NEW YORK // An ice cream van parked in the plush environs of the Upper East Side would be a rarity at the best of times. But the "Tactical Ice Cream Unit" looked particularly out of place in one of Manhattan's more expensive neighbourhoods. The van spent several months roving across the United States before arriving in New York on a journey that was part art happening, part political protest. It was a self-styled "anarchist" version of a police mobile command centre complete with hi-tech surveillance devices - and it also dispensed ice cream.
With each cone came printed information sheets on topics ranging from "Iraq quagmire" to "Know your rights" - the last available in a number of languages, including Arabic. A menu painted on the van called "Food for Thought" listed the issues. "People select whatever sheet they might be interested in," said Aaron Gach, who hands out the ice cream and information dressed in a fake policeman's uniform. The self-described "artist, anarchist and activist" and his alternative ice-cream van took part in a number of community events across the country, from beach clean-ups to labour protests.
The van, created by a group calling itself the Centre for Tactical Magic, is part of a yearlong programme of events and exhibitions by more than 40 artists commissioned under the banner "Democracy in America: The National Campaign". Organised by Creative Time, the works will be exhibited at New York's Park Avenue Armory starting on Sept 21. "We are living at a historic moment for the future of democracy in the US," said Anne Pasternak, president and artistic director of Creative Time. "We felt there was a need for a deeper reflection on the conversations that America needs to have."
She said many cultural centres were too "scared" to put on such a show and believed the Armory to be "the perfect stage to reflect on our democratic history". The former gathering place for New York society in the 1800s, with interiors by designers Louis Comfort Tiffany and Stanford White, is now an art space. Another of the Democracy Campaign installations is a pile of the empty food and drink wrappings left behind by FBI agents after they searched the home of artist Steve Kurtz in 2004. The longtime political liberal and art professor was under suspicion of bioterrorist activities before his case was dismissed this year.
The Armory exhibition was purposely timed to take place soon before the US elections and will also include copies of the US Declaration of Independence of 1776 and the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 declaring the freedom of all slaves. Artists examined their relationship with and reactions to the historic roots of the US democratic tradition. Other exhibits tackle issues related to abuse of power, women's freedom and persecution of homosexuals.
"We took shows all over the country to take the political temperature and get out of the New York bubble and people's reactions have been great," said Nato Thompson, the exhibition's creator. "People are concerned about the Iraq war but also, for example, housing, prisons and immigration. If people do get outraged, that's good for democracy." He said Creative Time did not purposely set out to commission left-wing artists and gave complete freedom to those it did choose. "If anything, a focus on aesthetic concerns and idealism has been linked historically with over-romanticism and even fascism," he said.
Ms Pasternak said one of Creative Time's mottos was a quote from the author James Baldwin: "Artists are here to disturb the peace." Perhaps the residents of the Upper East Side should prepare to be disturbed. sdevi@thenational.ae
