Woah! The Nation!

Apparently the piece I wrote about ABC No Rio has been picked up by THE NATION for their Jan 28 web edition!

The story of ABC No Rio has always been one about creative engagement with the politics of space. It began on New Year's Eve in 1979 when a group of artists invaded a vacant storefront on Delancey Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side. At the time, the neighborhood was blighted by widespread arson and a culture of drug addiction.

During the 1970s, thousands of buildings in New York City had been abandoned by their landlords, became property of the city through foreclosure, and sat vacant and neglected. The art exhibition on Delancey Street entitled "The Real Estate Show" was a provocation: why should these spaces sit idle? Watching the grainy black and white video footage that documented the event, there's a palpable sense of indignant playfulness as trash was cleared away and art crudely taped to walls. Neighborhood kids joined in the fun, drawing on the walls and interacting with the sculptures.

The city authorities were not amused. Police padlocked the building and the artwork was rudely confiscated and shipped to a warehouse across town. As one reviewer noted at the time, "the show's basic ideological premise--that artists, working people, and the poor are systematically screwed out of decent places to exist in--could not have been brought home with more brutal irony."

The story could have ended there, had the artists conceded defeat--instead they chose to fight.

This is an excerpt from a spotlight chapter I wrote for the All-Ages Movement Project's forthcoming book.