From: G*rd*n <gcf-AT-panix.com> Subject: Re: Art is Speech: Open Letter to N.Y.C. Officials (fwd) Date: Fri, 1 Nov 1996 19:45:06 -0500 (EST) BestPoet-AT-aol.com: > > Seems to me that street vendors connection to what they sell is personal in > > the sense that they want to eat and pay rent just like artists. I like > buying > > old books, old records, sunglasses, incense, etc. on the street. I don't > see > > how art can be valorized as the "better commodity". Now if the artists are > > GIVING away their art on the street, that's a different story. gcf-AT-panix.com (G*rd*n): > >>>>From what I've read, it's settled jurisprudence that speech > is protected whether or not it's a commodity, and that > pictures can be a form of speech. It's not a generic > philosophical opinion about value, it's a consideration of > what legal category pictures fall into. BestPoet-AT-aol.com: > What I'm getting at, or trying to, is that there's more than speech that I'm > interested in seeing protected. New York City has a long history of rich > street and subway culture. Vendors, musicians, performers, dancers, visual > artists, booksellers, jewelry crafters, second hand clothes and furniture and > appliances. As well as the posters people create to advertise their events > (bands, readings, etc.) and/or to solicit students or clients (music > teachers, language teachers, house cleaners, moving jobs) or to make social > statements (like the fabulous posters done by the Guerilla Girls). > > All of this has come under severe attack by Guliani. To me, it's not just a > generic philosophical opinion. I am a resident of this city and have often > participated in this street and subway culture as a consumer or audience > member and as an artist who creates posters for fun and to publicize my > band's gigs. > > Guliani calls it his "quality of life" campaign. But as a citizen who lacks > the finances to have access to commercial outdoor advertising, and as a > citizen who values street and subway culture for the freedom and social > interaction it represents, I think that fighting Guliani on the issue of free > speech does not go near far enough. ... I agree with you. But the only way I can think of to save the general culture of the city is to get rid of Giuliani, something maybe we'll be fortunate enough to do next year. gcf-AT-panix.com }"{ www.etaoin.com --- from list avant-garde-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005