BALLOTS NOT BULLETS

Opening Night Reception: Oct 31, 2022 6-8 PM
Election Night Performances: Nov 8th, 6 PM-midnight

White Box

is pleased to present Ballots Not Bullets, a contemporary art exhibition as timely as it is necessary, opening on october 31, with live performances on November 8th from 6 PM to midnight,, on the day of the 2022 midterm elections.

Ballots Not Bullets is an international multimedia exhibition inspired by an eponymous quote from Abraham Lincoln, delivered during the Reconstruction era following his famous Proclamation of Emancipation Following his famous Emancipation Proclamation that abolished slavery, Lincoln’s clear call urged all American citizens to vote and uphold democracy, rather than resorting to violence—which had nearly destroyed the fledgling democratic experiment in the United States during the Civil War.

Today, this exhortation resonates once again: the political climate is marked by a violent partisanshipmore present than ever, and democracy itself is under threat by those who believe that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from them and is therefore illegitimate.

Distrust towards the government
and its institutions, deliberately fueled by both domestic and foreign ideologues, does not merely exploit the widespread cynicism toward politicians: it undermines the very foundations of the rule of law. For the gradual dismantling of the already fragile democratic infrastructure slowly but surely paves the way for the rise of authoritarianism, embodied by those who see democracy as an obstacle to their thirst for power.

The rise of authoritarianism
in the United States is not just a conspiracy theory spread by the left on the Internet: it has manifested concretely in many aspects of social life once thought secure. Among others, we can cite the overturning of the ruling Roe v. Wade, electoral district manipulations (gerrymandering), the questioning of the Respect for Marriage Act — which guarantees legal recognition of same-sex married couples — and, returning to Lincoln’s earlier quote, the attack on the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Ballots Not Bullets aims to address these issues through an art exhibition coinciding with a pivotal moment: when the United States must either defend its democracy or slowly slip into an authoritarian regime. The outcome largely depends on the 2022 midterm elections. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln: now more than ever, it is the ballots — not the bullets — that must be heard.

Marie Christine Katz. Performance

Artists