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 .

Monday, November 5, 2018

Public Narratives in NY - Gran Fury



Public Art Work in NYC
Natasha Geniyeva 

Candy Chang’s ‘A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful


The public art work that I am discussing is Candy Chang’s ‘Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful’. It is located in Rubin Museum of Art from February 2018 through January 7, 2019. It is a participatory installation that invites the visitors to share their anxieties and hopes on blue and red cards and hang them on a wall. The idea behind this participatory installation is to record a live catalogue of all the ways in which humans relate to the uncertainty of tomorrow. Similar to Gran Fury strategy of public art works, ‘A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful’ unites the communities together that share a similar story - the anxiety and the hopefulness. The Gran Fury focuses on AIDS and the collaboration with different artists have helped Gran Fury shape their authentic style. ‘A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful’ is still being developed today, also by the community, but it does not reinvent the style of the art work, but the participation helps build the the piece altogether. A strategy of Gran Fury that can also be seen in Candy Changs art work is to enclose a very complex thing - the struggle of the society with anxiety and hopes - in a very concise form. ‘A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful’ also responds to the frustration of the inability of the society to articulate the issues - in this case anxiety and hopes. It is similar to the Gran Fury’s strategy when it came to creating their public artwork s focusing on AIDS. Gran Fury decided to go straight to the point about how they felt - which is what Candy Chang’s piece allows people to accomplish when the participate in the live production of the ‘Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful’. 


Candy Chung 'A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful' 
Image taken from http://candychang.com/work/a-monument-for-the-anxious-and-hopeful/


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