Beaver Street Gallery

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The Death of Art

a times-specific installation by
David B. Harton

September 1 - November 2, 2009

MORE INFORMATION

In times of economic hardship, feeding the body, understandably, takes precedence over feeding the soul.   Thus we jettison that which we are taught to believe is “luxury:” the arts.

In this installation we are attempting to illustrate and document the situation in the arts today:  museums and galleries are closing their doors or cutting their hours, orchestras are disbanding or cutting musicians’ pay, theatre companies are doing the same. 

And while this is going on, we have allowed ourselves to be frightened into turning this country into a police state.  We use our money to hire more and more police, and we give control of our movement over to x-rays and automated cameras.  We have become like sheep, frightened into accepting deeper and deeper incursions into our civil rights.  We have welcomed Big Brother with open arms, while letting the artifacts of our culture fall by the wayside.

We hope that this installation will prompt people to think about what we are losing by perpetuating a culture of fear over our culture of arts, and we are advocating instituting an "hour of culture" in addition to an "hour of activity" for our schoolchildren.

Civility is dead.
Justice is dead.
Thought is dead.
Art is dead.

David B. Harton, 2009

Some Examples

Ugly Economy closing art galleries across nation

AP, 7/26/09

Ad Hoc Art Gallery Closing

Will Sherman, 8/5/09

After 25 Years, Ruschman Gallery Closing

OnTheCusp.org, 6/11/09

Art museum could move operation to Heard

yourwestvalley.com, 8/6/09

Art Museum prepares for uncertain times

St. Louis Beacon, 8/6/09

Brandeis to sell school's art collection

© New York Times Company, 1/26/09

Close the Ringling?  Really?

© St. Petersburg Times, 4/22/09

Downtown art gallery closing

Greensboro News & Record, 1/21/09

First Shanghai Private Folk Art Museum Closed

Xinhua News Agency, 7/14/03

Indian art gallery Bodhi closes New York, soon to close elsewhere

Art Radar Asia, 2/9/09

Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra May Disband

artsbird.com, 2008

Langley art gallery closing due to poor economy

South Whidbey Record Sports, 12/10/08

Minnesota Center for Photography shuttered

minnpost.com, 7/31/08

Orlando Opera closing

floridatoday.com, 4/17/09

Power House cites funding problems

Memphis Commercial Appeal, 8/6/09

The Minnesota Museum of American Art to close indefinitely

blogs.walkerart.org, 11/10/08

Las Vegas Art Museum closing next week

Las Vegas Sun, 2/20/09

How to ward off a cultural recession

Las Vegas Sun, 12/30/08

At times stormy, scene continues to evolve

Las Vegas Sun, 12/31/08

Theater closing a sad inevitability

The Daily Cardinal, 1/22/09

Oakland's parkway Theater closing

San Francisco Chronicle, 3/20/09

Final curtain falls on North Shore

© Globe Newspaper Company, 6/17/09

Iraq's once-vibrant arts scene looks for revival

USA Today, 9/7/09

Economic Woes Force Arts Groups to Scale Back

NPR, All Things Considered, 9/17/09