Exit Art’s Reactions – 9/11 Responses

Exit Art’s Reactions – 9/11 Responses

Exit Art was founded in 1982 by artist Papo Colo and curator Jeanette Ingberman during the alternative space movement. The founders saw a lack of exposure for artists whose work challenged social, political, or sexual norms and raised difficult questions of race, ethnicity, gender and equality.

Exit Art has had, as its goal, the mission of connecting beyond the art world through thematic exhibitions exploring critical issues in contemporary society.

One themed exhibit in 2002 called Reactions presented over 2,500 responses to how 9/11 changed public and private behavior. The exhibit was acquired by the Library of Congress for its American Memory project.

A few of the items are shown below.

Many of these were part of the Exit Art Gallery "Reactions Collection: A Global Response to the 9/11 Attacks". It was acquired on all of our behalf by the Library of Congress in 2002.

Posted by Words From Us on Friday, September 11, 2015

Martha Graham Snubbed Nazi Germany

Martha Graham Snubbed Nazi Germany

Art competitions were part of each Olympic program between 1912 to 1948. In 1949 the IOC made the decision to hole art exhibitions instead of contests with prizes based on the reasoning that only amateurs could compete in the athletic events while professional artists were winning the medals in the art categories.

For the 1936 games in Berlin, the German government sponsored an “International Dance Tournament” to precede the games. The United States and several Western European countries did not compete. (Source: The Journal of Health and Physical Education Volume 7, Issue 9, 1936)

Martha Graham was invited by German officials to represent the United States at the tournament.

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