FACTS ON THE GROUND
Theodore A. Harris. Shadow Mirrors / Facts on the Ground. 2001, digital image printed on paper.
Theodore A. Harris. Facts on the Ground series, A Match Made in Heaven Trap / Malcolm X Trapped. 2001.
Theodore A. Harris. Facts on the Ground series, JFK on the Moon Trap after Gil Scott Heron / Bondage Trap. 2001.
Theodore A. Harris. Facts on the Ground series, Bondage Trap with Ships. 2001.
FACTS ON THE GROUND MANIFESTO
After Romare Bearden & Adrian Piper
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"…This example illustrates the truism that in a society in which government is a tool of business interests, we can hardly expect it to be a beacon of democracy in the arts."
--Adrian Piper "Political art is art because it is political." --Mieke Bal "Why is only a penny brown and got Lincoln on it? Is that why they leave it on the ground?" --Amiri Baraka In this flammable world I was awakened to the grim reality of public school closings, while a 400-million-dollar prison is being planned for our destruction, as the Barnes will-breakers act as human shields to prevent drone attacks of friendly fire on an Ellsworth Kelly, (1) drowning without water in formalist flames. This is a flammable world and in-justice Clarence Thomas' robe is the gasoline draws that keeps blood wet on the bricks and stones of our Utopian dreams, dreams crowded with un-just incarcerations on lock-down–railroaded into in the wallets of kickback judges, prison contractors, NRA lobbyists, and post-Black theory. This is a flammable world, and as it is burning we are praying in megachurches preaching from bibles of barbarism, fear, money clips of flesh, starving. Doris Salcedo’s theatre of human chairs suspended over the courthouse walls inverted in cascading torture (2) human chairs of the disappeared, disappeared by the funeral directors at the School of the Americas (3) which is why I wear Romare Bearden and Adrian Piper’s work as mental bullet-proof vests as not to be cut down by the narcissistic weapons of formalism fired from sheriff Bull Connor’s little white tank (4) camouflaged with Kara Walker's decals of revisionist history, mind condoms for the comatose. The Koch brothers and their minions (the Koch Heads) think the globe is their personal bowling ball and we are the pins in their way unto what they want to make into a global bowling alley plantation to knock us down, but we won’t stay down, because un-like Judd, Serra, Andre, I must put the Facts on the Ground tracing Shadow Mirrors on the wall, formalist ghosts you can see without eyes, for which I am In the Brake with Moten, Bearden, (5) and Adrian Piper the philosophical - conceptual art sniper, her Black Box / White Box (6) sent formalism home in a Jasper Johns flag-draped white-cube coffin. Theodore A. Harris Draft for Keynote Address October 17, 2013 Culture Clash / Congress of Black Artist and Writers McGill University, Montreal |
Notes
1. Leech, Ben. "A Saga In Sculpture: The Barnes Brings Ellsworth Kelly Milestone Home To Philadelphia For The Summer." Hidden City, May 1, 2013.
See also, Ellsworth Kelly Foundation: Ellsworth Kelly. Barnes Totem. 2011, stainless steel, 480" x 80" x 20".
2. Doris Salcedo. Noviembre 6 y 7. 2002, lead and steel, dimensions variable.
3. Starr, Barbara. "Controversial 'School of the Americas' Closes." ABC News, Dec. 15, 2000 (updated Jan. 6, 2006).
4. "American Artifacts Preview: Police 'Tank' at Birmingham Civil Rights Institute." C-SPAN, posted Oct. 29, 2013.
5. Fred Moten. In the Break. University of Minnesota Press, 2003.
6. Adrian Piper. Black Box/White Box. 1992, video installation: video (color, sound), 00:30:00, with two constructed wood environments, monitor, four photographs, light box, audio, chairs, tables, tissue boxes, and trash baskets. Generali Foundation Collection, permanent loan to Museum der Moderne Salzburg.
1. Leech, Ben. "A Saga In Sculpture: The Barnes Brings Ellsworth Kelly Milestone Home To Philadelphia For The Summer." Hidden City, May 1, 2013.
See also, Ellsworth Kelly Foundation: Ellsworth Kelly. Barnes Totem. 2011, stainless steel, 480" x 80" x 20".
2. Doris Salcedo. Noviembre 6 y 7. 2002, lead and steel, dimensions variable.
3. Starr, Barbara. "Controversial 'School of the Americas' Closes." ABC News, Dec. 15, 2000 (updated Jan. 6, 2006).
4. "American Artifacts Preview: Police 'Tank' at Birmingham Civil Rights Institute." C-SPAN, posted Oct. 29, 2013.
5. Fred Moten. In the Break. University of Minnesota Press, 2003.
6. Adrian Piper. Black Box/White Box. 1992, video installation: video (color, sound), 00:30:00, with two constructed wood environments, monitor, four photographs, light box, audio, chairs, tables, tissue boxes, and trash baskets. Generali Foundation Collection, permanent loan to Museum der Moderne Salzburg.
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