http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-10-19/art/what-does-occupy-wall-street-mean-for-art/What can art learn from Occupy Wall Street? I speak only for myself, but I'll tell you what I've learned.
Several days into the occupation, I went to a panel discussion on the Lower East Side titled "Manifestations of Resistance." Shortly into the discussion, a woman stood up and asked why, instead of sitting there, we didn't head down to Wall Street. So a bunch of us did, and as we sat in a circle in Liberty Plaza, the idea of a biennial—or anti-biennial, really—began to form.
The next week saw an accelerated exchange of e-mail, creation of The Wall Street Occupennial website (wallstreetoccupennial.tumblr.com), a mission statement, a call to artists, a Facebook page, a database, and then: Nothing. Or, almost nothing.
What happened? For one thing, the occupation itself was gathering strength. Liberty Plaza was filling up with people and receiving media attention. It didn't need art for publicity or legitimacy. Now it had unions, Marines, and Cornel West. Plus, we were told, Occupy Wall Street was "started by artists." But what did this mean?