http://art-leaks.org/2014/02/07/petition-to-the-organizers-and-curator-of-the-ivth-moscow-international-biennale-for-young-art/
To The Ministry of Culture
of the Russian Federation
The Department of Culture of
the City of Moscow
National Centre for
Contemporary Arts
Moscow Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Moscow
Curator D.Elliott
Preparations are underway
for the IVth Moscow
International Biennale for Young Art, the opening of which is scheduled for
June 26th, 2014.
The curator of the biennale,
David Elliott has chosen the theme of the project based on Martin Luther King’s
famous speech, “I Have a Dream.” In the open call for project, the curator
claims that today’s world is as precarious, with “many similar examples of
inequity and oppression that are still not fully resolved,” “while the
compromises of life and politics seem frustratingly weak.” Therefore, Mr.
Elliott encourages the young participants in the Biennale to “make things
better,” as well as be active, courageous, critical and idealistic enough so
that their art reveals “unexpected truths.”
The curator is right,
artists, curators and those who are interested in the organization of the
Biennale do have dreams!
And one of these dreams is
that our work must be paid!
Even Martin Luther King
would agree with us.
King’s his famous speech, “I
have a Dream,” was delivered on August 28th, 1963 with the occasion of the March for Jobs and Freedom on Washington. Protesters
then demanded an end to discrimination and segregation, equal civil and labor
rights, and that measures be taken against unemployment.
Also, when Martin Luther
King was assassinated in Memphis on April 4th, 1968, he had come to support
African-American sanitation workers, who also demanded better working
conditions, higher wages and union recognition.
Artists, curators and art
workers in general involved in the production of large-scale cultural events in
Russian contemporary art, live in precarious economic and social conditions.
This particularly affects young artists and curators who do not have the
support of galleries, private foundations and other cultural institutions which
Biennale counted on. But what kind conditions does the Biennale create for
these young professionals, so that they have the ability to dream, if the
organizers do not consider the time and labor of its participants worthy of
recognition and compensation? Or perhaps, Mr. Elliott is also not receiving any
remuneration for his curatorship?
Social and economic
inequalities within cultural institutions are only part of larger inequalities
in Russian society – this is what the Moscow International Biennale for Young
Artists demonstrates for the forth time in a row.
Young, novice participants
are seemingly given the possibility to produce a project in an institutional
art space in Moscow, but in practice, the reality is that they usually receive
a meager production budget, they have to be day and night at the installation,
they lack necessary materials and technical equipments, they encounter problems
with finding accommodation and staying in Moscow, and difficulties in
communicating with the organizers. They are expected to produce their work,
install and transport it from their own funds.
This also increases the
workload of the supporting staff in Moscow’s cultural institutions,most of
whom are working on a small salary. All the while, their working day, seldom
limited to only eight hours, means working well into the night and unpaid
overtime.
This is what we call
exploitation of labor. And we dream that this state of things will not continue
any longer.
We encourage all concerned
artists, curators, art workers to sign this petition! We are confident that
this year, it will make a difference.
Evgeniya Abramova, art
worker
[...]
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