ART MATTERS
The politics of erasure. What's being said, what's being made.
“Art is a nation's most precious heritage. For it is in our works of art that we reveal to ourselves, and to others, the inner vision which guides us as a nation. And where there is no vision, the people perish.” President Lyndon B. Johnson
When President Johnson signed legislation establishing the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Corporation for Public Broadcasting, he could not have imagined what it might spawn. And that, to my thinking, is quintessentially Texan. Having the courage to empower those who explore our truths; the confidence to commit to a path without knowing precisely where it may lead. Now let’s fast forward 50 years to a The City I by San Antonio native Vincent Valdez, part of a trilogy that addresses the resurgence of white nationalism.
Over his career Valdez has earned support from an entire network of organizations, state and national, that came to life with LBJ’s signatures 50 years ago — an ecosystem now under assault. Censorship cloaked in the language of a culture war.
The shotgunning feels personal to us because our daughter works as an art installer at one of the many institutions in the crosshairs, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). Tucked into the remote northwest corner of the state, MASS MoCA sits on an old industrial site, the complex of buildings providing 250,000 square feet of open space. It offers an expansive palette for visiting artists, and the thematic intersections between these connected galleries carry a cumulative power.
JUST A DREAM… Vincent Valdez
“I am alarmed by the denial of history. I will continue to create counter-images to impede the social amnesia that includes our fateful desire to repeat it.” Artist Statement, Just A Dream…
“I offer this work as a report — my visual testimony about a struggle for transformation, hope, love, and survival in twenty-first century America.”
POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT Jeffrey Gibson
This immersive installation fills the building adjoining the Valdez exhibit.
“…an intense declaration, a ‘we are here moment’ that brings Indigeneity and queerness to the forefront.” Denise Markonish, Chief Curator, MASS MoCA
Jeffrey Gibson, Choctaw and Cherokee, was the first Native artist to represent America with a solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale, in 2024.
In May, the Trump Administration rescinded the NEA grant supporting the staging of Gibson’s show at MASS MoCA, and it also cancelled funding for other initiatives, saying the work “no longer serves the interests of the United States.”
“Please take a moment and read that last sentence again…no longer serves the interest of the United States… As painful as this is financially, what is more so is the diminishment of our revered national agencies and their staff. At our core, we are part of the beating heart of an artistic and creative ecology as it is being lived and made.
POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT is proudly on view and will be luminously alive for our visitors through August 2026, as will all other exhibitions and programming planned and forthcoming.” Kristy Edmonds, MASS MoCA Director
CULTURAL APOTHECARY Alison Pebworth
"Before we find a cure, we must know what ails us." Alison Pebworth
MASS MoCA describes the installation as “an experimental space for embodied, in-person connection, curiosity, and exploration as an antidote to division, loneliness, and isolation.”
Another exhibit, staged in a new-age chapel of sorts, asks what we truly worship. A prayer’s inscribed on the wall, composed by AI.
“We seek your guidance in this vast virtual realm, where information flows and connections are formed. Grant us the wisdom to discern truth from deceit. And the strength to use this power for good.” An AI Prayer for the Internet
The space around me fills with the sounds of a gospel choir. The song is ethereal; spiritual despite its language being foreign to me: “zero/ one, zero/zero, zero, zero/one/one, zero.” It’s binary code. I don’t know what it means. I don’t care either. The song is familiar; soothing. Jennifer Huberdeau, The Berkshire Eagle, Nov 2023.
Art moves the mind towards a more expansive, liminal space, where there’s room to consider stories we may not have heard, or sometimes, stories we’d rather forget. Few make the point more eloquently than Laurie Anderson, in the text accompanying her exhibit Further Reading.
BRINGING IT HOME
What’s fascinating, what makes me proud, is how the work at MASS MoCA threads back through Texas. The Vincent Valdez show premiered last year at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and The City series is part of the Blanton Museum’s permanent collection. Alison Pebworth grew up in Huntsville, and studied art at The University of Texas. Valdez’ partner Adriana Coral, co-creator of The Hole/In Memory (For Joe Campos Torres), also studied at the University of Texas. The ecosystem LBJ started with a few pen stokes is now under assault with the same weapon, but the community’s strong and so too has been the response. I’ll leave you with a few links. Let’s stay plugged in.
Alan Berg, Publisher.
HUMANITIES TEXAS FACES “MOST SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE IN ITS 53 YEARS.”
“Federal funding also brings an essential kind of accountability. It underscores the ‘public’ aspect of our identity as a public-private partnership. Unlike many private funders, which often limit their giving to specific geographic regions, Humanities Texas serves communities in each of the state's thirty-eight congressional districts.” Eric Lupfer, Executive Director, Humanities Texas
The cuts make up about 6% of KUT/X’s annual budget. If that hole is not filled, Debbie Hiott, the station’s general manager, said the organization may not be able to fill open positions and could stop airing certain shows.
“We’re reviewing all of our shows…and we’re deciding whether or not we can afford to continue those shows,” Hiott said. Like other local public media stations, KUT/X pays to air national programming, such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
Hiott said the loss of funding could also mean more on-air time is automated rather than managed by a local host. Audrey McGlinchy, KUT 90.5, July 21, 2025.
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS FUNDRAISER WITH JASON ISBELL
“I remember Alan Jackson telling me that he grew up in some rural town in Georgia where they didn’t have any sort of cable TV, and he watched Austin City Limits and saw George Jones and Willie Nelson and people like that, and that inspired him to want to become a country singer”. ACL Executive Producer Terry Likona, Billboard, July 17, 2025.
Love this post and all that it champions, Alan! Coincidentally, heading off to MASS MoCA soon —second time for the Valdez exhibition, a must-see.
Annette Carlozzi