The (un)Sitings of Communities
Miwon Kwon
Kwon, Miwon. "The (un)Sitings of Communities." One Place after Another: Site-specific Art and Locational Identity. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2002. N. pag. Print.
Date: 10/10/2012
List of primary
claims made in this reading:
“Aesthetic evangelism”
Key Quotes:
“In his view, the artist is typically an outsider who has
the institutionally sanctioned authority to engage the locals in the production
of their (self-)representation.” (Pg. 138)
“…the desire to engage “real” (nonart) places can prepare
the way for the conversion of abstract or derelict (non-)spaces into
“authentic” and “unique” locales ripe for development and promotion, os the
engagement of “real” people in community-based art can install new forms of
urban primitivism over socially neglected minority groups.” (Pg. 138)
“The ‘other’ of the dominant culture thus becomes
objectified once again to satisfy the contemporary lust for authentic histories
and identities.” (Pg. 138)
“…community-based artists ay inadvertently aid in the
colonization of difference – for benevolent and well intentioned gestures of
democratization can have effects of colonialism, too – in which the targeting
of marginalized community groups (serving as Third Worlds found in the First
World) leads to their becoming both subject and coproducer of their own self
appropriation in the name of self-affirmation.” (Pg. 139)
“While the power of intimate personal transformation cannot
be underestimated, such a focus, in Kester’s view, naturalizes social
conditions of poverty, marginalization, and disenfranchisement as an extension of
an individual’s inherent character flaw (lack of initiative, diligence, inner
resolve, moral rectitude, self-esteem, etc.). “(Pg. 143)
“We are from the belly of the beast trying to be responsible
for an to people and things seriously wronged and wrong, that need work all
around us in our immediate environment.” (Pg. 144, Flemming)
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