The number of people who heard the artists' speech was limited to those who had tuned into the Grammy's pre-telecast online, but they said the simple act of being the only Mexican-Americans on the red carpet felt like the perfect way to chip away at harmful stereotypes of their community. .
Potter, associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), was the most vocal champion for artist free speech during the 1980's and 1990's when public funding for the arts was being challenged by conservatives.
The multimillion-dollar, multiyear renovation of 305 Degraw commenced in 2007 after Gary Pollard, formerly a documentary filmmaker, and his wife, Jessica Pollard, a textiles artist and speech pathologist, bought it late in 2006, despite its decrepit state, for what they considered a bargain price: $1.875 million.
For the project, more than 30 audio artists captured speech and music samples from commercials, public service announcements, campaign ads and other promotional spots, then rearranged them into short sonic collages that often subvert the source material's original message.
Viewers hear from artists like Speech (Arrested Development), super producers Jermaine DuPri, Dallas Austin and DJ Toomp, marketing guru Shanti Das and Hip-Hop game changers like King Edward J, and yet it is striking that the documentary does not adequately locate Atlanta rap into a larger tradition of black musical production in Georgia.
But religion was a more popular theme than politics in artists' acceptance speeches, with many of the winners, including Missy Elliott and Ludacris, thanking or acknowledging God.
In a video by the British artist James Richards, a speech instructor delivers a soundless lesson in lip reading.
The current show contains three video performances in which the artist adopts the speech, mannerisms and dress of a young Latina from the projects, known as Chuleta, and instructs her viewers in art world topics like postmodernism, identity politics, Color Field painting and Dada.
Rapper Kanye West is having a bit of a moment on Twitter the past few hours, apologizing for the Taylor Swift incident from last year when he stormed the stage during the artist's acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards to complain that Beyonce should have won the Best Female Video award instead.
The e-mail's reference to Mr. Vilks, a 64-year-old artist and free-speech activist, pointed to the deep anger in the Muslim world over Mr. Vilks' drawings of the Prophet Muhammad in 2007.
The pop-artist and free speech activist had initially been refused a six-month visa by the British government and was accused of lying on his visa application form.
