1. What do you think about Raphael Montañez Ortiz's mission to represent the Puerto-Rican-American and East Harlem community in a museum space? How is this presentation of art different that the story of modern art presented at MOMA (museum of modern art)?
I think he has a strong voice of opinion and he is right, when a museum dispkays cultural thinks you want authentic things from the cultural, he fails some meet that requirement which is why he wants to change that. I think the difference is that it has more flavor more umpth than the MOMA. The MOMA is honestly work that people may have to look at for hours in order to understand it, in these works you see it and you feel it, a lot goes through your head and you want to know more.
2. Pick one artwork in the museum, describing it physically and how it was made. How do the materials and the process communicate something about the community, culture, or neighborhood of East Harlem? I believe the mask represents identity, yet because they all look similar but have different patterns etc it is special in it's own way just how the neighborhood of East Harlem is. I have lived in this neighborhood for 20 years now and I believe we are all the same but yet different in our own way. All hard working trying to make a living, have our unique culture, music, food, language but yet come together as one to help each other out.
3. Pick one object or group of objects that was provided by the community (non-artists). Describe if physically. Why you think the individual chose these objects, and what it represents about about their culture or neighborhood history
I think this represents the love of the neighborhood, how organized and in place everything is. In a #D perspective you see what the person was trying to display.
4. What do you think about this idea of asking the community to contribute objects that are important to them for the museum? Do you think that museum curation should be left to people with the training, should be totally crowd-sourced, or a combination of both?
I think its a fascinating idea, logically speaking if people didn't feel comfortable doing that I don't think they will in the first place but the museum asking for originality outside of experts i think its a dream come true for most !
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I went to the Museum of New York with my little sister after El museo del Barrio (which is down the block!) because she was so fascinated she wanted to go to another Museum, here are some pictures I found interesting. History, gay pride march and the population of NYC which is growing immensely!!
