Nick Cave & Bob Faust

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James Prinz/courtesy of Facility, Chicago

"Phase II: Dirty Laundry" participants in an earlier Chicago incarnation of "AMENDS," a project by artists Nick Cave and Bob Faust.

In the first phase of AMENDS, an interactive exhibit inviting community members to explore and apologize for their own contributions to racism, Madison leaders decorated the windows of the MMoCA gift shop with quotations or personal letters recognizing their roles in racism. On Juneteenth, artists Nick Cave and Bob Faust kicked off the second phase, with participants now able to add ribbons to the AMENDS clothesline identifying "pieces of themselves" contributing to systemic racism. In the third phase, Black artists will respond to the messages through poetry, spoken word, dance and other performances at the museum. Join the artists and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in making AMENDS.

press release : June 19 through October 24, 2021

Upcoming event: 6 pm, Oct. 22: Share some laughs with your friends at MMoCA next week, with local stand-up comedian Craig Smith, who is performing as part of the third and final phase of AMENDS, the interactive art exhibition by Nick Cave and Bob Faust. The ultimate goal of AMENDS is to eradicate racism, and while that’s no laughing matter, we hope that Craig’s performance will bring some welcome light-hearted fun to your Friday night.

Smith is known for his part in the hilarious Nobody Cares Podcast, with fellow comedians Allie Lindsay and Nick Hart. He’s also a regular at the Madison Comedy Club. AMENDS is on view at MMoCA through October 24, so don’t forget to check it out, and contribute a ribbon voicing your thoughts on the matter of institutional racism, to be hung on the Dirty Laundry clothesline inside the Shop’s gallery space.

MMoCA is pleased to present the community-based, interactive art project AMENDS, by Chicago-based artists Nick Cave and Bob Faust. The internationally known artists and collaborators created the three-component project in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. The ultimate goal of AMENDS is to lay the groundwork for the eradication of racism.  

The project has three interlocking phases, the first of which will begin in late May, before the exhibition opens. The artists and MMoCA invited select state and city community leaders to contribute a letter, a quote, or a note that brings to light their roles in contributing to racism through acknowledgements, confessions, and apologies. These letters will be written by the participants on the State Street facing windows of The Shop, with the artists, at the end of May.  

In the second phase, the public will be invited to identify the pieces of themselves that have contributed to holding our society back from genuine equality and equity. Individuals will write their response to the prompt on a yellow ribbon and tie it to the AMENDS clothesline. These responses will be solicited at the Museum and at designated sites within Madison’s communities.  

In the third phase, in consultation with the artists, MMoCA will program The Shop space for a series of performances that center Black voices by poets, spoken word artists, dancers, and other creatives, and respond to the words written on the Community Clothesline.

The exhibition will open to the public on Juneteenth (Saturday, June 19), the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States in MMoCA’s new interactive contemporary art space, The Shop. Stay tuned to MMoCA’s social media for further details on each phase of AMENDS.