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Slought Foundation, a non-profit organization rethinking contemporary art, is currently organizing an intimate cross burning on December 3, 2004 from 6-7pm, in accordance with a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirming a First Amendment right to cross burnings on private property (see attached PDF for the 2002 Term Opinion in Virginia Vs. Black). The burning will utilize twelve miniature crosses featured in the exhibition, and these crosses will be subsequently returned to the exhibition after the burning. The location of the burning has not been disclosed at this time.
This event seeks to demystify the idea of burning a cross and the fear so often associated with it, and to suggest that as a form of protected free speech its symbolic meaning is not exclusive to the Ku Klux Klan, and can be appropriated in turn by others. The proceedings will be documented in video format (which will be subsequently displayed in our storefront monitor and available for viewing at Slought Foundation upon advance request), and have been organized in conjunction with "Non-Retinal," an exhibition of "Kovert Konflagration Kovenant," new work by blind African-American sculptor David Stephens, from November 13, 2004-January 31, 2005 at Slought Foundation. More information on the exhibition is available here: http://slought.org/content/11233/
At the present time, all requests for a location for the burning from the University of Pennsylvania, the sole property holder of open space in the vicinity of Slought Foundation able to accomodate 50 or more persons, have been denied, in accordance with City of Philadelphia fire regulations. These regulations require that permits from the Philadelphia Department of Licensing and Inspections be obtained from the private property holder for any instructional or educational assemblies or activities involving open flames, excepting cooking devices. Application for permit approval can only be presented by and permits issued to the property owner of the land upon which the fire is to be kindled. The University of Pennsylvania has not offered to apply for a permit on behalf of Slought Foundation, a tenant, at this time. Applications for permits from the City of Philadelphia for purposes of a special event or cross burning on public property were not obtained within the requisite 75 day advance-notice period, as University officials had not raised objections prior to the week of November 15, 2004. Slought Foundation requested access from the University of Pennsylvania to locations including the plaza facing Slought Foundation on the South side of Walnut and 40th Street, the 10th-floor roof level of the parking garage immediately adjacent to Slought Foundation on the North side of the street, and the open field adjacent to the Walnut and 40th Street Branch of the Free Library.
Stevens’ exhibition revisits the 2002 Supreme Court decision for Virginia Vs. Black and is comprised of 12 sculpted crosses (the crosses which will be burned on December 3, 2004), 12 wall panels in Braille, and representational crowns that stage a conversation between Queen Candice (to whom the arrival of Christianity in Ethiopia has been attributed) and Ebed-melech (in the Bible, King Zedekiah’s Ethiopian eunuch, through whom Jeremiah was freed), with a retort by Pennsylvania Klan members Berry and Byron Black. The full 2002 Term Opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in Virginia Vs. Black, in which Berry Black’s First Amendment right to organize a cross burning was affirmed, is available online (PDF, 800k).
In David Stephen's varied and distinguished arts career in Philadelphia he has worked as a teacher, dealer, and administrator (with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts). He has served on the board of the Fabric Workshop, Nexus, the Woodturning Center, the Brandywine Workshop and other local arts institutions, as well as advised and nurtured many community art programs including those at Taller Puertorriqueno, the Painted Bride, and the West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. An artist and sculptor, Stephens has recently had a solo show at the Philadelphia Airport of work created during a residency at the Fabric Workshop. In 1999 his graphic work was shown at The Moore College of Art, and in 2003 he exhibited his work, entitled "144 Crosses for the 144,000," at The Noyes Museum, the fourth in a series of installations generated by his interest in the work of visionary artist James Hampton. Now blind due to the early-onset of glaucoma, Stephens often incorporates Braille into his work, creating objects of interpretation, discursivity, and touch. The cross, which Stephens considers to be "emblematic of the process of transformation," frequently appears in his work as well; he finds it fascinating that the cross was used as a Roman form of torture but was later adopted by Christianity as a symbol of redemption.
Media files on the Slought.org website are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License. You are free to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work under the following conditions: a) Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor; b) Noncommercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes; c) No Derivative Works. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
To Cite this Page using MLA Style:
David Stephens. "An Intimate Burning." Slought Foundation Online Content.
[03 December 2004;
Accessed 7 August 2008]. <http://slought.org/content/11260/>.
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