In an age of corporate media domination, the curator's profession
becomes both less creative and more vulnerable. Most curators, having
worked their way through the filtering process, either lose or never had
the independent faculties whose absence writers like Noam Chomsky have
confirmed in the world of corporate journalism. Go along and get along
is the law itself.

But no more. The private citizen, retaining at least some fragment of
free and uncoerced media presence, steps into the poisoned peace of the
institution and demands both audience and petition. These are sacred
rights under the U.S. Constitution; moreover, they may be wielded with
conviction against any authority regardless of rank. Curators of
publicly funded museums are technically civil servants–state
employees–hence their accountability is all the greater.

I have convinced my mother, Charlotte Herman, that lack of expertise is
no reason to refrain from protest. She told me that when she was a 4.0
student at Northwestern University in the late sixties one of her
professors asked her class a simple question: What are the sit-ins? Not
a single student knew the answer.

Rosa Parks was not a political scientist but a human being exercising
the ancient power of civil disobedience. Knowing she could not
personally dismantle segregation and Jim Crow, she, in a moment of
brilliant insight, decided to make the bus driver kick her off the bus.
No plan for reform, no magic cure for American post-slavery racism, only
the determination to make the authorities punish her. Masterful
publicity born of instinct and conviction.

My mother has agreed to dictate an email message in which she will
express her dissatisfaction with Steve Dietz's refusal to provide a
public, 500-word review of the Genius 2000 Video First Edition. Dietz
has seen the video and spoken to me personally about it, but refuses to
air his views in public. Dietz's options will be treacherous. If he
fails to respond, as is the curator's habit, many people will know. My
mother will know. All of her friends, numerous and talented, will also
know. The curatorial profession will know.

Any mother wishing to add to this email petition can forward questions
or statements (preferably under 100 words) to me and I will relay them
to Steve and to Rhizome. M.A.S.S. will consider Steve's review to be
public if and only if he posts it to Rhizome. All M.A.S.S.
correspondence will be carefully archived and available on line.

Steve's deadline is on or before the day that the 2000 presidential
election is complete and a new president takes the oath of office, or
January 1, 2000, whichever comes first.