An Open Letter to the Western Front Artist-Run Centre:

“Since the inexorable logic of reality has created nothing but insoluble problems, it is now time for illusion to take over. And there can only be one illogical candidate: Mr. Peanut.”

– William Burroughs endorsing Mr. Peanut for Mayor of Vancouver in 1974

Ironically, such logic has been trying to replace Art with its own illusory pursuits ever since:  self-interested accruals of professional currency, branding, strategic career planning, coercive associations and exclusions, orchestrated transferals of social capital into cultural capital, the construction and ownership of history as an end, etc…

It’s time for the Western Front to get some nuts back and stop stepping-stone tenures.  Ensure your arts professionals are working for Art instead of working the system.  Revive your roots.  Bring Mr. Peanut back as a Curator-Mascot.  More specifically, we ask that your next curatorial hire be contractually obligated over a four year term to conduct gallery affairs as Mr. Peanut and to NEVER reveal their true identity.

There is only one illogical choice to be made for all our sakes.  Restore a constructive role for illusion in the emancipatory subversiveness of Art.  It won’t be a tough shell to crack wide open.

Sincerely,
The Peanut Gallery

peanutgallerywf@gmail.com