June 3rd, 2017: Scaffold

[gvidas]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Los Angeles-based artist Sam Durant built a large sculpture called Scaffold for Documenta in 2012 in Kassel, Germany.


He described it on his website at the time.


Fast forward to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis ready to open its newly renovated sculpture garden.


That’s when the Indians got all butt hurt about it.



It didn’t trigger historic pain for the month it sat there before somebody told you the Dakotas were involved in 1/7th of the part
of US history used in this piece to represent all government hangings.



What, why the fuck would they decide what happens to it. If you acquiesce to their not-in-my-backyard demands, fine.
Take it down and move it out, but they have no right to dictate its future.



OK, he’s mending his standing with the Indians and white liberals who control all the art institutions in the country.



When you first saw it (at the closed park) you instantly knew it involved hanging Dakotas? Bullshit, you had already been told
so you went to see it and took your kid with you. You were fully prepared to "break down in tears". Nothing like Mommy crying
to impress the kid.
It’s not about you Kate, it’s not about Indian history, it’s about US penal history. I don’t see Blacks getting upset and more of
them were hung/lynched than anyone else.
How about if they give you a permit for casino expansion?

link

Bruce, I've generally been a fan of the IOTD & your work keeping it running. Lately I don't really check in on the cellar in general, but keep an eye on the RSS feed of the IOTD.

But I popped in to say that this is some racist trash.

I say that because the language + content of your post show consistent disrespect to a group of people clearly and calmly saying "this hurts us and here is why." You're dismissing their pain without looking twice at what hurts them, despite them + countless others providing a free education on the subject. And you're being pretty deliberately dense in order to do so.

In no particular order:

* address people how they want to be addressed, meaning retire "Indian". You're quoting passages where it's really clear how people want to be collectively referred to

* WTF to the casino joke

* why does it matter how far the piece progressed before the pain was felt? One does not need to be omniscient to be wronged. And it's fairly rich to have a 3-week statute of limitations on injuries resulting from approximately 400 years of colonization

* 1/7th seems like a significant fraction when you're counting murders, and especially when what you quoted notes that fraction includes the largest mass execution in our history.

* if you wanna see how black people have responded to an incredibly similar and recent piece of art, read up on this recent painting of Emmett Till after he was lynched:
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/da...protest-897929
https://hyperallergic.com/368012/wha...z-controversy/
https://thenewinquiry.com/the-demand-remains/
http://contemptorary.org/the-rage-sexton/

* if you wanna see how black artists have chosen to respond to the USA's history of lynching, check out The Memorial To Peace and Justice

[xoxoxoBruce]

Racist? No. However the tribes in that area getting upset about this piece is ridiculous. They act like it's an affront to them when it's a criticism of the US governments policy of capital punishment, and hanging in particular. They should be joining in on that, instead of trying to make it all about them.

Someone put up a sign, "feels like 1862". How the fuck would they know? They sure weren't around, and even if elders told them, there's no fucking way they can know what it felt like to lose the war and watch these men hanged.

Of the original 304 found guilty of the massacres by trial of the Military Court, there were 38 which President Lincoln approved execution. And like it or not, right or wrong, it was carried out. You don't have a clue how the people of the time, Indians or white, felt about it. But it's part of US history and that can't be changed by renting of cloth or wearing sackcloth and ashes, now.

The Indians now take affront at anything mentioning the fact they lost. They kept pushing the belief the noble redman was a peaceful nature loving group who were savaged by the evil white man. This is absolute horseshit. Yes the white man pushed the Indians off the land, but savagery was no stranger to the Indians. Check out the Winter Count skins at the Smithsonian. Read about how they killed each other, including children berry picking, just for the fuck of it.

As far as calling them Indians goes, the first 50 years of my life everyone called them indians, as they had for 500 years. The ones I saw on TV or speaking in person to, did too. Then it became politically correct to change to Native Americans, or a tribe name, and Indian was an insult. I'm sure everyone knows who I'm talking about so there's is no confusion. So fuck that, I've been called a lot of names I didn't like, but that's the way it goes. There's no racism involved.

I don't see any Black people pissing and moaning about this piece. It certainly is more about the injustices to them than the Indians. But they are smart enough to know what it's about, what it represents.