What the NCAC Told its Supporters

The NCAC (National Coalition Against Censorship), in its newsletter and in its annual report, provided its supporters with a description of Richard Kamler's proposed project that is markedly different from the proposal that was submitted to the Artistic Committee of the Cultural Heritage Artists Project.  
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unedited description from the NCAC Newsletter:

Organizers of the Orchard Street Shul Cultural Heritage Artists Project requested that artist Richard Kamler modify his installation at The John Slade Ely House for Contemporary Art in New Haven.  Organizers expressed concern that an element of the work, interwoven pages from the Koran and the Torah, may offend viewers.
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unedited description from the NCAC Annual Report (image is on the cover)

Cover: Right Around the Corner by Richard Kamler
The work consists of a table with a paper tablecloth of interwoven pages from the Torah and the Qur’an.

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Richard Kamler's proposal-
as submitted and reviewed by the Artistic Committee of the Cultural Heritage Artists Project

- Tearing up the Bible and the Qu'ran and weaving/meshing them back together
- 1" wide strips of sacred text
- 2 Jews and 2 Muslims sitting at the Tablecloth
- a bowl with Hebrew and Arabic voices

- later addition: cover the tablecloth with plexiglass, and provide an electric etching tool for viewers to mark the protected tablecloth with electronic markings

- later addition: bowl with closed Bible and Qu'ran

- later addition: specified that the 2 Jews and 2 Muslims should be community leaders of the Orchard Street Shul and the Masjid Al-Islam

The artist would not consider separating the components.
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We all knew that the insurance companies would not allow the public to use power tools unsupervised, and so the question of asking the public to etch into the protected work got little discussion.

The mixed voices was a beautiful element, welcomed by all, and therefore barely discussed.

The bowl with the closed Bible and Qur'an was accepted, as long it was respectful.

As for the other components, they proved to be mutually exclusive.

Locating Community Members willing to participate was Richard Kamler's job, as artist, and we read his ambiguous proposal with the understanding that he had begun this process.

We eventually realized that he may not have found Community Members willing to sanction the installation by sitting at the cut sacred texts and engaging the close examination of the texts that Richard Kamler set as the purpose of the Installation/Performance.  This became especially clear when the NCAC, after taking up the the cause,  told CHAP that to avoid "censorship" we could find two Jewish and two Muslim community members willing to sit at a Tablecloth that violated the long-held traditions of their communities.

To help the artist, to get this work shown, we tried to find community members who were willing to do so, but to make this work about the Orchard Street Shul and the Masjid Al-Islam, we needed to find Community members of these communities. We reported back that one Community Leader would do so, but not sitting at a tablecloth which violated the long-held religious practice of the Communities in question.  Others reported that they needed evidence that there was no religious violation, but in fact there no evidence to give them. Others said that it was a clear violation, based on the information that the artist provided.

Working with a November 30 deadline, a final independent meeting actually took place with one community member who said that he would consider participating in an alternative location, but there was no time to communicate this, as the Press Release had already gone to the press (but not to us) 10 days before the agreed upon date.

In October, prior to the intervention of the NCAC, the work was accepted with closed, uncut Bible and Qu'ran, asking the artist to supply the names of the Community Members who had agreed to participate and to clarify that the discussion was about this Community -- which was the focused and purposeful topic of the Exhibition. 

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Compare what the NCAC told its Supporters to what it told the Public in a Press Release:
http://culture-challenge.blogspot.com/p/what-ncac-told-public.html

The NCAC's omission of the proposed participation of Community Leaders from traditionally observant Orthodox Jewish and Muslim religious organizations in communications to supporters is worth noting. Anyone with common knowledge of the religious practices of these Communities could fill in the blanks in this story with that information.

Hegemonic language in Artistic Practice

Inventing new artistic formats to challenge the dominant cultural paradigms is fraught with unforeseen hidden obstacles. Although others have gone before us, studying the trials of their trail-blazing work only confirms that the route to open culture is not an easy one.

In keeping with the intention of celebrating heritage and cultural diversity, we ask that all work produced for this project maintain respect for the synagogue as the spiritual home of an ongoing segment of New Haven's Jewish Community, and as the legacy of past generations.

One of the more interesting texts on this subject comes from the dance world, with Carol Marie Webster's sharing of her own experiences, learning, and doubts in "The Rubber Meets the Road: Community Arts Activism and Cultural Hegemony."  Dance is collaborative art, and therefore the assumed cultural commonalities and differences may emerge differently, and the power structure may be clearer, as a real "director" is animating the collaboration.  We have much to learn from these collaborations, which are potentially sincere sharing among equals.  In this essay Webster asks the right questions:

. . . Hegemonic language is communication that expressly elevates one culture or cultural ideology, to the detriment and expected subordination of another. Attentive to Chukwudi Anthony Njoku’s assertion that identifies language as the “very root” of a community’s spiritual communion, I recognize language as the glue for the binding and affirmation of community.[6] Language in this sense functions as an activity and a space: It is a central space where individuals perform out their belongingness and community identity.

In community art practice, might we not think of the very rituals, of the customs, of a people/s as a form of language? I am thinking of Jonathan Culler's interpretation of Ferdinand de Saussure's semiotics, using the example of custom as language: that when a man wears a grey suit he is merely wearing a suit, but when he wears a bright yellow one he is making a statement.  From outside our culture, this makes no sense, but inside the cultural language of our time, we get it. (p 111 Ferdinand de Saussure, by Jonathan D. Culler - if google books is accurate)


The language of this Community, the Orchard Street Shul, and the presumed language of its neighbor, the Masjid,  is the language of ritual custom.  What is the "sign" given to a specific Community - and to its specific neighbor -- when their (shared) basic laws and customs are violated?  Is this not a sign of disrespect?

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Note: The by-laws of the Orchard Street Shul specify "Orthodox", and the name "Shul" is itself a key indicator of tradition.  That there are many Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and others who within their own traditions have modified or abandoned traditional ritual customs is irrelevant, even if that includes some members of the specified communities, and the majority of the artist-participants in CHAP. 

That the artist in this case claims that he had legal "work-arounds" is of course of interest - but relevant only if he communicated this to the Artistic Committee of CHAP, to the communities in question, and was prepared to make this documentation a part of the proposed installation.  If the artist did have evidence of "work-arounds", true arbitration by the  NCAC, including verifying that all parties were discussing the same description of the work and the same information, might have been helpful here.

Who we are, Why we posting

The Cultural Heritage Artists Project is a group of artists who first came together in the summer of 2008, in response to a call to create an art exhibition in partnership with a state-designated historic site in New Haven, Connecticut.  As artists committed to working together collectively to develop new models of artist - community projects, the small group of us who met quickly decided that rather than produce an ordinary exhibition, we would move into largely uncharted territory by working together to create new works in response to the environment, history, or architecture of this site.  We wanted to tell its story, and to encourage others to experience the magical transformation of information through aesthetic interpretation that makes art compelling and relevant in our world today.

That our community partner was a historic Shul, still operating under by-laws which designated it a traditionally Orthodox Synagogue, was a piece of the project that posed interesting conceptual challenges that were unanticipated by those of us who were quite simply intrigued and inspired by a historic building that so clearly bore echoes of the "coming to America" immigration waves of the early 20th century.  There was history in those walls, history in the worn down steps, and history in the nearly abandoned sanctuary that had once been a vibrant center of community life. 

We were, for the most part, tourists in this site.  We came to it not as members of the Orchard Street Shul, and we came to it from mixed religious and ethnic backgrounds.  As our group grew, we came to include children and grandchildren of those who had grown up in the area attending Italian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches, as well one artist who is descended from the Shul founders and still an active member.  And of course most of us came from elsewhere, from other cities, other countries, other religious backgrounds or no religious backgrounds or religious orientations that changed over the years.  

Committed open-minded community orientated artists that we were, we decided to issue an Open Call to include other artists who were interested in this site.  Our call was simple, but we did realize that while history and community in the most general sense may have brought us into this project, we were in fact dealing with a historic site that belonged to others, and knew that we needed to respect this community.  

And then we plunged ahead.  We forged a relationship with an initially bewildered Jewish Historical Society, who were unaware of artists-as-researchers.  We scanned, photographed, interviewed, and filmed.  Our numbers grew as artists continued to apply, hearing from others about the wonderful project, the wonderful opportunity to make work for a purposeful exhibition.  We were going to turn the art world inside out.  We were not waiting for a curator to come to our studio and find that we had caught the wave that was the next big thing, we were going to make the next big thing and make the wave with it!  We were joined by scholars who came to write about the history, to put the art and the building in context.  We joined by computer science researchers who were going to push the art of 3D digital imaging forward by making a digital record of our site.  

We were joined by so many that the project began to be too much for our total volunteer force, but we kept going, asking every artist to help.  We found a new way to keep  track of artist's works in progress and to encourage community across distances by creating a google website that required a password for participation.  We asked any artist who could to join a committee, contribute advice, contribute services from graphic design to writing texts to picking people up at the train station.

And we pulled it off!  For the 500 people who lined up on a cold December day to storm the doors of one of the largest and most diverse exhibitions that had ever been created on a shoe-string from pure inspiration, this show and book were a fabulous success.

Read the Call for Participation below, and stay tuned for the next phase - the part where one artist misunderstood all of the above, and managed to so convince others that his misunderstanding was the whole story that we can only correct the perceptions through the blogs!

Artists working in all media are invited to participate in a Cultural Heritage Project based in New Haven, Connecticut.

The Orchard Street Shul Artists Project offers artists an opportunity to engage with a historic synagogue that is largely as it was when it was opened in 1927. This is a rare opportunity for artists to visit the site before renovation takes place -- with the marks of history still clearly evident.  The project is not a simple exhibition of existing work; you must make new work responding to the environment, history, or architecture of the Orchard Street Shul. All media will be considered, and you may determine the format of your participation as the project progresses.  In keeping with the intention of celebrating heritage and cultural diversity, we ask that all work produced for this project maintain respect for the synagogue as the spiritual home of an ongoing segment of New Haven's Jewish Community, and as the legacy of past generations.  Artists will be expected to visit the site at least once prior to producing work.

Artists will have access to ground-breaking 3D scans of the Shul, as researchers at Yale University will be working on the project to produce a virtual replica of the site. Engaging with the 3D data offers artists the opportunity to be at the forefront of research in 3D imaging. Artists working in non-digital media may visit the Orchard Street Shul for on-site sessions of drawing, painting, etc. Artists may also arrange for access to historical photographs in the collection of the Jewish Historical Society.

Artists may apply to be part of the exhibition by sending an email expressing interest. . . . Please include a link to a web site or blog with examples of previous work, and a c.v. In your email, tell us why this project interests you. There is no formal application form. After acceptance, you will have several months to complete your contribution to the project. 

For more information visit:
(original website address given here - since changed... will reconstitute and post soon!)

The project is coordinated by Cynthia Beth Rubin, a New Haven based new media artist, working with a team of artists and community members.