A reader, Ben F., condemned my position on funding for the arts. He claims that America, outside of San Francisco, L.A. and New York, is at heart “a deeply conservative country and uncomfortable with provocative art.” As a foreigner I’m far from an authoritative voice on the subject, but here is my initial round-up of other American cities which have embraced provocative art. Will the rest of my readers please jump in and either defend me by adding to this list – or throw yourself behind Ben F. and tell me why I am dead wrong?
From Glenn Ligon:America, courtesy modernblog.org (The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth)
Starting with a deeply red state: the Kimball Art Museum & the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the SXSW Music, Film and Interactive Festivals held annually in Austin, TX.
An image from Geof Oppenheimer’s ‘On Black Flags’ exhibit at SITE Santa Fe.
Santa Fe: spiritual home of Georgia O’Keeffe, pioneer of American Modernist painting, and currently home to the world-class Santa Fe Opera, the innovative SITE Santa Fe, and the Santa Fe Film Festival.
Miami: home to the glorious and feisty Miami City Ballet.
The Telluride Film Festival in Telluride, CO.
Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Dali Museum in St Petersburg, FL.
Ojai Jazz Festival in Ojai, CA.
Seattle: home to the exhilarating Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, and a growing alternative art scene.
Pacific Northwest Ballet in William Forsythe’s ‘One Flat Thing, reproduced’, a work for 14 dancers on and around 20 metal tables, that has caused a considerable stir among audiences. Set to a rumbling sound construction by Thom Willems, the dancers time their moves off each other rather than a musical score. Photo: Angela Sterling, courtesy Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Chicago: more than any other city in the country, known for its vast accumulation of often subversive public art and rich architectural history. And home to Hubbard Street Dance, the Joffrey Ballet, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Second City and many other pioneering performing arts troupes.
Mural at IC viaduct on 57th St in Chicago: ‘Viaduct Rat’. Courtesy: find myself a city to live in (Curtis Locke) on flickr.com
Portland: home of Mark Rothko, whose family emigrated to Portland from Russia when he was 10. Today Portland boasts possibly the highest concentration of artists, craftsmen and musicians working and exhibiting in dozens of alternative spaces, as chronicled in the leading regional art blog PORT.
Video still from Portland performance artist Miranda July’s film ‘Nest of Tens’ (mirandajuly.com)
The River Arts district in Asheville, NC, home to many cutting edge artists and sculptors.
Nashville, TN (should be self-explanatory).
Detroit: home of MOCAD (Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit) and a magnet for contemporary artists who are turning crumbling homes, shuttered factories and auto plants into large-scale canvasses for their work at sites like the Russell Industrial Center.
An evolving neon sign installation outside The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), which opened in 2006 in a formerly abandoned 22,000-sq-ft automobile dealership – a great model of adaptive reuse reflecting Detroit’s industrial past and its hoped-for rebirth. Artists: Martin Creed/ Sislej Xhafa.
Sedona, AZ, original home of the Cowboy Artists of America, the vibrant Sedona Arts Center, and Sedona Jazz on the Rocks.
The Cowboy Artists of America have generated their own brand of controversy over the years for refusing to admit women artists and Native American artists into their organization. ‘The Eagle Bone Whistle’ by artist John Moyers, 2009.
Oh, and let’s not forget Burning Man, out in the Nevada Black Rock Desert, which is not a permanent home for art, but an increasingly important venue for some mind-blowing art installations.
‘Crude Awakening’, a 2007 art installation at Burning Man, raised hell for its “ironic use of 900 gallons of jet fuel and 2,000 gallons of liquid propane to build the largest flame cannon in history, transforming modern oil dependency into a violently primitive religion.” (http://matadornetwork.com/nights/12-coolest-art-installations-in-the-history-of-burning -man)
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