Introducing The Ostracon
Created with support from a 2019 arts writers grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Creative Capital, The Ostracon is an art writing site by Paul Schmelzer and Nicole J. Caruth that aims to elevate figures and ideas outside the mainstream of contemporary art—from public policy, indigenous rights, and folklore to community organizing, historic preservation, environmental science, journalism, and food justice—that may offer insight into new forms of making art that are more responsive, relevant, and connected to the way we live now as individuals and communities. Taking its name from the pottery shards used in ancient Athens when voting to ostracize community members, the site aims to celebrate, instead of push out, voices from art’s periphery.
Leah Penniman, co-founder of Soul Fire Farm and author of Farming While Black, from Nicole J. Caruth’s essay on healing from generations of land-based trauma and creating a more just food system.
Although contemporary art draws on a multitude of thinkers and modes of making, contemporary art narratives still tend to focus on one person (e.g. the myth of the creative genius or the hero-industrial complex) rather than affirming the interconnectedness of people and ideas—an ongoing cycle of knowledge and information exchange. Through this site, we seek to give homage, authorship, and credit to the people who inspire artists or influence contemporary thought but whose stories aren’t told often enough.
Launched in May 2020, the site has looked at a range of issues, from the role of documentary practices in humanizing Black maternal and infant mortality statistics to the story of Ruhel Islam, a Minneapolis restauranteur and sustainability activist whose words went viral when, following the destruction of Gandhi Mahal restaurant during the unrest following George Floyd’s murder, he said, “Let my building burn. Justice needs to be served: put those officers in jail.”
Ruhel Islam at one of a network of community farms he partnered with while running Gandhi Mahal.
Follow along as we continue exploring what arts writing might be if focused not on contemporary art’s interior but disciplines and ideas adjacent or far removed.
Special thanks to the Warhol Foundation and Creative Capital, and to Jasio Stefanski, who designed the Ostracon website.