[aha] Fwd: Artleaks platform starts to operate

[Guido Segni]

Artleaks platform starts to operate - please spread a word...

Artleaks is collective platform initiated by an international group of
artists, curators, art historians and intellectuals in response to the
abuse of their professional integrity and the open infraction of their
labor rights. In the art world, such abuses usually disappear, but some
events bring them into sharp focus and therefore deserve public
scrutiny. Only by drawing attention to concrete abuses can we underscore
the precarious condition of cultural workers and the necessity for
sustained protest against the appropriation of politically engaged art,
culture and theory by institutions embedded in a tight mesh of capital
and power.

In our case, we began collaborating as a working group who wanted to
publicly bring to light Pavilion UniCredit’s consistent mistreatment of
artists, workers and even visitors to their center in Bucharest,
Romania. This center is devoted to contemporary art and culture and
financed by one of the most prominent banks in Europe – UniCredit. Yet,
we saw its mission to provide a space for critical thinking and dialogue
compromised – through the management’s repressive maneuvers against
those of us who problematized their politics and criticized their
dubious engagement with their main sponsor. Having witnessed and
experienced first-hand the exploitations perpetrated by the management,
we decided it was our collective duty to openly speak against them, as
well as warn those artists, curators and workers collaborating with this
center.

Further, we regard this case to be more than a singular instance of
abuse; but seek to enable other members of the community to raise
similar issues - related to corporate sponsors’ co-opting of cultural
activity and mis-use of social credibility thus gained. We consider it
unacceptable on the part of these so-called benefactors to refuse decent
conditions for cultural workers through oppressive measures – the same
workers whose labor makes their subsistence possible.

In response to blacklisting and continued abuse conjoined with unbridled
exploitation, it is our civic and political duty to bring to light the
mechanisms of corruption and inspire others to do so as well. Instead of
letting singular protests succumb to anonymity, gossip or institutional
hush-hush, we must extract from situations of inequality, general
conditions that affect the social and political mission of workers and
establishments for art and culture.

Implicit in this collective protest is a radical form of institutional
critique – emphasizing the urgent need to make visible and counteract
all forms of repression, abuse, mistreatment and arrogance that have
been normalized through the practices of many cultural managers. While
each case of abuse may be different, the increasing amount of power
vested in art institutions controlled by corporate players, calls out
for a collective struggle for equal rights and fair treatment of
cultural workers.

We must expose common-currency practices of slander, intimidation and
blackmail as they are. We seek to enable like-minded people to stand
together against instances of mistreatment related to cultural labor,
repression channeled through dishonest management or blatant censorship.
We want to create a strong network of art systems’ whistleblowers –
through which we support and protect each other in critical moments as
much as possible. Through the power of facts, first-hand testimonies and
visual information we seek to deconstruct the politics of who, what and
how is invited into the exhibition space, and most importantly the
circumstances under which one is ousted and then blacklisted.

We believe in the power of sustained artleaking to turn the tables on
corruption and exploitation, to force art and culture institutions to
publicly account for their politics and their actions. To mafia tactics
and authoritarian tendencies, we answer with openness, angriness and
solidarity. The tools that we continue to build together are geared
towards empowering – to work with dignity and articulate our positions
without obstruction and to exchange information and ideas beyond
national borders.

We initiate and provide the community with online tools which are open
for use by anyone ready to share this or that case. Each case will be
archived, building a comprehensive index of repression. We believe
retroactive artleaking is just as important as early-warning leaking in
the present. Thus, we welcome cultural workers to publish reports on the
situation inside of the institution in any form. Both anonymous and
signed reports are welcome. We only ask to submit each case with
collective evidence, such as first-hand reports and documentation such
as e-mail correspondence, internal regulations and documents, video
recordings and so on. We welcome the submission of evidence in the
original language and we will do our best to make it available to
international audiences in English. Our moderators will guarantee the
objectivity of each case in a wiki style of communication with each
contributor.


It is time to break the silence.


For more information please visit: http://art-leaks.org/

or on facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/ArtLeaks/119726398121901?sk=info#!/pages/ArtLeaks/119726398121901?sk=wall

Email contact: artsleaks a gmail.com


--
dmitry vilensky
Chto Delat?

Oranienbaumskaya 20 - 15
197110 St. Petersburg

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