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This is an open thread concerning José Clemente Orozco’s historic 1931 mural cycle “A Call to Revolution” and “Table of Universal Brotherhood,” and the exhibition Re-Imagining Orozco at the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery Located at 66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street.
What factors, elements and personalities shape the years ahead in the 21st century? What are the pressing differences and conflicts that need to be negotiated at the table today?
In re-imagining the Table of Universal Brotherhood, what populations would be represented today? Are their needs mutually exclusive? Would all participants be equal in stature? (Orozco clearly envisioned a hierarchy by recognizing a president). Would some populations be advocated for rather than represented? Can heterogeneous populations be bound by their differences rather than their similarities?
In an increasingly fragmented and polarized culture in which people are communicating less and less with their ideological and/or sociopolitical opposites, in a world where there is fascination with memory and skepticism about utopia, imagination and progress, has the idea of a table of universal brotherhood become obsolete?
Orozco bore witness to the Mexican Revolution and chose, in the New School murals, to depict “revolutions revolving around the periphery of the European center.” Which revolutions would you choose to depict on these walls today?
On April 2, 2010, seated in the Orozco Room, Jeffery Goldfarb, the Michael E. Gellert Professor in the Sociology Department, moderated a two-hour discussion focused on the meaning of Orozco’s “Table of Universal Brotherhood” in the 21st Century. The event brought together panelists, listed below, from The New School for Social Research (NSSR), Eugene Lang College, Parsons Art, Media and Technology (AMT), as well as the University Autónoma de Barcelona in Spain.The lively discussion focused around three general core topics as they relate to the mural: How have the issues concerning identity and power changed, and how would this effect who sits at the table? What are the pressing differences and conflicts that need to be negotiated today, and ultimately how does a re-imagined table address these new conflicts? In an increasing fragmented and polarized culture, has the idea of a salon, such as the Delphic Circle, where conflicting philosophies can be fervently discussed become obsolete?
Panelists:
Banu Bargu, Assistant Professor, Political Science, NSSR
Helena Maria Chmielewska-Szlajfer, PhD student, Sociology, NSSR
Stefania de Kennessey, Chair, The Arts, Associate Professor of Music, Eugene Lang College
Oz Frankel, Assistant Professor, Historical Studies, NSSR
Rezvaneh Ganji, PhD student, Sociology, NSSR
Victoria Hattam, Associate Professor, Political Science, NSSR
Maria Pia Lara, Visiting Professor, Philosophy, University Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain
Lenore Malen, Artist and writer, Associate Professor, Fine Arts, AMT
James Miller, Professor, Psychology, NSSR
Re-Imagining Orozco 
