The Workers: MASS MoCA, I love you.

Dear MASS MoCA,

I have been trying to write this blog entry for two months, struggling to find the right words to say it. It's simple, really: I love you. We are like, totally soul mates. It's ok, I know you have lots of other visitor-soulmates; in fact, I think an open relationship is the best kind of relationship a museum and its visitors can have.

I've known it for a long time. But just when I thought you were practically perfect, this BLOWS MY MIND. And my little heart. A new exhibition: The Workers, May 29, 2011-March 25, 2012.

Ok, from MASS MoCA:

We all know what Rosie the Riveter looked like, and what she stood for. [Oh boy, do we!]

Ford-era production line labor -- and the rise of powerful unions -- left us indelible portraits of work in mid 20th century America. [Don't make me swoon!]...

But what does work look like today in a global economy marked by outsourcing, rapid migration, disruptive economies, and a state of labor that seems fractured, precarious, and almost invisible? With video, sculpture, photography, and performance art from 25 artists, this exhibition examines the way labor is represented today (and how some contemporary workers choose to represent themselves. [Emphasis mine.]

The timing, and the place, could not be more fitting: Once the site of a bustling factory itself -- whose closure in the face of intense international competition left nearly a third of it's community out of work -- MASS MoCA is perhaps uniquely positioned to present this timely show... [Yes! YES!]

And as if all that wasn't enough:

In conjunction with The Workers MASS MoCA curator Susan Cross has invited Bureau for Open Culture -- a nomadic contemporary arts program directed by curator and art historian James Voorhies -- to inhabit one of the museum's buildings for the first four months of the exhibition. Set within a previously unused industrial building on the grounds of MASS MoCA, Bureau for Open Culture presents I Am Searching for Field Character, an exhibition series of public conversations, performances, installations, and workshops with a slew of visiting artists, writers, designers, and thinkers, a well as a beer garden which operates every Thursday and Friday night between May 26 and September 30.

Let me get this straight: CONTEMPORARY ART AND LABOR, HISTORIC INDUSTRIAL SPACES, NOMADIC ARTS PROGRAMS, SUPER-RELEVANCE, AND A...BEER GARDEN??? And then there's the BOC project publication: Bureau for Open Culture: On Symptoms of Cultural Industry. [Preview: WHY is it we are so moved by decaying environments? What propels the creative and cultural, the spontaneous and unpredictable in response to the dilapidation, vacancy, poverty and hardship of crumbling capital? Oh. My.]

I could not possibly make up anything dreamier. Ok, so I'll try not to get too excited before I've experienced it all.

No, I think I'll just got with it.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Parks-in-progress! Labor history! Community comment!

Cesar Chavez Special Resource Study Newsletter #1

http://www.facebook.com/chavezstudy

Right now! The National Park Service is conducting a series of public meetings on a special resource study to consider designating an NPS site or affiliated area in recognition of Cesar Chavez and the farm labor movement. Circle-chairs and a flip chart! I think I've just identified my NPS dream job: Public Meeting flip-charter, extraordinaire.

A recent public meeting on the Chavez Special Resource study.

This would be (I think) the first NPS area dedicated primarily to an exploration of the history of organized labor/labor organizing. The national park system doesn't need to (and shouldn't) try to represent every major theme and prominent moment in our national heritage. But the combination of a unique and broadly relevant story, and a significant number of meaningful historic locations that could be included in a park or trail, gives this proposal real promise.

[I suppose I would think so.]

The really exciting part of this process is the Park Service's commitment to holding a well-organized series of public comment meetings, not as an afterthought or gesture, but (it seems), as an actual, integral part of the planning process. There are big, basic questions -- where would it be? how would it be organized? where does local community need and interest lie? These public meetings should really be able to shape the answers.

See newsletter #1 for a schedule of meetings (sorry, AZ and CA only) and more info.

And, a little debate on the subject: http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2011/05/should-cesar-chavez-site-be-added-national-park-system8070

Views of Lawrence

Spent an awesome afternoon in Lawrence, Mass. yesterday. Lawrence is one of the most dramatic post-industrial landscapes I have ever seen, and home to the amazing Lawrence History Center. 100 years ago, Lawrence was the wool textile capital of the world and home to thousands of immigrant families trying to grab an incredibly elusive, often cruel piece of the (not-yet-coined) "American Dream" in the city's cavernous mills.

The mills -- which formed the basis for the city's entire economy -- began shutting down mid-century. Families continued coming from all around the world, particularly from Latin America in the past half-century, putting down new roots and making a life in this old city.

Today, Lawrence is still struggling tremendously with the economically devastating loss of its manufacturing sector. At the same time, there is incredible resiliance, community energy, and life among the often empty (and insanely dramatic) old brick factories. Every time I visit, I'm totally inspired by the History Center. Archive, community center, museum, gathering place, anchor -- this is one tiny non-profit with a big and growing reach in Lawrence. In a city that has seen more than its share of community division and economic dislocation, the Lawrence History Center uses history as a tool to connect people across languages, cultures, and experiences. I urge you to check them out.

Now, some pictures of old industrial stuff: