Documents 1 [electronic resource].

Primary Information Art Workers Coalition 2008

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Documents 1 is a collection of correspondence, press, and ephemera surrounding the foundation and rise of the Art Worker’s Coalition (AWC), first published at the height of the group’s activity in mid-1969. Beginning with a rallying statement from Greek sculptor Takis—whose withdrawal from an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) that January directly precipitated the formation of the AWC—the publication is a whirlwind tour of the flourishing group’s rapid development and expanding concerns. Alongside official statements, fliers, and lists of demands from the AWC, its offshoots, affiliates, and enemies-of-enemies—from Marcel Broodthaers to the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition—Documents 1 includes an extended correspondence with MoMA, and analysis of the historical development and practices of that museum in particular; letters to Richard Nixon and the National Council on the Arts; extensive press coverage (in publications from The East Village Other to The New York Times); photographs of AWC protests and events; and writings by Gregory Battcock, Alex Gross, Len Lye, and others. Founded in January 1969, the Art Workers’ Coalition was a loose association of artists, writers, and cultural workers organized around shared commitments to social action and the reform and revaluation of art institutions. The immediate catalyst for the group’s formation was the artist Takis’ withdrawal of his work from an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), in protest of the lack of control afforded artists in the exhibition of their artworks which had been purchased by the museum. The group’s efforts to establish an open dialogue with MoMA were rebuffed, and the museum refused their request to host a public discussion on its responsibilities to artists and the public. In response, the AWC hosted an “open hearing” at the School of Visual Arts on April, 10, 1969, in which “[e]very art worker” was invited “to make a statement of his attitudes and complaints about all art i
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Art criticism
Artists' writings
Conceptual art
Political art

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Art Workers Coalition