Staged ‘Action’ Events by Monica Rodriguez

September 12th, 2 – 6pm, Whitney Museum, 945 Madison Avenue, NYC
September 14th, 4 – 8pm, Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, NYC
September 15th, 2 – 6pm, New Museum, 235 Bowery, NYC
September 16th, 1 – 5pm, Guggenheim Museum, 1071 5th Avenue, NYC

Join us for Staged ‘Action’ Events, a series of public performances by Monica Rodriguez for the Flux Factory exhibition, Public Trust.

Staged ‘Actions’ Events is a series of re-enactments of protests performed by artist groups who fought for the reform of large cultural institutions. Beginning with the Artists’ Union up through the present day Occupy Museums, Rodriguez has written scores for each protest and performance site, including the Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and New Museum of Contemporary Art.

Below are the descriptions of the performances at their locations.

Staged “Actions” Events #1
To occur outside the Whitney Museum of American Art.
2 performers execute the following actions in succession:

1. Performer stands outside the entrance of the museum holding a protest sign. The sign reads: “Artists Union Jobs For All Unemployed Artists.”
2. Performer forms a picket line outside the museum’s entrance.

Staged “Actions” Events #2
To occur outside the Museum of Modern Art.
8 performers execute the following actions in succession:

1. Performer walks up to the museum’s entrance and places a small sticker on the main door. The sticker reads “Closed.”
2. Performer distributes fliers.
3. Performer pays MOMA entrance fee entirely with pennies.
4. Performer posts a poster on a wall of the museum. The poster reads “1. MOMA must sell $1 million of art from its collection and give the money to the poor for them to use in any way they wished. 2. MOMA must decentralize so as to include anyone interested in its decision-making and to give art back to the “people” 3. MOMA must close until the Vietnam war is over.”
5. Performer places erasers throughout the galleries. The erasers are stamped with “Erase sexism from MOMA.”
6. Performer forms a picket line outside the museum’s entrance.
7. Performer reads a manifesto outside the museum’s entrance.
8. Performer holds a banner that reads “Hang art, not workers. End your lockout.”

Staged “Actions” Events #3
To occur outside the Guggenheim Museum of Art.
2 performers execute the following actions in succession:

1. Performer stands outside the museum chanting “hey, hey, ho, ho, white male culture has got to go!”
2. Performers hold anti-censorship placards that read “Free Art” and “Trustees and Directors Censor Art”

Staged “Actions” Events #4
To occur outside the New Museum of Contemporary Art

1. Performer stands outside the museum, on the sidewalk, shouting “Museums, open your minds and your hearts, and listen. Art is for everyone! The people are at your door.”