American Guernica: A Call for Guerilla Public Art

Update: American Guernica has been picking up steam. I'll be posting regular updates on the project under it's own category.

I've written here before about the idea of open-sourcing art projects to involve as many participants as possible. American Guernica is a perfect test case for that notion.

In a nutshell, I'd like to invite any interested groups or individuals to help plaster the USA with billboard size reproductions of Picasso's Guernica. Ideally, the work would stand without any text or headlines or additional commentary: if the painting is all that's seen, it forces the viewer to make an interpretation instead of being told what to think. Being told what to think is exactly what got Americans in trouble in the first place, no?

The following paragraph is not what inspired the idea, but I think it explains relatively well what one might hope to accomplish in this project:

A tapestry copy of Picasso's Guernica is displayed on the wall of the United Nations building in New York City, at the entrance to the Security Council room. It was placed there as a reminder of the horrors of war. Commissioned and donated by Nelson Rockefeller, it is not quite as monochromatic as the original, using several shades of brown. On February 5, 2003, a large blue curtain was placed to cover this work, so that it would not be visible in the background when Colin Powell and John Negroponte gave press conferences at the United Nations. On the following day, it was claimed that the curtain was placed there at the request of television news crews, who had complained that the wild lines and screaming figures made for a bad backdrop, and that a horse's hindquarters appeared just above the faces of any speakers. Diplomats, however, told journalists that the Bush Administration leaned on UN officials to cover the tapestry, rather than have it in the background while Powell or other U.S. diplomats argued for war on Iraq.  -- quoted from wikipedia

If the painting intimidates warmongers into covering it, then why not make sure that it goes up in as many public spaces as possible?

In terms of how the project is carried out, I don't really think it matters whether billboards are rented, plastered over in dark of night (see: BLF, the Billboard Liberation Front) or created just for this purpose. Obviously not everyone has the budget to actually rent billboard space, though it seems like this might be an option for funded activist groups. Now that most billboards are made to hold printed tarps rather than pasted up sheets of paper, it would certainly be easier and faster for guerrilla Guernicas to be painted on canvas and installed at whim. For those who do take the guerrilla approach, it might help to read this basic primer on how to appropriate billboards. Also check out the Wooster Collective for ideas and techniques.

I don't think it matters whether the images are photos, stencils, handpainted, collaged or what. If the project really took off, part of the excitement would be seeing the results of many different people interpreting a well know work in their own way. I will happily publish any photos sent in by participants of the project.

This is what I'm envisioning:

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I did these in photoshop, not the real world. Part of my motivation for open-sourcing the idea is that in the last year, I haven't managed to act on it myself. I'm hoping that people with stronger motivation or resources will be able to make it happen if I plant the seed here.

Meanwhile, I think I'll look into what it costs to rent a billboard in my area and set up a contribution fund on Fundable.org to cover the cost. Fundable is great for this kind of thing because they automatically refund everyone's money if the fundraising for a project is not completed within the specified deadline.

Tags: billboard, Picasso, Guernica, antiwar, war, peace, politics, News and politics, culture jamming, free culture, activism, iraq, art, culture, collaboration, street art, tagging, graffiti, design, opensource

Comments

[Tia]

Guernica looks like a suicide car bombing. That's not the horror you intend to present though, is it?

[johntunger]

Hi Tia,

Thanks for your comment!

I feel that what makes it easy for people to be complacent about war is, in fact, the lack of horror. When wars are presented just as numbers (12 killed in bombing, more after the weather) it eventually ceases to register. Similarly, even photos of carnage all tend to look the same after a while. It's hard to be personaly affected by things which we've come to view as "normal." Most people in the developed world are fortunate enough to have no way of putting war into a personal context.

UNICEF recently made a TV commercial to raise funds for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers in Burundi. The short film opens with Smurfs dancing around a campfire and singing. Suddenly, bombs rain from the sky. Smurfs scatter, running for their lives before being felled by the blast. The final scene shows a scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs.

Philippe Henon, a spokesman for Unicef Belgium, said his agency had set out to shock, after concluding that traditional images of suffering in Third World war zones had lost their power to move television viewers.

I think both the original Guernica painting, as well as my own project do actually want to present the horror that war is. But I also feel that in both cases, what actually makes the image strong enough to succeed in getting viewers to reassess their feeling is the fact that the image is violent, but also removed from the TV and photographed sort of violence that we've become inured to.

[Michael J.]

Hi. I understand what you're trying to do with this Guernica painting (trying to show America the horrors of war). I'm sorry but I don't agree with the direction that you're going with it. Displaying Guernica across America, I'm pretty sure, would have no effect on Americans. I'm not sure if people would even understand the meaning of the painting. I do think, though, that you had it right when you said you made your own anti-war work. I think that is a great idea and I think people all across America should do that. Everyone should make their own form of Guernica and fight for it to be hung (or even do like Basquiat and just paint it on a building). But, hey, atleast you're doing SOMETHING. We need more people like you in this country. Keep on fighting the good fight!

[john t unger]

Hi Michael,

With politically motivated ideas, no one ever really expects to be agreed with unilaterally. (Well, no one sane anyway.)

I'm sure you're right that lots of people wouldn't get it. But in a way, that's part of the project. I believe in trying to make people think rather than telling them what to believe. Some won't think, some will but not about what you put in front of them, some will think about it and decide you're full of shit, and a few will go "wow, great, wish I thought of that!".

I think the Guernica idea is a good one and I feel that if it is displayed with no text, brand, logo or slogan it may make people wonder why it's there. Some will figure it out, some will ask someone, some will just go on down the road and forget. But for a second there, they'll be wondering "what is that and why is it there? What does it mean?" That's part of human nature. And when you come up with the answer on your own (even if you just have to google it) it tends to mean more to you.

I really like to believe that people on the whole deserve more credit than they're often allotted. They're smarter and better educated than you might think. Even though a lot of cultural references are absorbed from sources other than the original (how many references to Apocalypse Now wind up in kids cartoons?) they still get absorbed and often retain at least some of their original context and meaning. So although we may not be a nation of Picasso fans or art experts, I expect that more people would understand it than you think.

Besides, in most cases, if the thing went up as a guerilla piece, chances are local media would pick up the story and explain it to those who missed it the first time round.

It starts a discussion.