Sharon Daniel
Visitor
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Re:the Public/Private divide and Political Subjects - 2006/06/04 13:49
reply to James Brightwolf (reclaimingthearts)
Perhaps, before making slanderous accusations against individual artists and scholars, you should take a deep breath, think about what you are saying, and to whom you are saying it. I am not taking "hush-money" from anyone. I am not receiving a penny for my contributions to the ISEA festival and I am certainly not being “hushed”. I am using the festival as an opportunity to present work that provides an in-depth critique of the corporate state. I have developed this critique through a sustained and committed engagement with individuals and communities who are most impacted by the injustice of the criminal justice system and the prison industrial complex. My participation in ISEA is part of an on-going activist effort to inform the public about a corporate/state collaboration to exploit and politically dis-enfrancize impoverished communities of color. My paper and presentation will name many corporations and politicians who are implicated in this system of oppression. I have no intention of being “hushed”. Hewlett Packard’s involvement in Iraq is not my primary concern. I am not naïve enough to imagine that there is any pure, public space in which to engage politics or culture, but I am pragmatic enough to believe that artists and scholars should engage in theorizing about humanity – how else can we advance the cause of humanity. To reject theory is to accept reality as it is. I am not interested in “reclaiming the arts” I’m interested in what art can do to change the world we live in. ISEA is an artist run organization. The projects and papers that will be presented were peer reviewed by the community of participating artists and scholars. If you had proposed a project or paper for peer review you might have been given the opportunity to offer an effective critique of Hewlett Packard’s involvement in Iraq in the context of the festival. This, in my opinion, would have been a much more productive strategy than attacking your peers.
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