reenacted “in order to be

occasion that Ono was “the world’s most famous

reproduced, in order to exist,” she seems to recog-

unknown artist.” Although Ono had already estab-

nize that there is more than this behind Ono’s 2003

lished a fairly substantial reputation in London by

performance when she notes that Ono mounted her

the time she first met Lennon in November 1966,

Paris performance “not merely to ensure the con-

her subsequent liaison with the married Beatle soon

tinued existence of her work, but in order to make a

eclipsed her growing reputation as a prominent

difference in the present.”

avant – garde artist. And after marrying Lennon she

became “the woman who broke up the Beatles,” and

Having conceived Cut Piece as an event

John Lennon noted on more than one

score, Ono foresaw the work’s realization in a

consequently an object of scorn in the worldwide

succession of presents. And from the start, she

press. In addition to losing her artistic identity (in

understood that in each of these presents the work

the popular press) and being labeled a homewreck-

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

er, Ono bore the brunt of an onslaught of racism and

her discussion of it – has had the cumulative effect

sexism that is still hard to fathom thirty – odd years

of recasting Cut Piece as one – dimensional – and in

later. It is hardly surprising then that she now offers

the process ironically marginalizing the very work

her performance against racism and against sexism.

these feminist scholars seek to reclaim for histo-

And, having last performed it in the eighth decade

ry – and indeed have. As shall become clear, the

of her life, ageism has become part of her personal

differences between Ono’s own earlier explanations

experience as well. To borrow Higgins’s metaphor,

of the piece and the feminist framings by critics

she is rolling with the waves (or perhaps the punch-

writing since Ono’s 1989 reemergence are substan-

es).

tial, though certainly not irreconcilable. These differ-

In recent years, even before the current

ences can be understood, of course, in the context

vogue for “reenactment,” Ono’s work has become

of the hermeneutics to which Higgins alludes in the

an increasingly popular subject of art – historical

epigraph. Elsewhere, he has proposed that herme-

reclamation, culminating in the recent retrospec-

neutics is an ideal approach with which to critically

tive exhibition and book, Yes Yoko Ono. Since her

consider Fluxus performances. Paraphrasing Hans –

reemergence onto the art scene (having been vir-

Georg Gadamer, Higgins explains:

tually ignored by the artworld during her years with

Lennon) with a small exhibition of bronzes at the

she establishes a horizon of experience – what is

Whitney Museum in 1989, the majority of authors

done, its implications and whatever style the per-

who have considered her work as a visual artist (or

former uses are all aspects of this horizon.

a recording artist, for that matter) have presented

her work as “proto – feminist,” typically citing Cut

experience. He or she watches the performance,

Piece, as a major example from the sixties. The act

and the horizons are matched up together. To some

of art historical description and interpretation is a

extent there is a fusion of these horizons (Horizont-

form of “reenactment” as well, of course. Allen’s

verschmelzung). When the horizons fuse, wholly or

contention that performances might be reenact-

in part, they are bent, warped, displaced, altered.

ed “to catch up with the spectacle, in order to be

The performance ends, and the horizons are no

reproduced, in order to exist,” seems to imply that

longer actively fused. The viewer examines his or

the “event” of the performance is a “media event”

her horizon. It is changed, for the better or for the

of sorts – prompting the consequential press (or art

worse. The best piece is the one that permanently

– historical literature) as its objective. In the case of

affects the recipient’s horizon, and the worst is the

the performance reenactments of which she writes,

piece which the recipient, acting in good faith, can-

however, it seems more likely that it is exactly the

not accept at all. [3]

other way around. That is, it is the art – historical

attention that prompts the “reenactments.”

Fluxus work, Gadamer’s hermeneutic model is en-

tirely appropriate, as I will demonstrate below. But

While Ono’s own earlier discussions of the

The performer performs the work. He or

The viewer has his or her own horizon of

While Ono’s Cut Piece is not necessarily a

work’s inspiration and “meaning” certainly accom-

first, a review of the work’s critical reception is in

modate any number of different readings, the

order. My first example raises the important ques-

current dominance of feminist approaches – some-

tion of documentation in addition to the current

thing the artist herself has clearly accepted and

pervasiveness of the work’s feminist interpretation.

reinvested into her 2003 performance – or at least

In 1992 artist Lynn Hershman was com-

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ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

missioned to re – document Cut Piece for Euro-

logue essay for the 1994 Bad Girls exhibition, the

pean television. Working from photos and texts,

author calls Cut Piece “fiercely feminist in content”

as well as a first – hand account of one of Ono’s

and explains:

performances that a colleague of hers had seen,

Hershman created a fifteen – minute video docu-

legend of the Buddha, who had renounced his life of

mentation of a 1993 performance staged with three

privilege to wander the world, giving whatever was

actors specifically for this purpose. Her attempts

asked of him. His soul achieved supreme enlighten-

to interview Ono for the project were unsuccessful.

ment when he allowed a tiger to devour his body,

Cut Piece: A Video Homage to Yoko Ono concludes

and Ono saw parallels between the Buddha’s self-

with a discussion between art historians Moira Roth

less giving and the artist’s. When addressing serious

and Whitney Chadwick; the tape had been produced

issues – in this case voyeurism, sexual aggression,

with the classroom in mind, Hershman told an inter-

gender subordination, violation of a woman’s per-

viewer in 1993.

sonal space, violence against women – Ono invari-

ably found means to combine dangerous confronta-

One of the most obvious ways in which

Ono’s inspiration for Cut Piece was the

the video seems to deviate from the original per-

tion with poetry, spirituality, personal vulnerability,

formance score is in its splicing together of three

and edgy laughter. [6]

performances by three different women. Hershman

saw Cut Piece in terms of “feminism, violence, and

rather tentative feminist interpretation had become

risk” and recreated it with the idea of “video cutting

dominant, cropping up regularly in the popular press

as a type of violence as well.” When asked why she

as well. Cut Piece wasn’t always a feminist state-

chose to present performances by three women,

ment, however. Cut Piece is an incredibly rich and

Hershman replied: “I think she represented every-

poetic work that raises questions about the nature

woman, not just one.” [4]

of the artist – audience relationship, and in so doing,

Within five years, Haskell and Hanhardt’s

Another scene, in which a man from the au-

deliberately offers its performers, audiences, and

dience approaches the stage and raises the scissors

critics an opportunity to project their own “mean-

in a threatening gesture (though ultimately lowering

ing” into the work.

his arm and simply cutting her dress) is based on

written accounts of a similar event that is said to

feminist readings that currently prevail, her recent

have occurred during the first performance in Kyoto.

comments also suggest that she understands that

“hindsight is twentytwenty.” In 1994 interviewer

While some of the earlier accounts of Cut

While Ono clearly has no objections to the

Piece performances refer to the audience’s behavior

Robert Enright asked her, while discussing one of

as sexually aggressive, it is not until Barbara Haskell

her films, “Did you think of yourself as a proto –

and John G. Hanhardt’s 1991 book, Yoko Ono:

feminist?” She responded: “I didn’t have any notion

Objects and Arias, that Cut Piece is given a specif-

of feminism. When I went to London and got to-

ically feminist reading – and a somewhat qualified

gether with John that was the biggest macho scene

feminist reading at that:

imaginable. That’s when I made the statement

Three years later, though, in Marcia Tanner’s cata-

‘Woman is the Nigger of the World.’”7 It was 1969

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ART HOE

when she made that statement to Nova, a British

his wife and children and was walking towards a

women’s magazine. And in 1972 she and Lennon

mountain to go into meditation. As he was walking

would issue a controversial pop single of the same

along, a man said that he wanted Buddha’s children

title.

because he wanted to sell them or something. So

Two years earlier, after she had met Len-

Buddha gave him his children. Then someone said

non, but before she had “gotten together” with him,

he wanted Buddha’s wife and he gave him his wife.

she directed a performance of Cut Piece as part of

Someone calls that he is cold, so Buddha gives him

a “happening.” The 14 Hour Technicolour Dream

his clothes. Finally a tiger comes along and says he

Extravaganza at London’s Alexandra Palace in April

wants to eat him and Buddha lets the tiger eat him.

1967 was the epitome of swinging London – and

And in the moment the tiger eats him, it became

the epitome of the macho scene to which Ono

enlightened or something. That’s a form of total giv-

referred. Lennon was in the audience that night, and

ing as opposed to reasonable giving like “logically

the band Pink Floyd was also on the bill. A film of

you deserve this” or “I think this is good, therefore I

the event shows Ono’s then – husband, Tony Cox,

am giving this to you.” [8]

presiding over the performance, which featured

model Carol Mann. An enormous crowd presses

Bad Girls author Tanner, above. Yet Tanner charac-

against Mann, who is perched on a large stepladder,

terizes the story as a kind of poetic spirituality in

wearing granny glasses and smoking a cigarette.

which Ono cloaked her “serious issues,” namely

In contrast to the solemn air that envelops Ono in

feminist issues.

her own performances of Cut Piece, the Alexandra

Palace performance seems a mob scene – a specta-

ical feminist.” Only a year earlier, for example, the

cle. While one would be hard – pressed to present

record Woman is the Nigger of the World had been

this performance as feminist, Ono clearly accepted

greeted with great controversy in the mainstream

authorship of this performance as photographs of

press. Yet in 1974 she discussed Cut Piece at length

this event were used in subsequent publicity for her

in an autobiographical essay written for a Japanese

later concerts.

magazine – with no reference at all to feminist poli-

tics.

How, then, did Ono herself talk about Cut

This is the very same story alluded to by

By 1973 Ono was widely considered a “rad-

Piece when she was first performing it? Discussing

the work in a 1967 article in a London underground

work. In other words, the artist must give the artist’s

magazine, Ono told her interviewers: It was a form

ego to the audience. I had always wanted to pro-

of giving, giving and taking. It was a kind of criticism

duce work without ego in it. I was thinking of this

against artists, who are always giving what they

motif more and more, and the result of this was Cut

want to give. I wanted people to take whatever they

Piece.

wanted to, so it was very important to say you can

cut wherever you want to. It is a form of giving that

artist chooses to give, the artist gives what the au-

has a lot to do with Buddhism. There’s a small alle-

dience chooses to take. That is to say, you cut and

gorical story about Buddha. He left his castle with

take whatever part you want; that was my feeling

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

Traditionally, the artist’s ego is in the artist’s

Instead of giving the audience what the

about its purpose. I went onto the stage wearing

concludes: “Now, one may say ‘there, the sign of

the best suit I had. To think that it would be OK to

essence was performed’ and bow down his head,

use the cheapest clothes because it was going to be

and others may say ‘If no sounds were made, give

cut anyway would be wrong; it’s against my inten-

me back my money’ and raise their arms in the

tions.

air. Anyway, avant – garde music is a mysterious

I was poor at the time, and it was hard. This

thing.” This anything – but – feminist reading of Cut

event I repeated in several different places, and my

Piece in the Japanese press can perhaps be better

wardrobe got smaller and smaller. However, when I

understood when one realizes that another piece

sat on stage in front of the audience, I felt that this

on the program, listed in this review as Chair Piece,

was my genuine contribution. This is how I really

was actually titled Strip Tease for Three. It involved

felt.

simply a curtain rising to reveal three empty chairs

The audience was quiet and still, and I felt

on the stage and then descending.

that everyone was holding their breath. While I was

doing it, I was staring into space. I felt kind of like I

ization of Cut Piece – along with a suite of provoc-

was praying. I also felt that I was willingly sacrificing

ative photographs – was presented in the pages of

myself. [9]

TAB, a New York “gentlemen’s magazine.” With a

headline, “The Hippiest Artistic Happening: ‘Step Up

The idea of giving the audience what it

In June 1968, however, a similar character-

wishes to take is very much bound up with herme-

and Strip Me Nude,’” the brief article continued:

neutics – or reception theory – the idea that it is

the viewer as much as the artist who invests a work

mance “music of the mind,” and Art and Artists in

of art with meaning. Cut Piece’s reception – the

London described it as “the next logical step,” Yoko

meaning with which it is invested – is as varied as its

Ono’s “art” striptease still seems like a striptease to

audiences.

excited viewers. The difference here is that Yoko, a

Japanese lovely now performing on the continent,

One of the earliest reviews of Cut Piece

Though Time magazine called her perfor-

that I have been able to find is of Ono’s second

does not take her clothing off . . . the audience does

performance of the work in August 1964 in Tokyo.

it for her. Guys who used to sit back and yell “Take it

The headline translates as: “The title is ‘Stripping’

off!” now have the golden opportunity to take it off

– avant – garde musician, Ono Yoko’s recital.” And

for her. [11]

it continues: In the center of the stage without any

props, under the hazy spot light, a woman sits.

tion of Ono’s affair with Lennon, the author’s charac-

From their seats, members of the audience ran up

terization of the artist as a “Japanese lovely” stands

onto the stage and started to cut off her clothing

in stark contrast to the descriptions of her as “ugly”

with scissors. Soon, the scissors cut even to her

that would soon predominate.

underwear. With the theme ‘Stripping,’ it is a scene

from Ono Yoko’s recital held at Sogetsu Art Center

1990s, Cut Piece began its life quite differently. But

the other day. [10]

Ono’s aesthetics of reception accommodate both

these readings and many more too numerous to

After listing the other works performed, it

Published only weeks prior to the revela-

A canonically feminist work since the

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ART HOE

review in these pages. Interpretations of Cut Piece

formance had already been publicized though, so

as a feminist work and as a striptease are ultimately

Moorman hastily arranged for two men to perform

at least as revealing of those respective interpreters

the piece in Ono’s stead. Apparently facing prob-

as they are of the artist who conceived the work.

lems with nudity and her parks permit, the perform-

For if Cut Piece is both these things and more, it

ers appeared in large black bags that were cut off

is foremost a work that challenges our notions of

instead of their clothing – a conflation of Ono’s Bag

what a work of art is and who actually makes it – a

Piece and Cut Piece. For what was in all likelihood

conceptual work.

the first male performance of Cut Piece, then, the

performers wore bags, under which they were fully

Curiously, Cut Piece has received consid-

erably more press in the past seventeen years than

clothed. Due to specifically stated park policy, nudi-

during the three or four years that Ono initially

ty was prohibited.

performed it – all incidentally before her famous liai-

son with Lennon. And for the most part, this expert

Cut Piece was in the fall of 1968, and the perform-

opinion has been based on previously published

er was Jon Hendricks, then director of the Judson

descriptions and photographs. As it turns out, while

Gallery, and now Ono’s exhibitions manager as well

Ono’s staff had unknowingly informed artist Lynn

as curator of the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus

Hershman otherwise, there is a film of the 1965 Car-

Collection. Hendricks was a guest instructor for

negie Recital Hall performance of Cut Piece made

a “Semester in New York” program sponsored by

by Albert and David Maysles – and others as well. I

a consortium of Midwest colleges. The students

discovered this film in late 1996 while researching a

were living at the Paris Hotel, where the course was

catalogue essay for Ono’s 1996 FLY exhibition and

taught. Hendricks performed Cut Piece as part of

subsequently found other films as well. While I had

their introduction to the course.

screened it at conferences in 1997, its first major

public showings occurred within the Out of Actions

Piece. I bought a suit at the thrift store, put the scis-

exhibition at L.A. MoCA in 1998. From this point on,

sors down in front of me and explained the work. I

most writers and performers worked from this film

saw it as a kind of leveling of the student – teacher

document.

relationship and a way of getting into something

that was timely in terms of both performance and

As noted earlier, Ono had always intended

The next known male solo performance of

I was kind of nervous so I decided to do Cut

Cut Piece to be performed by men or women. The

social issues – the war in Vietnam, riots, and the

first documented male performance of Cut Piece

feeling of some of us against authority in soci-

(that I’ve been able to find, anyway) took place in

ety. And here I was, the authority figure . . . . [12]

Central Park on September 9, 1966, as part of the

Hendricks’s performance seems to have been more

Fourth Annual Avant – Garde Festival organized by

about challenging the authority of the performer

Charlotte Moorman. Ono had been scheduled to

rather than his vulnerability.

perform Cut Piece, but left suddenly for London

and the Destruction in Art Symposium. Ono’s per-

seems to presume a female performer – something

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

Thus a feminist interpretation of the piece

never mandated by the artist herself. This in turn

small qualifications). If the original artists were

likely reflects a commonly held notion that an orig-

credited and paid, the whole messy medium could

inal performer and an original performance consti-

be brought into the world of copyright and distribu-

tute an authentic version of the piece. Curiously,

tion and licensing fees – in a word, into the market-

more recent performances by men (Jim Bovino at

place. To use another mouthful of a word, it could

the Walker Art Center in 2001 and John Noga at the

also, Abramović argues, thereby be brought into the

University of Akron in 2007, for example) have more

academic discourse of history.” [14]

closely kept to Ono’s score. Both Bovino and Noga

assumed the seated position indicated in Ono’s in-

score has existed within the Fluxus orbit since at

struction and maintained a calm, passive demeanor.

least the early 1960s – the very period at stake in

Thus performed, the more recent feminist framings

Abramović’s project. More problematic, however, is

seem irrelevant – and the “content” seems more

the idea that new performances provide an object

clearly to be the actions of the audience members

of sorts for art historical study. As demonstrated

themselves.

above, reformulations of Cut Piece have arguably

contributed to a distortion of the work, more so

This notion of the “original” performance

Of course, this concept of performance

work that underlies much of the recent interest in

than an illumination of it. On the other hand, the

performance “reenactment” might well hold true

nature of Ono’s work seems not merely to allow

for other performances by other artists, but not of

this, but encourage it. Indeed, one might argue that

performances encoded in scores – Fluxus or other-

Cut Piece, more than anything else, exploits the

wise. Marina Abramović, who recently performed

hermeneutic circle among artist, score, performer,

a number of well – known performance works from

audience, and critic.

the 1960s and 1970s at the Guggenheim Museum (Seven Easy Pieces, November 2005), spoke about

Readings of Cut Piece as feminist, pacifist, anti – au-

her own work of the 1970s at a symposium that fol-

thoritarian, Buddhist, Christian – and even as a strip-

lowed the week of performances: “We never wanted

tease – are all valid. The many and varied interpreta-

to repeat things . . . . We never even wanted to be

tions of Cut Piece by artist, performers, audiences,

photographed. We were pure pure pure.” [13] Curi-

and critics testify to the work’s great power – a

ously, her week of historic performances was made

power embedded in its score. But most importantly,

possible by what Nancy Princenthal characterizes as

Cut Piece is an incredibly rich and poetic work that

a “radical response.”

poses seldom – asked questions about the nature of

art itself and in the process opens itself up to a mul-

By treating the irremediably category – re-

sistant performance form as if it were, say, popular

titude of readings. To assert that any of its perfor-

music, and translating “instructions” as “score,” a

mances or interpretations are definitive denies the

performance could be re – presented by anyone

work the very multivalence at its core and minimizes

with the necessary stamina and determination (no

the qualities that make it forever vital and alive.

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BLUE GIRLS BURN FAST 52

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

Amandla Stenberg’s newest short film is titled Blue Girls Burn Fast

world. That scene seemed very true to real teenage life). The film work is also

(which btw, interesting title. The English Major in me almost wants

inspired, now it may not be Oscar worthy, but I truly believe that Amandla

to analyze it so badly) and it’s about a girl named Andrea, or Andy.

Stenberg is going places. In fact, the only thing that’s just OK is the acting,

Andy is a foster child who’s tired of bouncing around in different

but certainly that doesn’t mean it’s bad.

homes. Andy dreams of having one home, specifically her childhood home, to call her own, but is pulled between that and the foster

As for the LGBT/Queer aspect of the story, it’s also kind of great. First off,

care system. In addition, she’s pulled between her interests in her

Andy’s life isn’t concerned with just her romantic relationships, but when

“friend” Aidan and her other “friend” Lea. And all that is only in 20

those do take a primary in her life boy do theytake over. Andy meets Aidan

mins!

and likes him, but she’s also drawn toward Lea. This conflict is interesting

and well presented. Also, Andy never opening says that she is bisexual, the

The quick version: This is a good watch. The film

viewer just watches and finds out. (Sidenote: I wasn’t even sure when I was

is short at just 20 mins, but I enjoyed basically

watching if there was a Queer angle, so I applauded when Andy and Lea

every moment of it. There’s really nothing for me

kissed.)

to hate here. While yes, it’s not good that Andy

Now to finish off (because I can’t help it) I have to analyze some of

tried to run away at the beginning it’s a scene the

the film . No, I won’t turn this into a whole term paper. I just want to

serves the character and lets us know the situa-

talk about the use of the color blue for a little bit. Now, when I heard

tion quickly. Also, I kind of love that intro. It, the

the title Blue Girls Burn Fast my mind instantly went to the novel

soundtrack (which will be downloaded), and the

Am I Blue? (another property I should review). The Novel is about a

general tone of the film is so angsty and punk

boy who’s questioning his sexuality and is given the gift of seeing

rock. It feeds my inner goody-two-shoes soul that

queer people as blue for a day. While that would be a cool reference

just wants to be a rebel. Working with that, the

for Amandla Stenberg to make I don’t think that’s it (had to give the

film even has a Perks of Being a Wallflower, “We

book a shout-out though).

are infinite” vibe about it (which btw, is film I should review at some point).

In western culture the color blue comes with the idea of sorrow and calm. If we look at it from that perspective it could be that Blue Girls is referencing

Again I have to say that Amandla Stenberg is an artist and a visionary leader

girls who are sad. Certainly Andy is sad and confused about her life as a

in waiting who is a force to be reckoned. While yes, that was over-exagger-

foster student. If we wanted to stretch it a bit we could even say that the

ated, I really do think she has talent and promise. This film is a damn good

calm part goes to Lea who has more of a calm and relaxed personality.

watch for something created almost entirely by her.

One other fun thing to note is that on Andy’s wall is the word Cerulean, a type

The writing is real and interesting (that scene of Andy and Lea roaming and

of blue. What is the significance of this? I honestly have no idea or answers

talking about life was so true. I’ve had those moments in high school where

for this one. Do any of you?

I’d go out at night on long walks with friends and we’d just talk about the So in all, I genuinely enjoyed this film and would definitely recommend you guys watch it.

FALL 2017 - ISSUE 1

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PARTING WORDS:

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I HAVE COME TO BELI AGAIN THAT WHAT IS M ME MUST BE SPOKEN, SHARED, EVEN AT THE BRUISED OR MISUNDE - AUDRE LORDE 54

ART HOE DEFINING THE ART HOE

IEVE OVER AND OVER MOST IMPORTANT TO MADE VERBAL AND RISK OF HAVING IT ERSTOOD.”

FALL 2017 - ISSUE 1

ART HOE