Letters to the Art System

Letter to Adriana Varejão about Cartier Foundation and an article about De Beers - Democracy Now!

“The more you know, the less gold glows”

No dirty Gold

Hello Adriana,

This letter will be sent to curators, artists, students, activists in Brazil and in the world.
The issue #26 from Canal Contemporâneo announced the opening of your exhibition “Chambre d'echos”, on March 18th in the Cartier Foundation.

Your exhibition seemed to me a good opportunity to write about the Echoes that have not been heard from Cartier SA and its main competitors Bulgari S.p.A., Montres Rolex S.A. and Tiffany & Co. (TIF) .

Letter to the Americas Society

(This letter was sent in a box to the exhibition)
I received an email calling artists, musicians, writers, poets, choreographers, dancers and people in general to send a square box no larger than 90 x 90 cm to an event called "Açúcar Invertido II" (something like Inverted Sugar II). The event is organised by Americas Society, US. The box may contain photos, projects, catalogues, portfolios, videos, music, poems, texts or just nothing. All boxes will be open in the exhibition.

Researching the site of the "Americas Society" which ironically is in one language only, English, I discovered that it is the cultural arm of Council of the Americas, whose Honorary President is nothing more nothing less than David Rockefeller.

Council of the Americas is structured around the ideas that democracy implies "Free Trade". The members are 200 Blue Chip companies representing most of the Private Investment in Latin America they come from manufacturing, natural resources, technology, communications, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, banking and financial services. They state that: "The Council’s broad-based membership provides it with a well respected, authoritative voice on public policy issues affecting the Americas."

The President of the Council, William R. Rhodes (Attached 2) makes a statement about foreign relations between the US and the Americas which I consider bizarre. He says that a "society (US) of individuals open to citizens of all countries(Americas) of the region is the most effective way to nurture the growth of democracy, the rule of law, and free trade."

Further he expresses the believe that "what happens in the rest of the hemisphere has a critical impact on the U.S. national interest".

Finally he equates culture and economic interests in a way that only the term Biopolitical Power* (Toni Negri) can define: Rhodes believes that the only way to understand US neighbours is through their societies, their cultures, their politics and their economics.

"We need to see their art, listen to their music, read their authors, as well as hear their politicians and economists."

I develop a theoretical and practical study that aims at "raising the veil that covers images and actions". In Rhode's argument the veil manifests as an interest in the growth of democracy, the rule of law (this is the image we must retain), and free trade. When we raise this veil all we find is free trade.

Democracy and the rule of law are left open for interpretations.

This organisation personifies all the issues I discuss within contemporary art. It does not matter the nature of the artwork produced by us - artists. How political or socially engaged it is. How relevant it is to other people.

Organisations like that and so many others will appropriate the work and use it as a totally efficient means of Public Relations, in this particular case Foreign Relations.
Art and artists are a much safer long-term investment than the environment, for example. Art can be fabricated, twisted, amputated, mended back without any apparent physical catastrophe. Once it has being pushed by the media and made official by critics and curators eager in building their own careers within this "espetacular" and economically more viable universe, it becomes history. It closes then full circle where all existing channels for the construction of our artistic memory are found, directly or indirectly, under the control of economic groups and corporations.

Ana Amorim
*Biopolitical Power: the production of social life itself, in which the economic, the political, and the cultural increasingly overlap and invest one another.

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ON DECEMBER 8TH I RECEIVED AN EMAIL THAT LISTED SOME OF THE ARTISTS THAT WERE ACTUALLY GOING TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PROJECT AND MAKE IT HAPPEN [SO TO SPEAK]

I found their emails and sent them this letter. Follows the email confirming the artist's participation:

AMERICAS SOCIETY TO HOST BRAZILIAN-BASED ALTERNATIVE SPACE,
RÉS DE CHÃO, IN WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN
December 2, 2003—January 10, 2004
New York, NY (Friday, November 21, 2003) – The Americas Society today announced that it would host Açucar Invertido II (Inverted Sugar II) organized by the Brazilian-based alternative space Rés de Chão, as part of its AS A SATELLITE visual arts initiative. Açucar Invertido II will take place for 40-days from December 2, 2003 through January 10, 2004, operating temporarily from a 2000 sq. ft. live/work loft space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn located at 71 North 7th Street.
At times, Rés de Chão’s loft in Williamsburg will function as the home of Edson Barrus, founder of Rés de Chão, and as the guest quarters for participating artists of Açucar Invertido II. But more often, the loft will function as an artists' studio, office space, performance venue, exhibition gallery, and overall creative laboratory open to the general public.
As part of Açucar Invertido II, Rés de Chão is organizing real-time video streamings and screenings, performances, interventions in the public space, exhibitions, and a number of public programs (including dance classes and Portuguese language courses taught by artists). A number of these programs will be planned and scheduled in advance, however, some events of Açucar Invertido II will take place spontaneously; certain programs will be organized without prior announcement; and several other projects might just happen, by chance, or by accident.
The programs of Açucar Invertido II involve dozens of artists and cultural producers from Brazil and abroad, including Ricardo Basbaum, Yann Beauvais, Carine Cadilho, Ana Paula Cardoso, Marcelo Cucco, Thomas Köner, Arthur Leandro, Daniela Mattos, Carmem Riquelme, Rick Santos, Tato Teixeira, and groups such as Los Vaderramas, Grupo Urucum, and Dig Improvizzo, among others.
Many of these artists and groups will visit New York City and stay at Rés de Chão’s loft in Williamsburg at various times throughout the 40-day program schedule of Açucar Invertido II. Other artists have (and will continue) to send their projects or instructions from abroad: Bruno Vieira, based in Belo Horizonte, has invited a number of artists to send their “packaged” art via postal mail; Camila Rocha will be connected via e-mail from Finland; and Rachel Rosalén will transmit/stream her project in from Japan.
The Americas Society's AS A SATELLITE initiative is dedicated to working with emerging artists, groups of artists, and cultural producers, and to introduce them, and their work, to New York City audiences; to acknowledge the impact that expanded artistic practices make on curatorial endeavors; and to generate new social networks that trigger new collaborations between groups and audiences.
AS A SATELLITE >>Rés de Chão reflects the relationship and cross-cultural influences of artistic practices and disciplines, and will generate a diverse network of people and ideas.
AS A SATELLITE>>Rés de Chão, will be accompanied by a four-page, black-and-white brochure and will include an introductory text on Rés de Chão’s history and vision, a schedule of planned events, and contact information for Rés de Chão’s loft in Williamsburg.
CONTACT:
Jesse M. Gutierrez
Director, Communications
Americas Society, Inc.
Phone: (212) 277-8383
Email: jgutierrez@as-coa.org
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Then I sent the following note along to the letter to their communications director.

Dear Jesse M. Guttierrez,

I am sending you the letter I posted inside of a box to Açúcar Invertido II which you might not have had a chance to read.

Yours sincerely,

Ana Amnorim* follows the letter

Letter sent to MARP and their reply

I have sent this email to MARP [Ribeirão Preto Art Museum – São Paulo - Brazil], artists, non-artists, curators, historians and published it in my weblog.
If MARP does not comply with my request I will write to various institutions around the world, which are involved with the Coke Boycott asking them to write to this institute. Expressing their views.
Follows the letter:

Letter sent to Le Centre d'art de Baie-Saint-Paul

Le Symposium International d'art Contemporaine
de Baie-Saint-Paul
23 Rue Ambroise-Fafard
Baie-Saint-Paul - QC
G3Z 2J2 - Canada
March 25th, 2003

[*This was a conceptual submission. The centre actually charges an entrance fee which would be a breach in my art contract. However, I decided to send my submission anyway hoping to start a debate. ]

Dear Sir /Madam,
I wish to apply for "Le Symposium International d'art Contemporaine de Baie-Saint-Paul.
This year's theme directly applies to the work I have been producing since 1988. In 1988 as part of my thesis studies in the US, I decided that I was going to call my "living" art . Once I had lived a day I would register that day as a mental map of my daily movements - as an "evidence" of my being alive. I decided to do that for ten years and during that period I would not produce any other art work besides the evidence of my living (which involved several routines). One of my main concerns at the time was also bringing the production of art objects to a bare minimum.
Another decision I made at the time was that I would not exhibit in commercial galleries because I was terribly bothered by the elitism and isolation of art spaces in Brazil, particularly in the context of the country's social inequalities. I would only exhibit in public art spaces.
I also decided not to earn my living through art. I taught English in Brazil, and then worked as a teacher with special needs students in London. So I lived outside of the art world and kept on registering my daily movement each night as an 'artist'.
During the 10 year project I moved to London and started being progressively more bothered by the the difficulty viewers had in interpreting my maps and the fact that they tended to see them as 'visual works of art', when in fact the art work had taken place during the actual moments of my daily existence, later to be recorded in the maps .
Having chosen not to exhibit in spaces that charged money or accepted corporate sponsorship, in 2001 I drafted contract as part of a conceptual approach, that restricts any space exhibiting my work from using or promoting any company or company logo. I don't know about Canada, but here in Brazil there are no spaces that do not promote private corporations, banks and so on (directly or indirectly). This meant that I would have to intensify the aspect of telling people the story of this work ( which in itself is a piece about a "frozen art work").
When the work finds a place, that will mean a flow of independent thought has returned to the arts.
I have given some lectures and started telling people about my work when the opportunity arises.
Recently the curator of the Modern Art Museum here in Sao Paulo, told me: "Ana, just change and start exhibiting in galleries, tell everybody you changed your concept!"
What people do not understand is that there's a very strong link between this work and my life.
I have become progressively more politically aware and the work I have produced reflects that very clearly .
An interesting example of a change in perspective throughout these years was a piece I did in 1991. Every day I looked for a piece of cloth form my immediate environment, cut a small square and stitched it to the work. This choice was not moved by any other meaning apart from being part of the environment (as a consequence most of my clothes, my son's clothes, sheets, towels, etc had a little piece missing!). Nowadays when I choose an image/element I look for a certain perspective, and the image chosen is charged with a strong coment /reference about a situation, group, point of view, etc.
The decisions made in 1988 still stand. I register daily mental maps of my daily movements, and each year I choose a topic to study /discuss through images.
In 2000 I decided for the first time to produce a piece that would relate specifically to my own private life, and everyday I registered a mood, feeling or idea .
2001 was "Structural Adjustment Programme" - the term used by the IMF for a set of neo-liberal reforms which governments applying for loans must first implement in their countries. I had just moved back to Brazil from London and the impact of those measures was very clear. In 2002 the theme was "NOT IN MY NAME" which was a study of the empowerment of each individual . We can all voice dissent when things are not done in our name... Along with that I resumed recording my mental maps again (after a 3 year break).
This year I am working on three projects:
1) Nos e Eles (Us and Them) - where I am looking for news from the media that reflects this strong opposition of sides, interests.
2) Coisas que me confundem (Things that confuse me) - I collect from various sources, news, images, ideas and concepts which create an ambiguity, frequently serving powerful interests.
3) Maps - I continue registering my maps , but this year I have changed the format , simplified the lines for a quicker register everyday.

Thank you in advance,
Ana Amorim

Letter to Instituto Itaú Cultural

Ao Itau Cultural - Projeto Rumos July 13th, 2001

Art Contract

I need to clarify a few very important points about my art project A characteristic element of my work is the non-credit/signature for the production of the evidence of my being alive. It means that nobody signs the work I produce. That implies that no organization/individual or any of its sponsors can use their corporate logo when any of my concepts and/or images is exhibited, including lectures, since this would be a breach of the concept of the work.

Thus, if any organization/individual /space or any of its sponsors were to use their corporate logo in association with the registers of my being alive, that would imply that this organization/individual/space were the "author" of these registers, receiving credit for its production.

Therefore an organization/individual/space or any of its sponsors can make my data available exclusively for cultural purposes in the media, press providing nobody uses their corporate logo or any of their sponsor's corporate logos to do so, and at the same time the media and press cannot use their corporate logos or any of their sponsor's corporate logos when promoting my work for the reasons stated above. An organization/individual or any of their sponsors can make the details of my biography and curriculum available for catalogues and text information for exhibition pieces, providing that these catalogues and entries do not contain their corporate logo or any of their sponsor's corporate logos. My artistic production can be made available on the Internet for promotion of events and exhibitions, in the press and electronic media providing no corporate logo or any sponsor's corporate logos are used to do so. Finally my work can be exhibited publicly providing the corporate logo of the space or any of their sponsor's corporate logos not be present in the exhibition space, as well as the facade of the space.

Further I would like to emphasize that my work is always distributed freely. I do not sell my registers and evidences of my daily movements and since 1994 I refuse to present the work where fees are charged. The work also cannot be exhibited in spaces that aim towards the commercialisation of the concepts/objects presented.

This work can be freely reproduced, adapted even without mentioning the source providing no profit is earned or corporate image promoted from doing so.