Issue #10

We began organizing this issue of the Performance Journal around the theme of "protest"—as it related to activism politically oppositional art-making, and personal choices or actions. We wanted to know about the political content of art-work being made in diverse artistic communities, to hear from people to whom protest and self-expression are integrally related, and to see cultural and artistic trends either challenged or explicated.

As we gathered material for the Journal a new political era dawned in Washington and across the country, there was a conservative critical hailstorm over "victim art " the fight against AIDS continued, and skirmishes were fought in the ideological battle over publically funded art in the U.S. Our contributors debated strategies of protest, resistance, and personal responsibility, and d o c u m e n t e d the effects of making art in the current cultural environment. We are grateful for the opportunity to have worked with these artists and activists, and are inspired by their writings.

A note on the cover image:

The De-Tom-O-Tron is a project conceived by Algernon Miller as a participatory art exhibit shaped as a cruciform. The exhibit houses artifacts from the Ku Klux Klan reign, antiques from the American slave trade, and memorabilia that chronicles the demise and systematic deterioration of the lives of the American-born, urban-dwelling African-American. Miller compares the many dead-end corridors encountered in the lives of the African-American people to an intricate maze of pathways leading to various levels of confusion and destruction. H e also creates spaces outside of the maze that reflect spiritual healing, the need for self-determination and calls to activism. The architectural model that will house this exhibit permanently has also been completed.