Join exhibiting artist, Kris Bespalec, for a presentation on monuments as shifting social political markers that change over time, artists' response to these memorials and public altering, removal and unmaking of monuments.
Drawing from work made by artists and exhibition participants in response to and excavating the meaning behind the image, UnMaking the Monument offers insight into claims of truth and unreliable histories embodied in the sculptures within public spaces. In addition to witnessing the presentation, exhibition visitors are invited into an interactive space in the gallery with books, excerpts from articles and other reference materials and materials for visitors to respond to the concept of UnMaking the monument. The installation will be running for the entire length of the exhibition.
Questions and Prompts:
What would it look like to change or alter an existing monument? Which one, How and Why? (provide paper for writing, collage materials, images of monuments to be cut, collage and altered)
Build your own monument (materials provided in the exhibition space)
What is the role of museums and other collecting institutions in the education and discussion of monuments that are triggering or hold value in inequity. Referencing writing from Museums are Not Neutral and the work of Paulo Friere, we will discuss the impact of museums in the exhibition, didactic interpretation and/or removal of such works.
References:
Art presented will pull from Excavating History: Artist Takes on Historic Sites by Rebecca Keller, A People’s Art History of the United States: 250 Years of Activist Art and Artists Working in Social Justice Movements by Nicolas Lampert and work done in collaboration by the Hunter Art Museum and SMMHS in 2018 to reimagine re-construction era monuments of the south as well as calls by other art educators to rethink and reimagine outdated monuments.
