A Milestone Panel discussion - Contemporary Art and the Community
February
16, 2007 2:00pm
--Recorded by Luchia Lee (Curator)
Kenneth E. Howell(Editor)
There was a milestone panel discussion held at the Amerasia Bank Gallery, Flushing, Queens, NY
on the subject of “Contemporary Art in the Community.” The panel discussion was
organized by Luchia Meihua Lee, a Taiwanese American art curator; she invited Tom Finkelpearl,
Executive Director of the Queens Museum of Art, as moderator who joined with Flushing area community developers such as F & T
group president, Michael Meyer, and Chief
Architecture, Albert Chen. Others who participated in the discussion included
Amy Winter, the director of Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Queens
College; Yi Miao Huang, the Director of Taiwan Center; Roger McClannan,
Trustee of Snug Harbor Cultural Center. Persons who attended and participated
in the discussion included Daisy Rosenblum, New York Foundation for the Art;
Joan Gauer, Asian Americans for Equality; Korea Village; and Lucy Davison,
Flushing town Hall, Gary Shapiro from New York Sun, Stephen Stirling from time
Ledger, and the artist included Yang Chin Chih, Hai Zhang, YoYo Xiao, Jon D’razio,
Jeff Liao, and Chee Wang NG, Lin Shih Pao, Quan Han Dong, Zhang Hong Tu, Cui
Fei, Yu Shi Chao.
As background,
organizer: Luchia Meihua Lee writes:
The Flushing area has been growing very
rapidly in population, as well as in business and commercial activity. Although
the art scene has awakened and is vigorous in Flushing,
the art most commonly shown is traditional in style. Many of these early groups
of traditional artists still exist in various corners of the community. But it is disconnected from the main arena of New York City art (to be
found in Manhattan
and Brooklyn) which has long been the center
of the international art world. Not only is there no professional contemporary
art space in Flushing, but also the exhibitions presented in the area have been
far from what they should be. But far from lacking any presence in contemporary
art, Queens has been the temporary home of
MOMA, and the permanent site of PS1, which has become an internationally
renowned alternative space.
While Queens is the most diverse county in the entire country, Flushing’s growth has not been broadly based. Indeed, its
commercial district is packed with restaurants and small vendors. Some of the
local art galleries have been run by corporations or banks, such as Crystal Gallery, the Amerasia Bank Gallery, and
World Journal Gallery. But none of them has been able to provide serious
professional art. In contrast, in Brooklyn and
Manhattan there
are many more cultural activities. The Queens Museum of Art, the Godwin-Ternabch Museum at Queens College and the QCC
Gallery are the art venues closest to Flushing;
but because transportation to them is inconvenient, Flushing
residents rarely visit these sites. In this panel discussion, we would like to
investigate this situation and discuss future directions. This panel will bring
together art historians, community developers, architects, non profit Asian
organizations, providers of public space in Flushing,
and artists to discuss methods to give Flushing
a world class image and also link it with the contemporary art scene.
The panel discussion topics are cover: Change in the Flushing
community and its residents, The advancement of art in the community,
Contemporary art in Flushing
Will contemporary artists survive in Flushing?
Will alternative spaces and contemporary art come to Flushing?
The possibility of expelling exoticism? Concern about the landscape of the
community, Dilemma: business or contemporary art.
The proceedings started when Luchia Lee, curator of Beyond Measure and organizer of the panel discussion, wished
everyone a Happy New Year and introducing Jimmy Tsai, general manager of the
Amerasia Bank.
Jimmy welcomed everyone and said that the bank was glad to help bring
art to the community by providing space for free at the Amerasia Bank Gallery.
Luchia then introduced Tom Finkelpearl, Executive Director of the Queens Museum of Art and moderator of the panel
discussion. Tom pointed out that the
best discussions involve disagreement and asked people to be frank and
informal. He then invited the panelists
to introduce themselves.
Michael Mayer explained the development plans of the F&T Group,
which include using art to attract people to their buildings, most notably
Queens Crossing at the intersection of 39th Avenue and Main Street.
Since Michael pointed out that he would need to leave after 15 minutes,
Tom immediately posed the following question to him:
How do you intend to address the challenge
of changing the tone of Flushing? Michael replied that 13 years earlier he had
started a similar project with Miami Beach.
At that time, Miami Beach was depressed and there were no national
retailers there, nor an art presence.
What Miami Beach
did have, like Flushing now, was abundant
street life. Artists led a renaissance
in Miami Beach
Tom pointed out that something like that happened in Soho,
which was first popularized by artists but now is far too expensive for artists
and galleries. Tom said that there is a
popular misconception that artists were the victims when the neighborhood
became more expensive, but that really it was the poor who were shunted aside,
not the artists.
Michael pointed out that affordable housing was only one aspect of
keeping New York
within reach of the middle class, and that it was a larger political issue.
Amy Winter pointed out that Soho had
already lost its economic base before its transformation – contrary to the
situation in Flushing.
Tom pointed out another difference – Queens
in general, and Flushing in particular, can
boast a very strong middle class.
Tom then went on to ask: what art
the fundamental challenges in integrating art and the community?
Huang Yi Miao said that it is difficult to get people to visit the Taiwan Center
to see what is going on there.
Tom said that while some openings at the Queens Museum
had been very successful, it had been difficult getting people to return. Roger said that this was his impression as
well.
Huang Yi then posed a sharper question:
How could non-Taiwanese be induced to visit the Taiwan Center?
Amy said that Queens
College is an enclave
unto itself, isolated by poor public transportation.
Tom commented that the spoke system of transportation makes it easier to
get from any point in Queens to Manhattan than it does
between two points in Queens.
Tom pointed out that the reason the Queens Museum
is expanding is that the average museum visit is three hours, and the Queens Museum
must be a substantial enough destination to attract visitors.
Having discussed the challenges of transforming Flushing,
Tom moved on to ask about Flushing’s greatest
advantage.
With the departure of Michael Meyer, Albert Chen now represented
F&T. He responded that Flushing had the opportunity to bring art to the people.
Hai Zhang said that artists who cannot show in Manhattan go to Queens
to find alternative places to show their art.
But he was surprised that at the Queens Museum
one doesn’t find people from Queens.
Chee said that outreach is very important.
Tom said that 50% of immigrants had arrived in the last 10
years, so turnover is very great and it is a challenge to appeal to the very
newest immigrants.
Chee drew the distinction between high and low art.
Tom disagreed about the importance of this distinction,
preferring to focus on different tastes.
As an example of non-elitist catering to one taste, he talked about
QMA’s reaching out to Corona
to gather recipes, pass them by a nutritionist, and collect them in a book
of recipes.
Amy said that Albert’s idea of developers bring art to the
community is not only feasible but also commendable.
Albert replied that the presence of art will improve his stores,
but that he is not “selling” art. He
commented that although F&T had tried for a full year, they had been unable
to attract major tenants because of the character of Flushing.
Amy pointed out that it should be considered “showcasing”
art, not selling it.
Albert said that there were two approaches in putting art
into a building
- install pure art, where the
art takes precedence, and
- lure people into the building
with art.
Tom said that the second approach, which is what has been
implemented with a public space at the Pompidou Center
in Paris, is
what QMA will do.
Tom returned to Albert’s plaint that he had been unable to
lure Barnes & Noble as an anchor for the development at Queens
Crossing. Tom asked if anybody really
wanted Barnes & Noble in Flushing
anyway. The response to his question was
mixed.
Jon D’Orazio commented that Flushing
is all commerce and has no open spaces.
His proposed solution was satellite museums, which also solve the
difficulties of poor public transportation.
Albert said that art is intimately linked with life, for
example art tells the best way to eat, to drink, and so on.
Huang Yi Miao said that May is Asian month. Taiwan
Center will visit public
schools to introduce Asian art. In doing
this, it would be easy to mention other art venues in Queens.
Tom thoughtfully mentioned that there is a moral dimension to outreach
programs. For example, QMA’s outreach
program in Corona
drew many visitors from Manhattan,
who may have decided that Corona
is a convenient place to live, thus hastening Corona’s gentrification.
Tom also explained the 1.5 generation show that QMA is doing
next summer. He said that QMA is
operating on the assumption that members of the 1.5 generation – those who
immigrated here when they were in their early teens – would be much more likely
to visit the museum than first generation immigrants. When he asked the audience if they agreed
with this assumption, he got a mixed response.
Some said that the 1.5 generation would be more likely to
visit; some said that it depended on the programming, not the generation; some
said it would make no difference; and Albert said that everybody should be
welcome.
The discussion then moved to how the various art
institutions in Queens could cooperate. As an example of the lack of cooperation, Tom
asked how many people in the room had been to the Louis Armstong house. No hands went up.
But many people felt that it would be a good thing for the
various art venues in Queens to work
together. He suggested that it would be
important to foster relationships between groups, and that these would
strengthen the community.
Daisy Rosenblum asked if artists feel they belong to a
community, since NYFA is interested in fostering such community. Perhaps because none of the artists present
live in Flushing, the response was minimal.
Tom held up as a model for all Queens art institutions the
Queens Public Library. He said that the Flushing branch is the most heavily used branch library
in the entire US. It is free, it has
good and varied programming, it has an ideal location, and it has good
architecture. He said that QMA would
host a branch of the Queens Public Library after it remodeled.
Tom was discussing the number of visitors to the Queens Museum of
Art, and he wanted to attract both visitors from other boroughs and also
members of the neighboring communities.
Hai Zhang pointed out that it might be difficult to appeal to both
of these groups with the same programming. For example, if artists create
works with the local community in mind and QMA displays them, more
sophisticated visitors from outside the area might find them provincial.
Conversely, an exhibit catering to the international art world might have no
relevance to the local communities.
Tom replied that this is a very deep question and confessed that he
worries about this dilemma. But he says that he tries to have it both
ways by displaying art that at the same time is meaningful for both
audiences. As an example, he gave Jeff Liao's photographic work centered
about the #7 train. While the quality of the work was admired by all,
visitors from Corona
who were in QMA to view the Mexican exhibit could also identify individuals in
Jeff's photos.
(Hai Zhang question to Tom, that on one side, the artists should
be doing things for the community where they rooted, and Tom as the director of
the museum probably should be happy that the things he is exhibiting do attract
the people from the local communities. But on the other hand, maybe (not
always) the exhibition seems not to fit the people from other communities such
as the ones from Manhattan
or such on, even seems ridiculous. What is Tom’s priority and how to deal
with this complicit? He pointed
out that when Manhattanites visited QMA and saw art relevant to the community,
they returned to Manhattan and reported that QMA showed nothing but junk.
Tom allowed that this was a very deep comment, and that he
tried to have it both ways – showing good art that was relevant to the
community. As an example, he gave Jeff
Liao’s photographic exhibition on the 7 train, which accompanied an exhibit of
Mexican art. Many of those from Corona who visited QMA
for the Mexican art saw Jeff’s photographs and recognized individuals therein.)
Fu Chia Wen said that much of the discussion centered on art
institutions and artists, however this was insufficient. She said that most people don't like art,
don't think they like art, don't live art, and don't think they can make
art. But art is all around us. Taking contemporary art to the community must
reach beyond museums.
She continued that:
1) The traditional approach has been to look for ways for
museums to draw more visitors and for artists to create works that appeal more
to the community.
2) A newer and better approach is community-centered art, in
which the people as a whole are the artist, not an individual.
For example, is graffiti community-centered art?
Fu said that it is vital to identify the most important
activities in the community and give them an artistic context. She suggested
that community centers might come to replace museums.
Addressing the issue of Contemporary Art and Community, we
need to established a mind set for doing community-centered art/projects
instead of artist-centered or institution-centered ideas. It is a basic concept
for artists and institutions to come up with projects. Museums and artists can
still play a role to create ideas to go beyond the 'white wall' of the museum
to reach the heart of the community. I believe quite a few museum have already
been doing this including Queens Art Museum
and Bronx Art Museum ...etc."
Four people came from the Korean
Village Open
Center. The owner mentioned
to organizer Luchia Lee that he was impressed by this panel discussion. He
himself is a developer, but had only thought about business and making money. When
he looks at the landscape of downtown Flushing,
he worries that real culture and art is mostly replaced by commercial activity.
He echoed some of the other panelists in saying that this is the time to work together
in culture and art, without regard to racial divisions. He hopes this is the
start, and another forum along these lines will soon follow.
--Recorded by Luchia Lee (Curator) Kenneth E. Howell(Editor)
