Why Artist-Organized Programming Matters

BY NATHALIE VON VEH

WHY DO ARTISTS ORGANIZE? Artists may choose to step into an organizer role to build relationships with like-minded artists outside of their studio, deepen their intellectual research, and experiment in new directions. When artists organize group exhibitions, performances, lecture series, or other programmatic activities, the process can become the artwork itself. Often artist-organized projects feel intimate and porous. Stepping into the role of organizer allows artists to deepen their relationships with the audiences they wish to reach, and to continue to build upon their projects after an institutional engagement concludes.

HISTORY OF WPA AND THE ARTIST-AS-ORGANIZER Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) opened in 1975, as an alternative art space for multidisciplinary work and experimental projects. Most of WPA’s early projects were organized by curators, though a few notable exceptions were organized by artists. The inimitable Maida Withers brought movement artists to DC from New York, establishing a strong link between the two cities. WPA and New York’s Collaborative Projects Inc. (Colab), an artist collective, together presented The Ritz in the 40 rooms of an abandoned hotel in downtown DC in 1983. Much like the alternative art spaces that emerged in the 1970s, these artistcurated exhibitions challenged norms and pushed the boundaries of what an exhibition or a work of art could be. Over the next several decades, and as alternative spaces became more professionalized, artists didn’t stop curating and organizing. Exhibitions became a mode for ideological exploration, political organizing, and non-hierarchical collaborations between artists and audiences. Some examples of artist-organized projects which transcend categorization include: Hélio Oiticica’s Apocolipopótese, a series of participatory events and performances

WPA’s interior space photographed by Michael Bussel in June 2018 during Paper Cuts Live, a bookshelves project curated by artist Christopher Kardambikis and Alt(e)r Call | No Church in the Wild curated by Dr. Daniel Church

that took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1968; Group Material’s Democracy, which from 1988-1989 transformed Dia Art Foundation’s spaces into public forums; David Hammons’ (Untitled) Store at Knobkerry, which took place in a shop devoted to African and Asian art and artifacts in New York and involved the artist mixing his own work into the store’s existing displays; and Tania Brugera’s Cátedra Arte de Conducta, established in 2002 in Havana as an alternative education space for artists. These are just a few instances of artists transforming and redefining the presentation of visual art through organizing.

WPA’s decision to support artists in this way is the result of our own research into the existent needs of our community. In 2016, we surveyed more than 100 local artists and found that most felt a decreasing sense of agency, following the shuttering of many of the city’s artist-run spaces. The DC region has a storied history of D.I.Y., self-organized artist culture. The Go-Go and Punk music scenes are legendary, and in the visual arts there is an equally rich, if lesser known, history of independent artist collaboratives and artist-run spaces. Among these are Botswana, Decateur Blue, Delicious Spectacle, and Fight Club. In 2017, WPA supported the first effort to document this history in the publication, We are so not getting our security deposit back: A Guide to Defunct Artist Run Spaces (copublished by the DC-artist collective Beltway Public Works and Art F City). The project made apparent just how much of its artist-organized culture this region has lost over the past two decades.

WPA’S “ARTIST-DRIVEN” PROGRAM MODEL In 2018, WPA officially adopted a new program model that empowers artists to organize the types of shows and events they want to see. We offer artists near total agency over their project’s resources and event calendar, while supporting them fully throughout. Artists view their projects as extensions

of their intellectual research. They begin with a kernel of an idea or research question—and proceed to collaborate with other artists or thinkers, building upon this idea and transforming their research into a series of public activities. These activities can take many forms, from conversational dinners, exhibitions, field trips, film screenings, grass-roots organizing meetings, and installations, to lectures, performances, podcasts, publications, symposia, workshops, and more.

Artist-organized programming combines the best of “artist-run” and “artist-centered” program models. It is closer to the former because artists organize all of the programs. It differs, however, in that WPA’s model provides an infrastructure that many “artist-run” organizations don’t have. By putting artists in charge in this way, our goal is to advance contemporary artistic practice and discourse in the DC area. We value artists as public intellectuals, critical thinkers, idea generators, and organizers, and we believe that through collaboration and experimentation, artists can shape the meaningful discourses of our time. ARTIST-ORGANIZING DURING COVID The past year has been tough for arts organizations, but WPA’s new model has been a source of strength for us. The focus on ideas rather than fixed-inplace exhibitions made it easier to adapt and reimagine all of our scheduled projects in response to the pandemic. In addition to optimizing online platforms, artist-organizers utilized postal mail to reach audiences near and far. In June, artist RL Martens mailed 25 care packages to DC-area residents as part of their bookshelves project, Perfect Knowledge of the Ground. The care packages included a reader with texts on decolonizing landuse, as well as heirloom seeds and planting instructions. In our most recent project—titled Notions of Exile, about the cultural impact of the Venezuelan exodus—artist and co-curator Faride Mereb conceived an international, collaborative artwork for which she mailed 300 passport facsimiles to participants across the Americas and as far away as Australia, India, and Lebanon. Here are some more highlights from the past year:

Allahyari presenting her public lecture and performance, On Monstrosity and Re-figuration on February 27, 2020

Top: Install view of Morehshin Allahyari, Aisha Qandisha from the series She Who Sees The Unknown, 3D animated video

Right: Artist-Organizer Jonathan Monaghan introducing Allahyari during a public lecture on February 27, 2020

MOREHSHIN ALLAHYARI: SHE WHO SEES THE UNKNOWN

Organized by Jonathan Monaghan

In February 2020, DC-based artist Jonathan Monaghan organized an exhibition and performance by New York-based artist Morehshin Allahyari. Allahyari is an artist, activist, writer, and educator, born and raised in Iran and living in the United States since 2007. She uses 3D modeling, 3D scanning, 3D printing, and storytelling to re-create monstrous female/queer figures of Middle Eastern origin. Throughout her work, Allahyari mines the traditions and myths associated with these supernatural creatures to explore the catastrophes of colonialism, patriarchy, and environmental degradation in relation to the Middle East, “re-figuring” the past to activate and preserve what may have been forgotten or misrepresented.

Artist-organizer Monaghan’s own highly-crafted, fantastical artworks use technology and sources ranging from art history to science fiction. This project furthered Monaghan’s own artistic practice by expanding his network and engaging DC audiences with the ideas that Allahyari brings forth through her research-based practice.

BLACK WOMEN AS/AND THE LIVING ARCHIVE

Organized by Tsedaye Makonnen

In spring 2020, DC-based interdisciplinary artist Tsedaye Makonnen organized Black Women as/and the Living Archive, a multi-part project about the modes in which Black women encode, preserve, and share memory through community. Central to Makonnen’s inquiry was Alisha B. Wormsley’s film, Children of NAN: Mothership, which serves as a metaphor for the survival and power of Black women in a dystopic future. The project was first planned to be an exhibition with screenings and live performances but Makonnen, in collaboration with WPA’s staff and graphic designer Rheagen King, adapted it to web and a printed catalog in response to the pandemic.

Makonnen brought together Wormsley and many of the cast and collaborators of Children of NAN: Mothership, including artists Li Harris, Autumn Knight, Jasmine Hearn, and Ingrid LaFleur, for a film screening, a reading, two performances, and public discussions. The programs occurred virtually during the ongoing statesanctioned violence against Black people and the Black Lives Matter uprisings, providing space for both collective processing and additions to the living archive by and for Black women begun by Wormsley’s film.

Left: Poster for Black Women as/ and the Living Archive designed by Rheagen King

Right Center: Still from Mama Memory [& Care], a conversation on June 13, 2020 between WPA’s Jordan Martin, artist-organizer Makonnen, and all seven artist participants including Jamila Reagen, Ingrid LaFleur, Alisha B. Wormsley, Jasmine Hearn, Li Harris, Autumn Knight, and Ola Ronke; Right Bottom: Publication cover designed by Rheagen King

Top: Jasmine Hearn’s performance, Pleasure Memory, on June 10, 2020 via Zoom; Right: still from Autumn Knight’s performance, The Length, on May 28, 2020 via Zoom.

Next month, WPA will publish the Black Women as/and the Living Archive publication in collaboration with Makonnen and the ICA London. The book follows the project from its inception to its presentation, and serves as a repository for interactions between the artists and audience members. In addition to contributions from the spring programs, it includes newly commissioned writing by Jessica Lanay, Jo Stewart, Ladi’Sasha Jones, and Yona Harvey, and an annotated bibliography by Ola Ronke, creator of The Free Black Women’s Library in Brooklyn.

Juliana Ponguta’s performance, Muysua

KUVV

Organized by Hayley Cutler

Choreographer and performance artist Hayley Cutler first pitched KUVV to us in fall 2019 and the project was realized one year later in September 2020. KUVV explored the relationship between home, familial lineage, and the body, and culminated in an evening-length, live-streamed, series of performances. The artists—Emily Ames, Antonius and Theresa-Xuan Bui, Jamie Garcia, Akela Jaffi, Juliana Ponguta, and Vyette Tiya—worked independently and in conversation with each other over the summer to create intimate responses to Hayley Cutler’s prompt: How does your familial lineage live in your physical body today, and how does that contribute to your sense of home as it relates to your identity?

As Cutler has written about the project: “To live in a body is to carry with you not only your immediate past but the actions—some chosen, many not—of your ancestors. [...] It is important that viewers of the culminating work understand that it is a shared physical expression of survival, strength, and persistence.”

Each final performance was itself a collaborative project framed within Cutler’s larger project, KUVV. Some artists worked with a team of costume designers, videographers, and choreographers, while others relied on more intimate groups consisting of their family members and immediate household members. While experienced by the audience virtually over Zoom, the performances all took place at site-specific locations throughout the region including the Vietnam Memorial, private apartments, and on the Eastern Shore. The full video archive for this project, including a talk by ethnomusicologist Tomie Hahn, artist talks, and final performance, can all be found on our Vimeo page.

Top: One of three artist talks for KUVV, this one with Emily Ames, Akela Jaffi, artist-organizer Hayley Cutler, and WPA’s Jordan Martin

Right: Antonius & Theresa Bui’s performance, UPON SKIN UPON STONE

HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?

If this all sounds exciting to you, there are many ways you can get involved in our artist-organized programs, either as an artist or as a supporter of the arts.

Artists, we invite you to pitch us your ideas on an ongoing basis. We review submissions quarterly and you can find the link on our website at wpadc. org/about. We are eager to hear about the ideas that you are exploring in your practice and to discuss how we could build a collaborative research project around those ideas.

Patrons and friends, you can support our work through your Collectors’ Night auction artwork purchase, by making a donation to WPA, or by attending our future artist-organized programs. The best way to learn about our projects is by following us on Instagram @wpadc and by signing up for our Newsletter at wpadc.org/content/your-inbox.