Art Strike

The first known reference to an Art Strike is in an Alain Jouffroy essay: "What's To Be Done About Art?" (included in "Art and Confrontation," New York Graphic Society 1968).

"It is essential that the minority advocate the necessity of going on an 'active art strike' using the machines of the culture industry to set it in total contradiction to itself. The intention is not to end the rule of production, but to change the most adventurous part of 'artistic' production into the production of revolutionary ideas, forms and techniques."

The Art Workers Coalition (AWC) was a collection of artists, dealers, museum workers, and other workers in the art industry; including Carl Andre and Lucy Lippard.

On October 15, 1969, the AWC organized a successful "Moratorium of Art to End the War in Vietnam." The Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, the Jewish Museum, and a large number of commercial art galleries closed for the day. The Metropolitan Museum and the Guggenheim Museum did not comply. Under pressure from the AWC, the Metropolitan postponed the opening of its American painting and sculpture show scheduled for that day, and the Guggenheim was picketed.

The group also called upon all museums in New York to close on May 22, 1970, as part of the protests against the Vietnam War. While many did, the Metropolitan Museum of Art failed to do so. This led to picketing by an offshoot, led by Robert Morris and Poppy Johnson, under the name Art Strike Against Racism, War and Oppression.

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