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Interviewed by Jane Harris
Art Resources Transfer, Inc./A.R.T. Press was founded in 1986 in New York City as a non-profit organization committed to documenting and supporting
artists’ voices and work. Along with the publication of books and a library distribution program, it functions to make these voices accessible beyond conventional art spaces and outlets. Mostly, it does this by establishing innovative methods of distribution and access. Bill Bartman, the man behind the operation, is a warm-hearted, committed individual whose generosity is renowned among artists. Always impressed with the friendly atmosphere of his space and his unusually approachable manner, I invited him to chat with me about his A.R.T.
Jane Harris (JH): A.R.T. is so artist-friendly, and active. You provide visitors with
snacks, couches to lounge on, books to peruse and a forum to actually exchange ideas: very different from the often stifling austerity of many art galleries. How do people find out about you, and who is your audience?
Bill Bartman (BB): Our public is the entire community, not just those that already are familiar
with contemporary art. We encourage children and all others to come here. We have lots of classes that come since they can experience 6 different shows in one stop. People hear about us from our newsletter which goes out to 3500 people, our website and by word of mouth.
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JH: One of the more interesting things you do is the "conversation" exhibitions, where two artists create a dialogue between their works through visual and conceptual juxtapositions. How did this come about?
BB: The idea for our conversation exhibitions came directly from our books, whose texts are all conversations between artists. When we moved to our new space on 11th Avenue, we designed it to accommodate one-person shows in addition to the conversation exhibitions, especially for installations and sculpture.
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JH: Your optimism is unusual in a way, don't you think?
BB: I am not sure that we are optimistic, but rather not willing to give up the struggle easily without a fight. Often I feel like we are adrift in the midst of a chaotic and uncaring community that surrounds us. Since our goals are purely educational and not financial, we are able to do whatever we think is good and right. Also, since we work with mid-career artists, primarily both those that have galleries and those that don't, and because of our books, I believe that we are tolerated and allowed to stay afloat. But we are not encouraged by most of the more commercial non-profits and certainly not the galleries, unless we are doing something with their artist and only for that period of time. I think universally artists find this is a place where they don't have to be careful and where they can experiment without fear. I am not sure this answers your question, but it's the best I can do.
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JH: How do you work with artists, and who do you generally like to work with?
BB: At the beginning there were artists that I already wanted to work with, but that was a fairly small number. Most everyone else was first come, first served. If they got up the nerve to ask and present their work in a format that we could make sense of, then they got a chance to participate. Now we are functionally scheduled for the next 3 years.
When we agree to work with an artist, they are given the chance to have 3 different shows within a five year period of time: a "conversation" exhibition where they pick the artist they want to work with (this has been a good way for us to meet artists whose work we were not familiar with); a show in the bookstore, project wall or hallway; and one solo show in a project space. So this means that there are a large number of people having their second shows this year and next, and their third shows after that.
We look only at color copies, artist statements and resumes. It is very difficult to look at work when the artist is sending things out to hundreds of places helter-skelter. All the time we get material in the wrong form from people that have never been to our space but have heard of it. This is not a great way to get someone to look at his or her work. It is important that we know not only the work but also the person that we are dealing with, and how seriously they approach their work. This is why we work primarily with mid-career to late-career artists who have been making work for 20 years or more. This is not to say that extraordinary work by younger artists isn't welcomed, but there are lots of places for young artists to show. Stylistically, we have no prejudices as long as work is created with strong intentions and skill.
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JH: I know you produce publications in addition to exhibition programming. What's your latest project?
BB: Our current publishing projects are a book called Snapshots which contains most of the pictures given by Felix Gonzalez-Torres to his friends and co-workers with essays about the nature of his work, and the impossibility of categorizing it.
We are also working on a book called 30 Years of Questions and Answers which
documents the 30-year career of Donald Celender, whose work has been
primarily in the form of letters and surveys. Books take years to produce, anywhere from 3-6 years of continuous work on any project.
We will also be publishing books each fall, starting this November, for our one-person exhibitions, which will be given the entire space. Some of these artists include Jill Levine, Kaucyila Brooke, Kim Abeles, Michael C. McMillen, Marilyn Minter, Emma Amos and John Hull.
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JH: Where do you see the art world now? How have things changed?
BB: I think the art world is in a very bad place right now. Museums are dominated
by galleries and auction houses. They are all guilty of extreme gender bias, ageism, homophobia and racial bias. They are run by boards of trustees that consist of the largest collectors in the country, and they use the museums as their own private country clubs, creating terrible conflicts of interest. [They are] showing the work of artists in their [own] collections, causing the values of their work to increase, affecting the art market much like insider-trading does in the stock market. The price of admission is so high as to completely eliminate the possibility of viewing contemporary art for 90 percent of the community, and the attitudes that are pervasive at galleries, museums etc., make people feel like outsiders are not welcome.
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JH: Well given that rather bleak assessment, if you could change the system, what would be the first thing you'd do?
BB: If I had one hope, it would be that a Title IX complaint would get filed and
force the museums to change their policies on gender. They are all incorporated as universities are, so their charters state clearly they are educational institutions. As such, they are perfect targets for Title IX, which was recently used to allow women to have an equal standing in college
athletics. They will never do this on their own, and in fact, seem to have gotten even less responsive to these issues than 10 years ago. So if I could change anything, it would certainly be forcing museums to live up to the law, and open their doors to everyone, and let women artists have an equal standing.
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