We braved covid to bring you another Chelsea dispatch! Nobody stopped us, turns out podcasts are essential work. Consider this the third in a on-going series about the arts and gentrifcation. Last year we processed the opening of Hudson Yards, two years ago we visited the museum of markets before touring Warhol at The Whitney. We return to The Whitney for what is in many ways the polar opposite show. Because of covid it’s been up for a year, but it’s extremely sad to think about how many big buses of students missed out on seeing this show. Socialist realism reminded people what to fight for, it was powerful enough that when the ruling class tried to absorb it, they couldn’t, so they tore it down. It was powerful enough for the spooks to send Jackson Pollock to take from them (theory! just a theory!) If you like the podcast and want more, please consider supporting us: https://www.patreon.com/artandlabor. Follow us on twitter and instagram. You can contact Art & Labor at artandlaborpodcast@gmail.com. Please reach out to join the discord for Lucia’s school “Constructing the Real” Please write us a review on Apple podcasts or whatever other platforms!!
READING - Manifesto: Towards a Free Revolutionary Art
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We’ve decided to start reading art manifestos in full and providing light commentary. First up, of course, is 1938’s Towards a Free Revolutionary Art ghostwritten by Leon Trotsky, signed by Diego Rivera and André Breton. Trotsky was one of the leaders of the Russian revolution, he was famously forced to flee to Mexico. Thanks to funding from the American communist party, he was able to stay near Rivera and Frida Kahlo, but was eventually assassinated there. The manifesto denounces both fascism and Stalinism, and is a seminal text to the history of Muralism and Surrealism/Dada.
We yelled at the mayor! This episode is a response to a recent Chapo Trap House interview about music, identity politics, and activism (listen here: https://soundcloud.com/chapo-trap-house/unlocked-amber-interviews-aaron-j-leonard). We want to challenge the podcast left to do better coalition building, and to think more critically about art’s potential in revolution. We encourage folks to consider Rivera’s Manifesto: Towards a Free Revolutionary Art, and will be posting another episode where we read the whole thing.
