JONALD DUDD Response
JONALDDUDD March 1 at 5:03pm ยท
AN OPEN LETTER OF RESPONSE AND APOLOGY FROM THE CURATORS OF 'SHOW MEIN' TO AN/other NY On behalf of JONALDDUDD and in response to the critical dialogue surround our exhibition Show Mein at SPRING/BREAK Art Show we would like to fomally apologize to ALL those who were hurt by our installation concept and supporting materials. Our decisions and actions were not intended to harm anyone, but we recognize that good intentions do not make up for ill-informed cultural appropriation. JONALDDUDD has always borrowed liberally from pop-culture and art history to support the casual irreverent tone of our art and design curation. For our exhibition, Show Mein we have attempted to appropriate the design language of NYC's Chinese take out restaurants. This formal and aesthetic effort to borrow and remix has proven to be highly-offensive to many of our peers, as well as many people in the Asian-American community and for this we are DEEPLY SORRY. The use of the historically desparaging Chop Suey font, the sharing of imagery that we failed to see more symbolic meaning in, and our effort to pay homage to an interior aesthetic steeped in a history economic oppression are as @alexpaik stated, 'at the very least seems a little tone deaf.' As artists, curators, and simply as citizens it is our responsibility to dig deeply, educate ourselves,
and constantly expand our cultural/intellectual/emotional awareness. We and our project have not upheld these standards. In my earlier statement I framed our current political hour as one of heightened sensitivity when in fact it is actually an hour of greater consequence. It is not the rules of cultural appropriation that have shifted, but rather the reprecussions for the people and communities affected by the reckless co-opting capable of reinforcing negative stereotypes. Again, we are sorry for any pain our project has caused. I hope that we may eventually prove ourselves as thoughtful and considerate, if flawed, individuals capable of expanding our understanding of others. In closing, I would like to add that neither our artists or any affliates of SPRING/BREAK Art Show were aware of our concept and presentation materials. Our original exhibition proposal was entirely different than our final installation. We ask that you please consider that fact and reserve your criticism for us, and us alone. Sincerely, Chris Held & Lydia Cambron
AN OPEN LETTER OF RESPONSE AND APOLOGY FROM THE CURATORS OF 'SHOW MEIN' TO AN/other NY On behalf of JONALDDUDD and in response to the critical dialogue surround our exhibition Show Mein at SPRING/BREAK Art Show we would like to fomally apologize to ALL those who were hurt by our installation concept and supporting materials. Our decisions and actions were not intended to harm anyone, but we recognize that good intentions do not make up for ill-informed cultural appropriation. JONALDDUDD has always borrowed liberally from pop-culture and art history to support the casual irreverent tone of our art and design curation. For our exhibition, Show Mein we have attempted to appropriate the design language of NYC's Chinese take out restaurants. This formal and aesthetic effort to borrow and remix has proven to be highly-offensive to many of our peers, as well as many people in the Asian-American community and for this we are DEEPLY SORRY. The use of the historically desparaging Chop Suey font, the sharing of imagery that we failed to see more symbolic meaning in, and our effort to pay homage to an interior aesthetic steeped in a history economic oppression are as @alexpaik stated, 'at the very least seems a little tone deaf.' As artists, curators, and simply as citizens it is our responsibility to dig deeply, educate ourselves,
and constantly expand our cultural/intellectual/emotional awareness. We and our project have not upheld these standards. In my earlier statement I framed our current political hour as one of heightened sensitivity when in fact it is actually an hour of greater consequence. It is not the rules of cultural appropriation that have shifted, but rather the reprecussions for the people and communities affected by the reckless co-opting capable of reinforcing negative stereotypes. Again, we are sorry for any pain our project has caused. I hope that we may eventually prove ourselves as thoughtful and considerate, if flawed, individuals capable of expanding our understanding of others. In closing, I would like to add that neither our artists or any affliates of SPRING/BREAK Art Show were aware of our concept and presentation materials. Our original exhibition proposal was entirely different than our final installation. We ask that you please consider that fact and reserve your criticism for us, and us alone. Sincerely, Chris Held & Lydia Cambron
