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This recent acceptance of art destruction disturbs me. The Minneapolis sculpture garden literally burned Sam Durant’s sculpture Scaffold after complaints.

by donatj 7y ago

Retric 7y ago
Unwanted art ends up in the trash. We venerated old art in large part because of this process. If every child’d Doodle from 1000 BCE was still around few people would look at them or care.
- wpietri 7y ago
  It's a great point. And the reason we have a lot of pro-slavery art is that the anti-slavery art was destroyed, or never allowed to be created in the first place. I've recently been reading The Fiery Trial, a biography of Lincoln's ideas, and mobs would happily assault and sometimes kill white abolitionists just for speaking about the notion. And Kendi's Stamped From The Beginning makes clear how eager the greater portion of American whites were to keep black people from having opinions at all. Art has pretty much always been subjected to a pretty ruthless collaborative editing process. In San Francisco's alleys, art is continually being put up and painted over. The good pieces last longer than the random squiggles, but very few reach the level where somebody like Precita Eyes [1] will preserve it past its natural lifespan. For something to survive across generations, it has to fit the standards of multiple generations, and that's how it always has been. Predictably, Bari Weiss isn't upset about that ongoing loss of San Francisco art. Gosh golly, why is losing this specific set of unexceptional murals important to her? [1] http://www.precitaeyes.org/ http://www.precitaeyes.org/
  - povertyworld 7y ago
    Since you like to read books, try this one: https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/95xxn2fm9780252040788.html https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/95xxn2fm978025...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
giantsloth 7y ago
This is just false. Please learn how to do a modicum of research before putting forth these reactionary idiotic rumors. Sam Durant wanted the sculpture to be DISMANTLED after it was heavily protested by local Dakota's for it's insensitivity. Durant literally agreed to having it dismantled and it was buried by Dakota Elders. "I made Scaffold as a learning space for people like me, white people who have not suffered the effects of a white supremacist society and who may not consciously know that it exists" said Durant, "white artists need to address issues of white supremacy."

This recent acceptance of art destruction disturbs me. The Minneapolis sculpture garden literally burned Sam Durant’s sculpture Scaffold after complaints.

by donatj 7y ago

This recent acceptance of art destruction disturbs me. The Minneapolis sculpture garden literally burned Sam Durant’s sculpture Scaffold after complaints.

Retric 7y ago

Unwanted art ends up in the trash. We venerated old art in large part because of this process. If every child’d Doodle from 1000 BCE was still around few people would look at them or care.

wpietri 7y ago
It's a great point. And the reason we have a lot of pro-slavery art is that the anti-slavery art was destroyed, or never allowed to be created in the first place. I've recently been reading The Fiery Trial, a biography of Lincoln's ideas, and mobs would happily assault and sometimes kill white abolitionists just for speaking about the notion. And Kendi's Stamped From The Beginning makes clear how eager the greater portion of American whites were to keep black people from having opinions at all. Art has pretty much always been subjected to a pretty ruthless collaborative editing process. In San Francisco's alleys, art is continually being put up and painted over. The good pieces last longer than the random squiggles, but very few reach the level where somebody like Precita Eyes [1] will preserve it past its natural lifespan. For something to survive across generations, it has to fit the standards of multiple generations, and that's how it always has been. Predictably, Bari Weiss isn't upset about that ongoing loss of San Francisco art. Gosh golly, why is losing this specific set of unexceptional murals important to her? [1] http://www.precitaeyes.org/ http://www.precitaeyes.org/
- povertyworld 7y ago
  Since you like to read books, try this one: https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/95xxn2fm9780252040788.html https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/95xxn2fm978025...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

giantsloth 7y ago

This is just false. Please learn how to do a modicum of research before putting forth these reactionary idiotic rumors. Sam Durant wanted the sculpture to be DISMANTLED after it was heavily protested by local Dakota's for it's insensitivity. Durant literally agreed to having it dismantled and it was buried by Dakota Elders. "I made Scaffold as a learning space for people like me, white people who have not suffered the effects of a white supremacist society and who may not consciously know that it exists" said Durant, "white artists need to address issues of white supremacy."