This open letter to artists was written by Sara Wookey, a dancer, after she auditioned for Marina Abramovich at MoMA L.A. It’s been doing the rounds on twitter and facebook, so apolgies if you’ve already seen it.
http://theperformanceclub.org/2011/11/open-letter-…
In it she describes what was wrong with the working condiditons offered and why it was she refused to participate.
“Artists of all disciplines deserve fair and equal treatment and can organize if we care enough to put the effort into it. I would rather be the face of the outspoken artist then the silenced, slowly rotating head (or, worse, “centerpiece”) at the table. I want a voice, loud and clear.”
I think it’s amazingly clear message about everything that is wrong with accepting bad working conditions whilst also acknowledging that artists often feel forced to accept work on other people’s terms. The last paragraph is just ace.
“I rejected the offer to work with Abramović and MOCA—to participate in perpetuating unethical, exploitative and discriminatory labor practices—with my community in mind. It has moved me to work towards the establishment of ethical standards, labor rights and equal pay for artists, especially dancers, who tend to be some of the lowest paid artists.
The time has come for artists in Los Angeles and elsewhere to unite, organize, and work toward changing the degenerate discrepancies between the wealthy and powerful funders of art and the artists, mainly poor, who are at its service and are expected to provide so-called avant-garde, prescient content or “entertainment,” as is increasingly the case—what is nonetheless merchandise in the service of money. We must do this not because of what happened at MOCA but in response to a greater need (painfully demonstrated by the events at MOCA) for equity and justice for cultural workers.
I am not judging my colleagues who accepted their roles in this work and I, too, am vulnerable to the cult of charisma surrounding celebrity artists. I am judging, rather, the current social, cultural, and economic conditions that have rendered the exploitation of cultural workers commonplace, natural, and even horrifically banal, whether its perpetrated by entities such as MOCA and Abramović or self-imposed by the artists themselves.
I want to suggest another mode of thinking: When we, as artists, accept or reject work, when we participate in the making of a work, even (or perhaps especially) when it is not our own, we contribute to the establishment of standards and precedents for our cohort and all who will come after us.”
Add: This article highlights how Yvonne Rainer also got involved with the Abramovic situation.
http://art-leaks.org/2011/11/29/three-reperformers-from-marina-abramovic-the-artist-is-present-respond-to-the-moca-gala-performances/
