Resource Library
Recommended Reading
This curated selection of readings are proposed, read, and discussed by The LP staff during a monthly reading group and serve to inform and motivate the work we do.
2016
Art Washing and Artist Accountability
Selected by Yvette Ramírez & Melissa Liu, 2016
- Activists Protest Swizz Beatz’s Art Fair in the Bronx by Seph Rodney
- Against Art (Galleries, Their Investors, Apologists, and Media Lapdogs) by Serve The People LA
- Chinatown Art Brigade and The W.O.W Project present “Chinatown: New York’s Newest Gallery Scene?” (Video)
- Chinatown Residents Speak Out about the Area’s Influx of Art Galleries by Casey Lesser
- One LA Hood Is Fighting Gentrification by Demanding Art Galleries Leave Immediately by Guelda Voien
- The Portable Lower East Side – Volume 4, Number 1. Spring 1987. “The Fine Art of Gentrification” by Rosalyn Deutsche and Cara Gendel Ryan.
- Social Practice Artists Ran Out of Town – NEA Funded Mill Hill Artist Residency is Art Washing
Art, Public Space, and Community
Selected by Hatuey Ramos-Fermín, 2016
- Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship by Claire Bishop
- Beyond Zuccotti Park: Freedom of Assembly and the Occupation of Public Space Editors: Ronald Shiffman, Rick Bell, Lance Jay Brown, Lynne Elizabeth
- Community Art: The Politics of Trespassing, by Paul De Bruyne and Pascal Gielen
- From Community Art to Communal Art by Paul De Bruyne
- Future Publics (The Rest Can and Should Be Done by the People): A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art. Editors: Maria Hlavajova, Ranjit Hoskote
- Beyond Zuccotti Park: Making the Public by Jeffrey Hou
- On Art Activism by Boris Groys
Begin From Different Premises, To Find Different Starting Points
Selected by Ayesha Williams, 2016
- Blackness in Abstraction by Adrienne Edwards
- Donald Glover’s Community: The comic turns his eye to his hometown—and black America—in Atlanta by Rembert Browne
- Humans of New York and the Cavalier Consumption of Others by Vinson Cunningham
- Jack Daniel’s Embraces a Hidden Ingredient: Help From a Slave by Clay Risen
- Kerry James Marshall, Boldly Repainting Art History by Randy Kennedy
- Primary Source Criteria of Negro Art by W.E.B. DuBois
- A Tale of Conflict: The Contemporary Museum in the Age of Liberalism by Charles Gaines
Consciously Creating Place
Selected by Kemi Ilesanmi, 2016
- The Artist as Ethnographer by Hal Foster
- Creative Placemaking and the Politics of Belonging and Dis-Belonging by Roberto Bedoya
- In Conversation: Rick Lowe, Founder of Project Row Houses, and Nato Thompson, Chief Curator, Creative Time (Video)
- Ebony Noelle Golden on Conscious Creativity
- Ebony Noelle Golden on Conscious Creativity Transcript
- Interview: Assata Shakur on Living in Project Row Houses
- Interview: John Ahearn on the Bronx Bronzes and Happier Tales
- Interview: Rick Lowe on Designing Project Row Houses
- Mindy Fullilove on Root Shock and Solidarity Politics
- Notes from a Recent Arrival by Lucy R. Lippard
- Public Art Versus Public Good by Kyle Chayka
- Situation by Claire Doherty (Introduction)
- Spatial Justice: Rasquachification, Race and the City by Roberto Bedoya
2017
Capitalism, Labor, and the Arts
Selected by Melissa Liu, 2017
- “13 Demands” from Art Workers Coalition
- Alternative Art Economics: A Primer by Erin Sickler
- Art Workers: Radical Practice in the Vietnam War Era by Julia Bryan-Wilson (Introduction and Chapter 1)
- The Art Workers’ Coalition: Not a History* by Lucy Lippard
- ArtSeen by The Brooklyn Rail
- Autonomy, Work, and Refusal An Interview With Harry Cleaver
- Editorial—“In Search of the Postcapitalist Self” by Marion von Osten
- End the Whitney Biennial 2014, February 24, 2012
- Invisible Labor: An Art/Work Reader Compiled for the Art and Labor Study Group SUMMER 2014
- Open Letter to Labor Servicing the Culture Industry from Arts & Labor
- A People’s Art History of The United States by Nicolas Lampert
Community Mapping and Power Building
Selected by Emily Mock, 2017
- Corona Plaza Es Para Todos (Queens Museum) by Valeria Mogilevich, Mariana Mogilevich, and Queens Museum Staff
- Involving Members in Building Their Own Organization in Tools for Radical Democracy: How to Organize for Power in Your Community by Joan Minieri
- Mapping Community Assets Workbook by Diane Dorfman
Cultural Appropriation & POC Futures
Cultural and Political Heritage
Selected by Kemi Ilesanmi and Emily Mock, 2017
- Arthur Jafa: Love is the Message. The Message is Death @ Gavin Brown Enterprise
- Black Lives Matter Platform (Full platform)
- Black Panthers (1966)
- Black Panthers Programs of Survival
- On Whiteness and the Racial Imaginary by Claudia Rankine and Beth Loffreda
- Going Underground: An Interview with Simone Leigh by Rizvana Bradley
- I Want A President by Zoe Leonard
- Simone Leigh at the Creative Time Summit
- Solange: A Seat at the Table
- Solange Shares Her Inspirations for A Seat at the Table by Tom Breihan
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
- Young Lords (1967)
- Zoe Leonard: Mykki Blanco recites “I Want a Dyke for President” (Video)
Emotional Labor, Mental Health, and Self Care in the Workplace
Selected by Yvette Ramirez, 2017
- 7 Self-Care Tips for Nonprofit Professionals
- Fixing Mental Health In The Workplace Requires A Lot More Than A Yoga Room by Jessica Leber
- A Modest Proposal for a Fair Trade Emotional Labor Economy (centered by disabled, femme of color, working class/poor genius) by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
- ‘Women are Just Better at This Stuff’: is Emotional Labor Feminism’s Next Frontier? by Rose Hackman
History, Intention, and Motivation
Intersectionality
Selected by Ayesha Williams, 2017
- #RaceAnd. An eight-part video series produced by Race Forward
- Affluent and Black, and Still Trapped by Segregation by John Eligon and Robert Gebeloff
- “Brown Out Shouts” from When the Chant Comes by Kay Ulanday Barrett
- Harriet’s Apothecary Community Agreements
- Ten Tips For Putting IntersectionaIity Into Practice (Site)
Power and Social Change
Right to the City, Placemaking, and Race
Selected by Hatuey Ramos-Fermín, 2017
- The Just City Essays: 26 Visions for Urban Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity edited by Toni L. Griffen, Ariella Cohen, and David Maddox
- Placemaking When Black Lives Matter by Annette Koh
- Structural Racism and Health Inequities in the USA: Evidence and Interventions by Zinzi D Bailey, Nancy Krieger, Madina Agénor, Jasmine Graves, Natalia Linos, and Mary T. Bassett
Speaking Truth to Power
Selected by Daria Harper, Alix Camacho, and Yeji Jung, 2017
- Dream by Stephen Duncombe (Chapter 4, Think Different: Advertising Utopia)
- Framing the Issues: UC Berkeley Professor George Lakoff Tells How Conservatives Use Language to Dominate Politics by Bonnie Azab Powell
- Professor Fired After Defending Blacks-Only Event to Fox News. ‘I Was Publicly Lynched,’ She Says by Samantha Schmidt
- The Tactics of Everyday Life by Stan Goff
- White Women Drive Me Crazy by Aisha Mirza
- Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
- Why There’s Nothing Racist About Black-Only Spaces by Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff
2018
Creating a Data Culture
Selected by Barbara Bianco, 2018
Disability
Selected by Hatuey Ramos-Fermín, 2018
- The Accessible Icon Project by Sara Hendren
- Be the Change: Six Disabled Activists On Why the Resistance Must Be Accessible By Carrie
- Blindness Art
- The Body Adaptive: Interview with Sara Hendren by Gillie Collins
- #GetWokeADA26: Disabled People of Color Speak Out, Part One
- #GetWokeADA26: Disabled People of Color Speak Out, Part Two
Language is Power
Selected by Kemi Illesanmi, 2018
- Is Warri Pidgin English The Original Nigerian Pidgin?! (Video)
- Language Is a ‘War Zone’: A Conversation With Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o by Rohit Inani
- Nigerian Pidgin VS Cameroonian Pidgin Challenge (Video)
- Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (“Language” Chapter, p167-175) by bell hooks
Neo-Ancestry.com
Selected by Ayesha Williams, 2018
Place Keeping: Notions of Site and Place
- The Artist as Ethnographer by Hal Foster
- Creative Placemaking and the Politics of Belonging and Dis-Belonging by Roberto Bedoya
- In Conversation: Rick Lowe, Founder of Project Row Houses, and Nato Thompson, Chief Curator, Creative Time (Video)
- Interview: Assata Shakur on Living in Project Row Houses
- Interview: John Ahearn on the Bronx Bronzes and Happier Tales
- Interview: Rick Lowe on Designing Project Row Houses
- Notes from a Recent Arrival by Lucy R. Lippard
- Public Art Versus Public Good by Kyle Chayka
- Situation by Claire Doherty (Introduction)
- Spatial Justice: Rasquachification, Race and the City by Roberto Bedoya
Race and Bisexuality
Selected by Tendaji Ya’Ukuu, 2018
- Being Black and Bisexual Comes with Extra Obstacles – But They Can Also Be Overcome by Crystal Flemming
- I’m Bisexual, But I’m Not (Video)
- Psychosocial Health Disparities Among Black Bisexual Men in the U.S.: Effects of Sexuality Nondisclosure and Gay Community Support
- Taylor Bennett on Being Black & Bisexual in Hip-Hop by Justin Moran
- Two Struggles Under One Nation: A Critical Reflection By Tendaji Ya’Ukuu
Role of Art in a Time of Crisis
Selected by Hatuey Ramos-Fermín, 2018
Trauma and Healing in the Arts
2019
Community Action and Experimental Architecture
Selected by Ladi’Sasha Jones, 2019
White Savior Narratives
Selected by Mira Soni, 2019
- “Who Was Green Book For?” by Mark Harris (Vulture)
- “White Savior: The Movie” (Clip); Late Night with Seth Meyers
- “White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling
- “What Hollywood Keeps Getting Wrong About Race” (Podcast); The Daily
- “The White Savior Industrial Complex” by Teju Cole (The Atlantic)
- “The White Savior Film: Content, Critics, and Consumption” (2014) by Matthew Hughey
- “There is No Such Thing as a Post-racial Prison: Neoliberal Multiculturalism and the White Savior Complex on Orange is the New Black” (2016) by Christina Belcher
Compassionate Curiosity
Selected by Destinee Forbes, 2019
- “The Power of Compassionate Curiosity” in Gabor Mate’s In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts (2010)
- “Understanding and Combating Shame” & “Mind the Gap: Cultivating Change and Closing the Disengagement Divide” by Brené Brown in Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way we Live, Love, Parent and Lead (2015)
Critical Response to the 2019 Whitney Biennial
Selected by Ayesha Williams, 2019
- “Everything is good at the Whitney Biennial but nothing makes a difference” by Linda Yablonsky (The Art Newspaper)
- “Soft Power: The Whitney Biennial Is an Elegant But Safe Portrait of Right Now” by Andrew Russeth (ArtNews)
- “The New Whitney Biennial Made Me See Art History in a New Way” by Jerry Saltz (New York Magazine)
- “Whitney Biennial 2019: why is this year’s show so safe?” by Nadja Sayej (The Guardian)
- “The Whitney Biennial Homes In on American Precariousness” by Kriston Capps (The Atlantic)
- “How Do Artists Get Into the Whitney Biennial?” by John Yau (Hyperallergic)
- Simone Leigh – Response to Whitney Biennale criticism
- “Probing the Proper Grounds for Criticism in the Wake of the 2019 Whitney Biennial” by Seph Rodney (Hyperallergic)
- “Harlem on My Mind: Contesting Memory––Meditation on Museums, Culture, and Integration,” in The Source of Self-Regard by Toni Morrison
Creativity as a Renewable Resource
Selected by Moncho Alvarado, 2019
Boycotts and Contemporary Art
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