Kyle Goen: Let Art Be Training In The Practice Of Freedom
Let Art Be Training in the Practice of Freedom
“Let art be training in the practice of freedom” is mentioned by Nitasha Dhillon in an article in the Brooklyn Rail in 2015. The formulation of “training in the practice of freedom” is used by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak in a 2012 article in the Nation, titled the long and short of capitalism’s demise. This lineage is important to understand why this place does not currently serve as a gallery.
When Dhillon used the phrase she treated art as a verb. She said, “There is a war being waged in the imagination, and we are urged to ask, “How do we live?” and then, despite the feeling of helplessness, to act. It is by acting that we learn a new way of thinking, or, as the Zapatistas say, “asking we walk.”” This outpost is made to be part of a non-assimilationist extension of this question.
“The kind of punk I grew up with challenged authority and screamed truth to power. Once you learn to question authority - to speak, scream or sing your truth - and to join forces with and act in solidarity with people who share your values, you never unlearn it.” - Alice Bag
And because language matters this is not a gallery. This is not an exhibition. This is a takeover. A gathering place. An exit. An archive, music, receipts, living memory, direct action manuals, conversations and relations, movement-generated theory, city-wide open files.
Play. Ask questions. Be on your way. Play some more.
With love and gratitude, Kyle Goen, April 29, 2023