ows arts & culture: letter to marc di suvero (11/07/2011)

8/3/2019 OWS Arts & Culture: Letter to Marc Di Suvero (11/07/2011)

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Date: November 7, 2011Dear Mark Di Suvero,

We are artists and art workers forming the Arts & Culture working group of the Occupy Wall Street

(OWS) movement.

OWS is a people-powered movement inspired by popular uprisings in the Middle East, Europe

and South America. OWS is now in 100 cities in the United States, with actions in over 1,500

global cities. We are working to create new social forms to supplant the obsolete models currently

in place, holding banks and corporations accountable for buying out democracy, and sacking theeconomy.

OWS is organized horizontally to bring participatory democracy. The "people's assembly" is aforum used all over the world to facilitate collective decision making, with shared roots in the

history of democratic movements, dating back centuries. The OWS General Assembly welcomes

people from all ethnicities, genders, sexualities and beliefs to attend and participate in directdemocratic decision making.

Your sculpture, Joie De Vivre, at Liberty Plaza (Zuccotti Park) has served as a visual backdrop

for the movement in New York. The area underneath and around the sculpture has hostedmeetings, rendezvous points, teach-ins and concerts. We are conscious of your role in the

creation of the Peace Tower (1966 and 2006), and your public opposition to the wars in Vietnamand Iraq. Your work is an integral part of our collective history, and the tradition of artists whoexercise their responsibility as public citizens.

Recently, after one individual climbed the sculpture, city authorities placed barricades aroundJoie De Vivre, cutting off access and separating it from the politically activated space of LibertyPlaza. Some of the barricades carry Metropolitan Museum of Art signage as well as NYPD

stickers (see attached photos). This was an unnecessary overreaction in light of OWS' track

record as a peaceful, proactive movement, generating conversation and fostering community andengagement. Recently, Community Board 1, which consists of the neighborhoods residents,voted to request the city to remove unnecessary barricades from the area, especially in light of the

OWSs stated commitment to nonviolence.

We believe that cordoning off your gift to the people of New York goes against your intentions for

the work, as well as the very spirit of public art. Joie de Vivre is especially poignant as thismovement actively fights to empower people of marginalized economic status. Indeed, thatstruggle is the joy of life.

OWS is now in Day 52. This movement will only continue to grow and evolve. It is our wish, andwe believe yours as well, that the sculpture be integrated spatially with the activities taking place

at Liberty Plaza. Therefore, we ask you to make a public statement urging city authorities to keepall barricades away from this and other public sculptures in the area, allowing free access to the

area under and around public sculptures.

We would also like to invite you to speak at a teach-in related to the political role of artists. Wewould be happy to host such a teach-in at Liberty Plaza, including a conversation about thehistory of the Peace Tower and other socially engaged public art. We are interested in sharing

with you the past actions and future goals of the Arts and Culture committee, and listening to your

thoughts on the movement.

Sincerely,

Arts & Culture CommitteeContact: [email protected]


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Joie De Vivre: before barricades (transgender teach-in)


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Joie De Vivre: before barricades (construction worker talks to media)


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Joie De Vivre: after barricades (with Metropolitan Museum of Art signage)


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Joie De Vivre: after barricades (with NYPD sticker)


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Joie De Vivre: after barricades (with NYPD guards)


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Joie De Vivre: after barricades (with NYPD Community Affairs guard)

Photos: Arts & Culture committee member

ows arts & culture: letter to marc di suvero (11/07/2011)

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