Spoleto
Behind the scenes
BY JOHN VERNELSON
Nigel Redden |
David shook his head at me and said he wasn't going to make any art
about plantation life in the South for Spoleto," recalls Charleston
contractor Albert Alston of a conversation he had with internationally
acclaimed artist David Hammons at the corner of America and Reid Streets
a few weeks before the May 24 opening of the 1991 Spoleto Festival U.S.A.
"What he wanted to do was build a miniature house on the corner with
a Hugo tree lying across it, but I convinced him that was too negative,"
Alston said. "I told him we needed to do something more positive with this
corner in East Side Neighborhood because it's on America Street, and the
art should say something positive to the people who live here, not remind
them of Hurricane Hugo."
The art the two men were to make on that corner went on to become what
many critics termed "the strongest piece" among a 61-exhibition visual
arts Spoleto project titled "Places with a Past: New Site-Specific Art in
Charleston."
Hammons was commissioned to create a large-scale assemblage of objects
gathered in Charleston that would explore the African-American experience.
Alston's idea was to build a 20-foot-long, door-wide, two-story single
house that would incorporate various styles of Charlestonian architecture.
The different styles, materials and construction methods would be labeled.
Inside would be drawings and paintings of objects appropriate to the
themes of the piece by local artist Larry Jackson.
On the corner opposite the miniature house would be a small park, the
centerpiece of which would be a black nationalist flag flying atop a
50-foot-tall flagpole. A billboard to the left of the flagpole would
depict the faces of black youth with eyes lifted toward the flag.
The back wall of the miniature house would be emblazoned with the
words:
"The Afro-American has become heir to the myths
that it is better to be poor than rich, lower class rather than middle or upper, easygoing rather than industrious, extravagant rather than thrifty, and athletic rather than academic."
Other works in the 1991 exhibition that mined the city landscape for
its rich repository of meanings
historical,
socioeconomic, and anecdotal
included: a
marble bass-relief commemorating Denmark Vesey, who led an unsuccessful
slave insurrection in Charleston in 1822; the evoking of "weeping willows"
by topping four Corinthian columns in a city park with trees laden with
brightly-colored African beads; and a representation of the lives of women
in Charleston in an installation that included a lone dress that slowly
leached the dark indigo dye of the region.
Of the 61 pieces, only one remains, the miniature single-house and
park on America Street. Its existence is heavy with irony. "Places with a
Past," the brainchild of Nigel Redden, general manager of the 1991 Spoleto
Festival, was said by critics to be one of the most ambitious visual arts
projects ever undertaken, yet it gave Spoleto founder Gian Carlo Menotti
the excuse he wanted to force Redden out.
At the time, Menotti called the exhibition "silly and sophomoric," and
said it was not fit for "a cheap discotheque." Menotti charged that Redden
was the leader of a challenge to his role as festival artistic director,
and told the Spoleto board he would resign unless Redden, festival board
chair Ross A. Markwardt and festival president Edgar F. Daniels quit.
All three eventually bowed out, leaving Menotti in charge. But less
than two years later, with Spoleto deep in debt, Menotti, in another fit
of temper, walked out on the festival, citing challenges to his artistic
vision as the reason.
Redden had been general manager of Spoleto for six years when Menotti
forced him out. He had managed the festival with a combination of artistic
vision and business acumen that kept it consistently in the black and
artistically ahead of its time.
"Nigel had the right idea with Places with a Past.'" Alston said
recently at the America Street corner. "Before that exhibition, Spoleto
hadn't done much to involve the black community. All Menotti seemed to
care about was the black-tie crowd, not black people who live in the city.
"Look at this corner," Alston said. "The people here were affected by
the art in such a way that they keep this corner clean. You can come here
late at night and you'll be safe. This corner used to be notorious
people just
hung around waiting for trouble, and it came. When we first put those
words on the back of the single house the people who hung around the
corner didn't like it, but eventually they understood. Art and what it can
mean to people when they feel they are part of it is symbolized by this
house and park on America Street. In my opinion, Menotti missed the boat
completely on what art is really all about."
The Alston/Hammons miniature single house made the cover of Art in
America, and was featured in many other national and international art
publications. Such publicity has drawn countless teachers, architects and
artists to the site in the years since, Alston said, providing him the
chance to travel "all over the world" to talk about historic renovation,
preservation and how art can affect culture.
"When I talk about this corner to students and others who come, I
mention the festival," he said, "but most people associated with the
festival don't realize what this corner has meant to Spoleto since 1991.
And they sure as hell don't realize what a difference it has made in East
Side."
Alston is in the process of refurbishing the single-house for a summer
program for East Side kids that has been in place since 1991. Participants
learn about art, history, construction and their culture.
Alston will also re-erect the billboard depicting black kids looking
at the black nationalist flag. The refurbishing coincides with Redden's
return last October as general manager of Spoleto. As general manager,
Redden is responsible for fund-raising, administration, marketing, union
negotiations, artist contracts, board development and programming.
Just as Alston keeps the America Street corner alive with an art
project made possible by Redden's idea, Redden is breathing new financial
and artistic life into Spoleto.
Since his return, the festival has raised $1.6 million in special
funds to erase $1.5 million in losses from the 1994 festival, cutting by
more than half an accumulated debt of $3 million.
During the same period, the Charleston festival has reduced its
outstanding bills to $80,312 from $1,130,980 and has moved ahead of
schedule on fundraising for this year's event.
In addition to helping ensure the long-term financial health of the
festival, Redden committed this year's festival to producing the American
premiers of Janacek's "The Excursions of Mr. Broucek," Philip Glass' "Les
Enfants Terribles" and the world premiere of Lee Breuer's "Peter and
Wendy." These are among the 114 performances of 45 programs the festival
will present from May 24 through June 9.
"It's easy to raise money if you have a good idea to sell," Redden
said in a recent interview. "The art comes first, of course, but if you
put something on stage that's wonderful, excites the audience and involves
them in the dialogue with performers and the festival [board], it works
artistically and economically
and that's
the trick.
"I'm 45 now," said Redden, a Yale graduate with a B.A. in Art History.
"I began at 18 with the festival in Italy. I've done everything there is
to do at the festival except perform.
"To make it all work, you have to keep up with production details and
the budget, line item by line item. But first and foremost you have to
love art
and the
festival. This is the job I always wanted, and I'm back."
Festival Manager Nigel Redden
ousted in 1991 is back in charge. It is sweet vindication.
