This spring, a small group of artists in Providence, Rhode Island started the Culture Stops! campaign (www.culturestops.org), a grassroots movement calling for “a day with no culture” to protest Congress’ proposed deep cuts to federal arts and humanities funding.
Culture Stops! [asks] you to imagine a world where writers put down their pens and artists put down their paints. Where architects stop designing our cities and poets, dancers and sculptors stop teaching our children. Where our national landmarks fall into decay. Where debate is no longer fostered in our universities, or on our radio dials. Where our symphony halls fall silent and our libraries go dark. Where our collective history is left unmade and unwritten.
On Thursday, March 10th, 2011, you will be asked to witness a world devoid of creativity, imagination and thought: America after culture stops.
In weeks leading up to the action, The Street Gallery responded to the campaign’s call for billboards to promote its message and its event by recruiting the New York City-based street artist Faust to paint a Gatescape. The gate blew up the group’s iconic message – “I Am Culture: I Matter,” mostly distributed as posters and posted by supporters as Facebook profile photos – to streetscape scale.
The installation, on 14th Street in Manhattan between 5th and 6th Avenues, was in place for one month.
See more documentation of the installation and what Faust and The Street gallery did next….
Documentation of the campaign’s outcome can be viewed at the Culture Stops! Facebook page.
