The exhibition Beyond Glory: Re-Presenting Terrorism (co-curated by David J Brown and Nina Felshin) featured the work of 39 artists. We sought to redefine terrorism in two ways: 1) by re-presenting it in images other than those of the major media outlets, and 2) by investigating the reasons for its misrepresentation in popular culture. Something didn’t seem right so we asked a lot of questions and allowed room for many voices. As writer Martha McWilliams wrote, “With the possible exceptions of works by T.O.D.T. and Alan Belcher, violence was not glamorized, victims were not idealized, cruel leaders were not vilified. Instead, we saw the intractable complexity of human beings and human society, placed in a context that made cruelty and suffering intelligible, but never entirely justified in the service of an ideal.” (Note: Beyond Glory took place ten years before the 9/11 atrocity occurred. 

 

During the exhibitions, visitors moved through chain-link-fences rooms, camouflaged walls, and through plywood hallways where they were constantly monitored by surveillance cameras used in installations and placed strategically throughout the galleries, providing context to the works exhibited and the theme in general. The exhibition and book were dedicated to Gretchen Dater and Louise Ann Rogers, two students at the MD Institute, College of Art, who lost their lives in the tragic crash of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and to all victims of political violence. 

 

Read the New Art Examiner article Here.
 

Beyond Glory Artist List

Helen Altman, Ralph Arlyck/Time Exposures, Eric Avery, Luis Cruz Azaceta, Greg Barsamian, Alan Belcher, Terry Berkowitz, Chris Bratton/Annie Goldson, Nancy Burson, Robert Byrd, Shu Lea Cheang, Mel Chin, Lynne Cohen, Willie Doherty, Rita Duffy, Leon Golub, Paul Graham, Gregory Green, Craig Kalpakjian, Annette Lemieux, Joseph Lewis and A. Tapia-Urzua, Mary Lum, Daniel Martinez, Juris Padnieks/Roger James, Bruce Pavlow, Fred Riskin, Nina Rosenblum, Martha Rosler, Lisa Rudman, Alison Saar, Jayce Salloum and Elia Suleiman, Deborah Small. Nancy Spero, T.O.D.T, Pat Ward Williams, Krzysztof Wodiczko.

 

An accompanying symposium The Politics and Imagery of Terrorism included 13 scholars, authors, and artists, focusing on ‘other’ images and ‘counter’ arguments. Symposium participants: Maurice Burger, Chris Bratton and Annie Goldson, David J Brown, Ward Churchill, the honorable Ramsey Clark, Alexander Cockburn, Edward S. Herman, Robert Merrill, Michael Parenti, Margaret Randall, Randall Robinson, Angelo Sanbrano, William Schaap.