IF A TREE FALLS IN THE WOODS…

…we all know the question and the answer. The idea that if no one is there to hear it, that it doesn’t make any noise, or its sacrifice is meaningless…is absurd. In reality, it is the audience who is meaningless.  The tree (with an audience or not) becomes a host, brewing an ecological world of new life and habitats.

If an art exhibit goes up, but it never is opened to the public, does it exist?

​Director, Tavia La Follette, got a call on her cell saying, “Tavia, I made it out.  I am in Egypt!”  She knew immediately who it was.  The three Palestinian artists who were in the show, all were aware of one another but had never met.  Manal is a Palestinian living in Israel, Bashar is based in the West Bank and Mohammed lives in Gaza.  All of them, Palestinian but because of the way the land is separated; they can’t physically see or interact with one another.

“ArtUp had received visas for all of the artist, but because Mohammed is in Gaza, it is difficult to even leave the country. Gaza is an island.  The only way he could fly out would be to cross at Egypt.  Israel would not let him pass through”, explained director/curator, Tavia La Follette.
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Egypt had closed the border – as they often do – but there were rumors of it opening up and Mohammed packed a bag and traveled to the border to see if it was true. He was able to cross!  “Sit tight, Mohammed”, “we are buying you a ticket to Pittsburgh right now!

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Three members of the delegation (La Follette, Johnson and Willis) had invitations to go to Gaza via Mohammed’s university, but they were warned that if they crossed over into Gaza, the possibility of getting back into Israel would be very slim.  Therefore, the group made the decision not to go.  This would be the first time Mohammed would be interacting with the group face to face. He arrived on Mother’s Day.

The other artist quickly followed, although their arrival and flights had been planed far in advance.  All of the artists stayed at the Mattress Factory (MF) Museum apartments and based themselves on the North Side.  Michael and Barbra (directors of the MF), not only opened up the apartments and the museum to the artist, they also shared their home. 

​The artists went straight to work on their installations. Having communicated with La Follette, throughout the project, the MF was working hard to make sure they had everything they needed. The list included everything from a body of a car to rubber bullets to 100s of pounds of recycled washed glass and as many black, red and green plastic hairs beads as one can get!

​They led in lectures at schools and absorbed the Pgh landscape.

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Due to social media censorship, for the first time in ArtUp and the MF's history, the show was canceled just days before it was about to open.  All the work had been installed; all of the artists were safely here, working together with the community and each other to get the show up. However, outside forces stopped that from happening.

* More information about this cancellation and images of the work can be found here: 

Exhibit Canceled

The red warning tape that director/curator La Follette had ordered for the opening of the show--  became a mascot for the closing circumstances of the of the show. 

The plastic tape read: “WARNING: ENTERING THIS SPACE COULD BE INTERPRETED AS A POLITICAL ACT”. Below are some images from the final installations:

The organization considers the project a success even though it didn't have a physical opening.  The organization received more requests for interviews than ever before, from across the globe, yet had to turn them down, for the sake of the artists and their livelihood.  ArtUp understands the Social Practice of this work:  that these experiences took place; that work was built around relationships and issues that will impact each artist for the rest of their life.  
 
A tree fell. It did not need to make a sound or have an audience to hear it-- for it rattled the earth.  People felt it.