Course Description

This course will investigate the ways in which artists have presented narratives in the public realm and the organizations that have made the presentation of those works central to their curatorial practices over the last 40 years. Focusing on recent works presented in New York’s public spaces by Creative Time, The Public Art Fund, the Percent for Art Program, Arts for Transit and other non-profits organizations, this course will look at what it meant to tell stories and open discourses that challenged or interrogated widely-held value systems, the events and the politics of their time. In addition to the specifics of current and other key works and projects, we will discuss the conditions that governed the development of public performance, temporary and permanent installations, the ways in which those works were influenced by public approval processes and governmental agencies, media coverage and community response. Each student’s final project will be an on-line proposal for an exhibition that conveys a “narrative“ developed in the context of this course, referencing other relevant works .

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

2 Public Narratives - 10/02

The AIDS Memorial is located on 7th ave and 12th st. It stands on a triangular site and it is a known, unique crossroad for those who suffered from AIDS. The large triangular sculpture is intended to give tribute to the fallen individuals as well as empower those living with HIV or those fighting for the cause; The memorial consists of a large steel structure with a fountain and benches for individuals to sit, reflect, and remember those who were lost to AIDS. The floor of the memorial is engraved with sections from Walt Whitman's Song of Myself; this narrative text mentions various topics although it speaks about equality, nature, celebration.

"I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,

Hoping to cease not till death."`

https://nycaidsmemorial.org/design/song-of-myself/











Another Narrative that stood out to me was the scattered timeline of metal images on the surface of Union Square. The metal plates are lined along the perimeter of the circular tiles and acts as a timeline of events and historical moments that occurred on union square. The metal plates are delicately engraved with different moments in time and are intended to educate the public on the events that happened here in the past. 




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