Natalie Musteata is a Ph.D. candidate in Art History at The Graduate Center, CUNY, where she is writing her dissertation on the postwar history of artist-curated exhibitions. At Parsons, The New School, she teaches Art in the XXI Century; Art into Action: Socially-Engaged Practices in the 20th Century; and Performance and Participation in the 20th Century. She regularly writes for Artforum.com, Performa Magazine, and Art21. In 2012, she curated UNREST: Revolt against Reason at apexart, New York, and organized the panel discussion How Can Art Affect Political Change? for the Vera List Center for Art and Politics. More recently, she contributed excerpts from her dissertation to the conferences Exhibitions’ Histories at Centre Pompidou and Curatorial Practices Reframed: Politics and Pedagogy in Curating Contemporary Art, as well as chaired the panel Acts of Dissent: Reflections on Art & Politics in the 21st Century at CAA, Chicago. In April, she will moderate the session “The Artist as Curator” in the conference Exhibit A: Authorship on Display at The Graduate Center, CUNY.
if I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution has taken shape through a set of interlocking discussions. I have greatly benefitted from the expertise and suggestions of extraordinary scholars, curators, and artists. My heartfelt thanks go to Craig Borowiak, Matthew Seamus Callinan, Andrew Cornell, Laura McGrane, and Pia Chakraverti-Wuerthwein for their incredible support and guidance throughout the planning of this exhibition.
I owe my deepest gratitude to the remarkable artists in this exhibition and its accompanying film series—Christopher D’Arcangelo, Elena Bajo, Bernadette Corporation, Adrian Blackwell, Lizzie Borden, Andrea Bowers, John Cage, Gaye “Asali” Dickson, Emory Douglas, Kirsten Dufour, Sam Durant, Larry Fink, Claire Fontaine, Isabelle Fremeaux, Luis Jacob, John Jordan, Olga Koumoundouros, Kypros Kyprianou, Ernest Larsen, Jackson Mac Low, Judith Malina, Sherry Millner, Ben Morea, Raymond Pettibon, Carolee Schneemann, and Aldo Tambellini–many of whom I had the great pleasure of conversing with at length.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the lenders and all those who helped facilitate the loan process: Anna Salamone; Laura Kuhn, Director, John Cage Trust; Emy Martin, John Cage Trust; Anne Tardos; Cathy Weiner; Nicholas Martin, Assistant Archivist, Fales Library; Suzanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles Projects; Liz Mulholland, Andrew Krepps Gallery; Grégory Thirion, D+T Project; Thomas Walker; Brad Burgess; Bellatrix Hubert; Donald Nicholson-Smith; Sean Stewart, Babylon Falling; Carolyn Lazard, Electronic Arts Intermix; Paul Marchant, First Run Features; Bill Jennings; Lieselotte Seaton, Sadie Coles HQ; Steven Johnson and Walter Sudol; and Emma Horning and Mary Rhodomoyer, Larry Fink Photography.
I remain indebted to Adam Michaels, Aileen Kwun, and Anna Rieger of Project Projects for their fantastic work on the catalog. The publication is also honored by the exceptional contributions of Allan Antliff, Josh MacPhee, Nadja Millner-Larsen, and Ernest Larsen.
An exhibition requires the professional partnership of many other people. I deeply appreciate the work of Jeremiah Misfeldt and the Equivocal Crew; The John B. Hurford ’60 Center for the Arts and Humanities staff; The Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery staff; and Haverford College’s Business, Central Receiving, Communications, Dining Services, Housekeeping, and Purchasing departments.
