Capital and its Discontents: A Discussion Grows in Bushwick

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The panelists from "Capital and Its Discontents: Art, Money, Real Estate and the Changing Face of Bushwick": Peter Hopkins (Bogart Salon), Natalia Sacasa, Francis Greenburger, Ann Fensterstock, James Panero (host), Loren Munk, and William Powhida. "Burg n Bush," work in progress by Loren Munk, in background. Photograph by famous Bushwick documentarian Meryl Meisler

UPDATE: THE FULL DISCUSSION IS NOW ONLINE HERE

James writes:

On Thursday, April 12, I hosted a panel discussion at The Bogart Salon called "Capital and its Discontents: Art, Money, Real Estate and the Changing Face of Bushwick." You can read all about the run up here.

My panelists were Ann Fensterstock (collector, arts patron, historian), Francis Greenburger (collector, founder of Time Equities), Loren Munk (artist), William Powhida (artist), and Natalia Sacasa (Senior Director, Luhring Augustine). 

Art, money, and real estate. These three forces are changing the face of Bushwick. We may not agree on how it’s changing, but we can all agree that the neighborhood of Bushwick is changing quickly. By last count, there were over 35 galleries in Bushwick, up from just a handful a few years ago. Until recently, 56 Bogart, the venue for the panel, was mainly used for light manufacturing. Now it’s filled with new galleries and non-profits--some new, others well established and coming in from elsewhere. And in February, Luhring Augustine, one of the bluest of Chelsea’s blue-chip galleries, opened a 10,000-square-foot outpost in the heart of Bushwick, to the fascination and consternation of the neighborhood’s arts community.

As I said in the panel’s introduction:

If we are here to put capitalism on trial, and capitalism loses, I wouldn’t question capitalism. I would question our judgment.

Yet art, money, and real estate have always had a complex relationship, and lately it seems to be getting more complicated.

According to the New York Times, a chief executive at UBS wealth management informs us that “art is becoming more and more of an asset class.”

Money has always been a component of art, but now it seems to have become art’s defining characteristic. Bill Powhida, in your own work, you ridicule the business side of art, calling the dominance of money “asset classicism”--a term that may speak to our age better than any other.

Up to this point, one thing that has struck me about Bushwick is that the neighborhood seems to exist outside of the arts industrial complex you lampoon. Bushwick has developed something of a micro-economy of its own, with artists bartering with each other and tiny galleries selling work in the hundreds, rather than the tens of thousands, of dollars.

As Bushwick begins to attract a wider pool of collectors, is it a good thing, or is “asset classicism” not far behind?

Following up from "Capital," Kianga Ellis and Trent Morse are hosting "War Room" at the Bogart Salon through Sunday, April 15. Keep up with the discussion here. 

Real-time Twitter feed from Bogart

"Capital and its Discontents" on Artinfo.com

 

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Peter Hopkins of Bogart Salon introduces the panel. Showing: Francis Greenburger, James Panero, Ann Fensterstock, and Loren Munk. Off camera: William Powhida and Natalia Sacasa 

 

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Your host!

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Here is some press from the first Bogart Salon panel where Hrag Vartanian headed up a great discussion with Deborah Brown, Thomas Burr Dodd, Carolina A. Miranda, and Marco Antonini:

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William Powhida, "What Do Prices Reflect?" Graphite, watercolor, and colored pencil on paper, 2011. Courtesy of Postmasters Gallery.

Time for Tim Tebow to Stand Tall

Tim Tebow appearing in Superbowl commercial for Focus on the Family, 2010

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
April 1, 2012

Time for Tim Tebow to stand tall
by James Panero

His voice and values may be just what New Yorkers are looking for

Out of the circus that has surrounded the arrival of the Jets new backup quarterback, one thing is clear: New York has never seen a culture warrior like Tim Tebow — a fact that could challenge the city in profound ways.

For this “muscular Christian,” football and faith have been a winning combination. And like his game on the field, Tebow’s powers of religious persuasion didn’t come by chance. They date back long before his star turn for the Denver Broncos, his championship runs with the Florida Gators or the local squad he joined as a home-schooled teenager.

Tebow is an evangelist — not just for his Christian faith, but more importantly, for the kind of living it commands. And now, rather than that message being spread in more conservative Colorado, Tebow has the opportunity to practice what he preaches on the world’s largest stage.

In a city where sky-high abortion rates are rarely questioned, he should spotlight the problem. In a city where churches are being forced out of public schools on weekends, he should speak for them. In a city where abstinence-only sex education is passé to the powers that be, he should connect with young people on the virtues of saving oneself for marriage.

Call it Tebow’s biggest mission.

Abortion is the first and most obvious opportunity. The son of Baptist missionaries, Tebow was born in the Philippines. While pregnant, his mother Pam went against doctors’ orders and refused to have an abortion. This story has long informed Tebow’s own pro-life beliefs. During the 2010 Super Bowl, the organization Focus on the Family famously aired a pro-life advertisement featuring her being “tackled” by her loving son.

The ad proved to be a simple and positive treatment of a mother’s love for her “miracle baby.” “He almost didn’t make it into this world,” she said. “I can remember so many times when I almost lost him.”

Airing this soft-sell ad despite the pushback from abortion groups became a victory for Tebow and his convictions. He later claimed that a survey revealed that 5.5 million viewers changed their stance to pro-life because of its message. A football star can be a powerful argument against an abortion that had once been presented as a medical necessity.

What better place to repeatedly make the case than in New York City? This is the country’s “abortion capital,” with the highest rate of any city in the nation. Yet it’s rarely discussed that fully 40% of all pregnancies here end in abortion — 83,000 in 2010 — compared to 23% nationally, according to the Chiaroscuro Foundation.

It’s not that New Yorkers are happy about the fact: Two-thirds of us, including a majority of pro-choice supporters, believe these numbers are too high. It’s just that we’d prefer not to think about it. That may be coming to an end; it’ll be impossible for Tebow to ignore the epidemic in his new backyard.

Second, Tebow should challenge a city administration that’s been downright hostile to a few dozen small churches fighting for the right to use public school space on weekends. If secular groups can rent the spaces, the churches contend, why should religious organizations be forbidden?

But that’s precisely what Michael Bloomberg has fought to do, citing a policy prohibiting “worship services” that courts have, up until now, endorsed.

A visit from Tebow to the Bronx Household of Faith, which is at the eye of this storm, would send a powerful message and likely change many minds.

And imagine if, instead of only serving as a spokesman for car dealerships and clothing brands like other sports stars, Tebow also uses his celebrity to sell New Yorkers on the evangelical Christian values that course through his bloodstream. For example, back in 2009, Tebow openly admitted in a press conference that he was a virgin — an earnest and honest expression of his convictions.

That sort of straight talk could win him many converts of the literal kind. Kids wearing his jersey might think twice before getting pressured by peers to engage in irresponsible behavior.

None of this is a leap of faith: Unlike Charles Barkley, who famously chafed when called a “role model,” Tebow embraces the term.

The Tim Tebow Foundation, which the football star first envisioned when he was an undergraduate, now uses “the public platform that God has blessed Tim Tebow with to inspire and make a difference in people’s lives throughout the world,” according to its website. As the testimonial from coaching legend Tony Dungy makes clear, “His leadership and Christian values set an example not just for his teammates, but for all young people.” Now, he has the opportunity to set an example for New Yorkers of all ages.

In the process, he just might call New York City to recognize its true character, hidden in plain sight. Much has been made about the pious Tebow landing in a heathen town. “So the Denver Broncos have sent quarterback Tim Tebow to the New York Jets, which is akin to dropping the Christian among the lions,” wrote Tracee Hamilton in the Washington Post.

It’s a common refrain, but it relies on a caricature. New York is far from the Gomorrah that Woody Allen describes in “Annie Hall”: “Don’t you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we’re left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes, and I live here.”

In fact, Andrew A. Beveridge, a professor of sociology at Queens College and a demographer at Gotham Gazette, reports that an “estimated 6.8 million New Yorkers — or more than 83% of the population — were identified as being affiliated with some organized religion in 2000.”

Just how religious does that make New York City? More religious than all states except Louisiana and “even slightly higher than Utah,” writes Beveridge.

From the tallest church in America — Riverside Church, at 22 stories — to the seat of a newly reinvigorated Catholic archdiocese led by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, to the epicenter of American Jewry, to evangelical ministries now sprinkled into old theaters throughout the city, New Yorkers take their religion seriously but silently.

Tebow’s words and, more importantly, his actions, can help get religion out further into the public square.

“If people are still somehow talking about prayer or talking about my faith, then I think that’s pretty cool,” Tebow said on Monday.

Just days after his arrival, that strategy is already working.

UPDATE: Syracuse Post-Standard picks up on this story and reports the Jets may have other ideas for their backup quarterback.

The Brian Lehrer Show: What's A Museum?

James writes:

In a sad week, it was a bright spot for me to appear on The Brian Lehrer Show (WNYC) this morning to discuss my essay "What's a Museum?" Brian was a joy to talk to and his listeners did not disappoint. It was also an honor to take note of the passing of Hilton Kramer, founding editor of The New Criterion and friend who wrote so forcefully and perceptively about museum matters, among many other topics, decades before anyone else.

Great comments and questions came in to the studio on air (full switchboard) and online (50 and counting). The segment is now available for streaming and free download. Readers/listeners can continue the discussion on the show's comments page and at The New Criterion.