June 3rd, 2017: Scaffold

[xoxoxoBruce]

Los Angeles-based artist Sam Durant built a large sculpture called Scaffold for Documenta in 2012 in Kassel, Germany.



He described it on his website at the time.

Because of the intricacy and complexity of this structure, it may not be immediately apparent as to exactly what its origins are or how it is to be used; while children use it as a play structure, adults, perhaps attracted by its architectural novelty can slowly discover its origins and meaning. While some might see a resemblance to constructions in an adventure playground from the 1970’s, the sculpture is actually made up of a combination of reconstructed gallows (or scaffolds as they were once called) that were used in executions of significance throughout U.S. history. Through this formal uncertainty there is an attempt to signify both the free play of childhood and the ultimate form of control, capital punishment. These seemingly oppositional tracks have come together in the United States in the last decade, resulting in what is known as “the School to Prison Pipeline.”

The gallows used in the sculpture represent a range of executions, some nearly iconic, beginning with John Brown in 1859 and culminating in the scaffold used in Saddam Hussein’s hanging in 2006. There is no intention of directly equating the victims of the various executions or of making equivalencies between the activities that led to their deaths. The only consistency implied in the project is that they are all State sanctioned executions. Some of the other gallows represented include the last public hanging in the U.S. in 1936 attended by tens of thousands as well as the 1996 execution that became the last death by hanging in the United States.

Fast forward to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis ready to open its newly renovated sculpture garden.

Walker’s Director, Olga Viso, posted an open letter on the museum’s website saying that she didn’t anticipate how the work would be received in Minnesota, especially by Native audiences. “Scaffold,” she wrote, depicts seven different historical gallows used in hangings sanctioned by the US government between 1859 and 2006. One of the gallows the piece represents was used to hang 38 Native men in Mankato, Minnesota at the end of the US-Dakota War of 1862, the largest mass execution in the history of the United States.

That’s when the Indians got all butt hurt about it.

Social media and local news erupted after Viso’s letter was posted. Politicians, leaders of several arts organizations, Native American artists, and tribal groups, including Minnesota’s Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, condemned the work for several reasons. Critics said the piece was problematic because it was made by a non-native artist, that it is triggering historical pain — especially given that the Walker sits on land once used by the Dakota people.

It didn’t trigger historic pain for the month it sat there before somebody told you the Dakotas were involved in 1/7th of the part
of US history used in this piece to represent all government hangings.

On Saturday afternoon, the Walker released a second statement by Viso in which she said that it will take the sculpture down, and will work with the Dakota community to decide what will become of “Scaffold.” The statement didn’t give a timeline for the sculpture’s removal, but said that Durant, representatives of the Walker, and Traditional Spiritual Dakota Elders will meet to discuss its fate on the morning of Wednesday, May 31.

What, why the fuck would they decide what happens to it. If you acquiesce to their not-in-my-backyard demands, fine.
Take it down and move it out, but they have no right to dictate its future.

“It has been my belief that white artists need to address issues of white supremacy and its institutional manifestations,” Durant said today in a statement addressed to the Dakota community. “However, your protests have shown me that I made a grave miscalculation in how my work can be received by those in a particular community. In focusing on my position as a white artist making work for that audience I failed to understand what the inclusion of the Dakota 38 in the sculpture could mean for Dakota people.” Durant went on to apologize for his thoughtlessness: “I should have reached out to the Dakota community the moment I knew that the sculpture would be exhibited at the Walker Art Center in proximity to Mankato.”

OK, he’s mending his standing with the Indians and white liberals who control all the art institutions in the country.

“When I first saw it, I had this huge anxious feeling and broke down in tears,” says Kate Beane, a Dakota woman who works as a community liaison for the Minnesota Historical Society. “I don’t think the Walker or the artist took into consideration what kind of impact a structure like that would have on a community of people who have been impacted by historical trauma.”
For Beane, seeing the work was traumatic, especially as she was there with her child. She also felt disappointment, because so much of her work is about building awareness about Dakota history. “We do this over and over and over again,” she said. “We get a lot of backlash about it and it’s tiring work. And then something like this still happens.”

When you first saw it (at the closed park) you instantly knew it involved hanging Dakotas? Bullshit, you had already been told
so you went to see it and took your kid with you. You were fully prepared to "break down in tears". Nothing like Mommy crying
to impress the kid.
It’s not about you Kate, it’s not about Indian history, it’s about US penal history. I don’t see Blacks getting upset and more of
them were hung/lynched than anyone else.
How about if they give you a permit for casino expansion?

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