Transcript of: "Welcome" and "Perspectives & Reflections on E Pluribus Unum" (Art, Race, Space Symposium, January 25, 2013)

Speakers: William Blomquist; Modupe Labode; Fred Wilson

Recording available from: https://media.dlib.indiana.edu/media_objects/3x817897w

Our symposium today, I'd like to think of the School of Liberal Arts at Indianapolis. Dean William. Very much Dr. body. Welcome everyone. It's my pleasure to welcome you on behalf of the School of Liberal Arts. Liberal arts is very proud to be the home of the Museum Studies. Number of our colleagues and students. This program not only helps organize today, suppose you are hoping to have hosted as well. So I wanted to thank them and also acknowledged that weed out have colleagues for anticipating problem in history and anthropology and the Herron School of Art and geography. So a number of you are participating. In addition, we really are pleased to have participants and speakers who have traveled to be here today as well as several prominent participants from the local Indianapolis community. So really want to thank everybody who helped make it possible today. And I appreciate it. You do. The significance of the topic. The local timeline that's brought us here, but also the national and even global aspects of the issues of race and space. And how our public communities encourage and converse about and make decisions about spaces. So I'm delighted to be here. I'm delighted that you're here. Welcome on behalf of the school, and then I'm going to give you back to your host, Dr. Thank you for your introduction. There's several groups I'd like to acknowledge. Others deco, welcome and acknowledgement of the IU School of Liberal Arts at Indianapolis without whose support this will not be possible. In particular, this symposium is underwritten by a grant from the IUPUI arts and humanities. And thank you also to Museum Studies Program and the numerous students that you see around who are part of that program and providing volunteer support. And the Department of Anthropology. I'd also like to thank by name Becky Ellis, the administrative assistant for the museum studies program, whose judgment and skills kept his calm. And Jessica, math isn't who is over here busily trying to master the art of the tried all the technical support. She's a graduate student. Museums that you provided invaluable support for the simplest thing, since August 2012. Before getting started today, I'd like to give you a brief introduction to the campus center of the symposium. The restrooms always important thing, R2 and the elevators are too bright when you leave the room. There's also a list of coffee shops and places to buy food in your folder. Cm has piqued your knee for some art. There's a gallery on the second floor which is featured in the work of Martin pathway. I'd also like to call attention to a press release in your folder from the cultural arts community, which is an initiative of the Greater Indianapolis progress committee and the arts. In this press release announcing the beginning of an indication of an initiative to keep a case of African American artists the time where the Indianapolis helpful trail. This initiative is separate from the clerk of the symposium. If you would like to know more about this initiative, are participating in public forums. There's contact information, press release. The chairs of this committee, I think they might be here, real Shrewsbury or day Lourdes. I think they have been victims of the rich remix. They are not here right now, but they will be here later and then answer any of your questions. We have a very full program today, and so we will be trying to stick to the schedule as much as possible. I'd also like you to remind you to turn off the ringer is on your various devices. Symposium and also like to remind you that this is being recorded and the morning sessions are also being broadcast. Public access cable channel WC via channels 16. I'd like to share with you before we get started in thinking that lead behind organizing this symposium. A three sentence version of the events which led to our team here, would read something like this. In 2007, the artist Fred Wilson was commissioned by the central Indiana Community Foundation to create a Visa card for the public Indianapolis cultural trail. A variety of groups protested the sculpture, as well as the symbols and context surrounding it. In December 2011, the central Indiana Community Foundation canceled Fred Wilson submission. And so the artwork that you propose. Hello, This will not exist in Indianapolis or anywhere else. Those are the three sentences, the bare facts of an extraordinary incident. But they do not create a real account of the events, emotions, discussions, and experiences for surrounded the pluralist. Instead, the bare facts, race. Further questions about these issues. Democracy and expression, protests, the public, the private boards and silence, history and the President. There are many ways to approach the issues with e pluribus unum revealed. When organizing this symposium, we wanted to take advantage of the strengths of the university. Use it as a space to explore by issues in detail. Look at them from different perspectives, from close up and from far away. This to be a space to ask questions and the system responses. The space in which we can agree, disagree, and change your minds, but most importantly, do some hard thinking. The purpose of this symposium is not to scale points or is established planning, but it is to use this experience as a way to explore place. Indianapolis and sometimes those into others promotes and patients anger, fascination, the desire to interrupt. I'd like to share with you the challenges I posed to myself for this symposium. To listen and speak openly and respectfully to practice patients, to engage in conversation about ideas with someone I need here and someone new. And to allow myself to be changed. And most importantly to take my experiences and do something with them. One of the hosts of this symposium is to encourage dialogue on multiple levels. And with this in mind, I'd like to call your attention again to the folder. You'll find post-its and a pen. These are some very basic tools for today's dialogue. Around the room. There's several posts, huge post-its, they insults with ideas or prompts or questions. Please feel free to write out questions, expressions, something that just struck you and post it to the paper. Attaching to the paper. This afternoon will include a session which we gather in groups to discuss some of the important issues right out of the symposium. Our moderator parallels and we use some of these posted statements and questions to start our discussion. Student volunteers will be posting to Twitter and Facebook throughout this symposium. And if you are adept at Twitter, I am not one of those, but I heard you to join them or follow them. So that's why I'm telling you. You don't have to turn off your cell phones. Just silence them and rob him to the IU system. Leads to further other students will be capturing insurance and ideas onto a document which is projected outside. The organizers are committed to documenting the symposium and will capture images of the post-its to East Coast and post them to the resource page on the website. If you have documents or other resources that you may remember we believe are important and please send them to us at the email listed in your card, but also on the, on the website. Those of us involved in putting together this symposium will also be developing. I want to foster dialogue about the issues raised in supposing for use by schools and community groups. We're also storing publication and publication which will have very to reach these developments will be posted to the resources of the section of the website. The symposium is divided into three parts. The first part is dedicated to the experience of e pluribus unum. There's a timeline of Fred Wilson's project in Indianapolis which I compiled for media reports. If you have questions, concerns or want to prep them. And he met my message, my email is on. The images which have been cycling behind me include images that are just kind of sit with the larger the original flatMap of Indianapolis when you have a wonderful circle space and it was supposed to be the governor's mansion and ended up being in a place where cattle graze for many years. For the monument to the Soldiers and Sailors, Medina began construction and was eventually dedicated in the early 20th century. They're also renderings of also be images include renderings and e pluribus unum. After the speakers apart one, we're providing some of the basic contexts. There will be time for questions for the audience. The second part, we'll focus on time and space more generally, using the historians and our Indianapolis, it's material culture and histories of protests. Consider new angles. And section three looks at public art, activism and humidity conflict. Live session to our speakers will be sitting in the Indianapolis contexts and passed it in a broader perspective. After the session. There, after that session, your time and all the speakers gathered. And then we will have time at the end, Republic conversation about ideas and challenges raised by a seat belts. In that context, I'd like to provide a very short introduction for our speaker today. Fred Wilson is an independent national unknown artist who works in a wide range of media, including installation in France. He has won the alarm part of the war and is represented the United States at the DNI. And he's here today to present his talk is worse than you. I may go down because it's strange things happen completely. Visual presentation had to be local. I invited them. They can't play around with just gently soften, but I'm not going to be speaking about him for his intellect high school anymore. I've never spoken more about what exhibition we can begin to see in my entire career except for my museum assignment. But I did want to just sort of think about looking at other monuments, memorials, which you must show by slavery and different locations that I found interesting. And so works by some contemporary artists is food, who I have an affinity with. Some worse, they've done since I started working on it. And so you can see a context, a context for some contemporary ways of working with historic statutory section. And then finally, I'm going to show some of my more recent pieces that we're hoping to get it. We'll get it all the time that I have. So I'm talking quickly how the living things in people's names out. And I wish I could give you afterwards. So I guess we should start. Yeah. I didn't catch in Savannah, Georgia not too long ago. And which I'm going to show up if I get to it. And this is it, this monument is in Savannah. I'm going to be familiar with it. But it is a very sort of city. And I came across, haven't found it extremely important. And really under no, it's the 20th century sculpture. Certainly in the last four years is and depicts the Africans from Haiti. Napoleon sent to the United States to fight with the rebels against the British for the Revolutionary War. And it's a very important moment for suppose for Savannah. And so this is a monument to them. In terms of data. It's, it's in front of the first advocate search results and it depicts the soldiers were saying, I said we're in this period of time of Haiti where slavery in your form. And one of the fascinating things to me is that you may see minute African total, you're really busy the windows if you're in the United States. And this is quite starkly that the picture I would just know interestingly about it or not every almost every many different projects that they're larger, they're customers is small contributions, so small conversion. But this one was that what are the figures there? It is. It turns out it's the basis of the donor and recipient, but that was not appropriate. But there's something rather, alright, I'm sorry. This is, this is a monument and not necessarily part of the capitals. Often. Because it's about organizing a series of specific symbols in a, in a very understandable form for learning public. Knots could have WE to the inner emotions in fields of an individual artist. Hey great of an individual. This is actually recruit staff who has a boy came to the United States and was a part of that group. And of course we know that later as an adult to be, he was one of the leaders of Haiti after this is Barbados. Barbados had always wanted to see this sculpture of the emancipated slaves. And what I found fascinating about this particular one is that it is He's alone, is separated from all the tropes of that Roman breastfeed, ubiquitous changes. They're going around about what I do like also like about it is that as it's around about as you spin around this visit, a physical body is different. It's not like a very static sculpture. Some difficulty is that since it is around by its very difficult to get actually up to it. So this is the first time I could see it because it always quizzing virus in my basis, fair amount of traffic and so on. And in Haiti, this sculpture, slavery. Obviously this is before these horrific earthquake, which down on Capitol Hill is destroyed. Not there, but the sculpture is still three days. Again. The solo individual expressing the majority, right? Absolutely. This is self sure. Zanzibar. Nicole slaves argument. And this is the gate. And here's the scholar about any of these words appears to be integrated yard. And so maybe the syllabus on the Internet, photos and engaging in important sculpture of sculpture as Monday morning. This work is off the coast of Grenada. Underwater. And interestingly, the first time I started to get immediately as incredible avocation of the middle passage of all the parts that predominate the middle passage of escaping from, trying to escape from the islands. And the souls of these folks in the waters of the Caribbean. Apparently the artists, British artist, this was done his gaming, even though there are 6 ft chains between these, these individuals. His interests were more about ecology, biodiversity. Even though it is another work of his. And as they are now, they're becoming a part of the underwater scene. However. Unfortunately, he has from what I've read, I don't know if impersonal, so I don t know what you believe, but he is he He said it was not really about the subject that so many people, the CNS, which I find unfortunately because artwork, the artist has their desire and the importance of why they do things. But it is a visual medium. It isn't perfect. And people are able to see what they, what they are, what they see ensue and art work. However, as I started thinking about his works, overtime was occurring to these, to these figures. The notion of biodiversity may indeed takeover the meeting and envy what he was thinking this work is about. And that's why this work is called the identity song Slave monument in Jamaica. It's in Downtown Kingston. And it's not without its own controversy. Nakedness was at, is really difficult for him. So population and is a constant conversation. There is a fountain that also, not only that they can spot the, should I put this, the healthiness of these individuals? What has reserved words that come up and come down with this sculpture. Memorial to Harry Harlow are very recent work by an artist named analysis, sorry. And I look at anything else? I think so. Sculpture, all the cases on her dress. For me to be all individuals that she'd run out. Itself. Also, both physically and metaphorically. This, this is also a bit of this old controversy which I've never talked about. It because, you know, it works and it's not what you did. But anyway, the fact so upset that she was facing she was facing the south. And I know that probably was done because issues facing north, it would never be sun on the image should always be in shadow. And she's facing south. But if I ever did do my best to speak with the outset, I would say to her, to me, the amazing thing about teratoma. It's not that she brought people out from South into the North, but then she went back. But she went back again and again and again. And that is about inheritance of it. So I'm reading into this in that, in my own way as one does. Now. I'm also showing some things that have nothing to do with slavery, nothing to do with race. This work is either their games where in neuroanatomy. And this is one of my favorite sculptures, permanent monuments in square. It is a Gandhi and I find it completely contemporary sculpture, even though it's not in the idiom of a contemporary art. Because, because they made sure that the whole being of Gandhi is in a sculpture. It's not heroic. Over scale is actually human scale. He's walking. He was a man who was very much of the people. He was a man. Very few things. And so this is how he looked. And they keep that, that feeling of this philosophy is being in this culture rather than had they put it in this kind of setting with the treatment of growlers and there's the front visit case around it. And this, and this to me also very contemporary gesture. You know, but not the context of the city with the context of nature, it softens and sculpture, it slows it down. You get a different feeling looking at it because you cannot get actually go into this again. But generally, you look at it. In fact, it's raised up slightly separate from the rest of you square. And if you see him from the back, you see that? What the apartment, I mean square rather than six. And he inhabits me as traditional sculpture. That's incredibly contemporary. This is the thinker. It's a sculpture that is owned by the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1970. Well, I'll just read the little bit that I love about this little bit right foot back then at approximately 01:00 A.M. on March 24, 1970 or dance, the thinker on display, aesthetically pleasing garden was damaged by a pipe bomb placed on the base of the sculpture, is arrested for the vandalism. After much debate because he decided to keep the sculpture is correct. There's condition because a statement of the importance of public art and it's wonderful ability. The depth was curious, would like to think that this Rivendell and inclusive of art for the generous contribution to the first. So they kept it, it realized that, that the change in the shift that happened with the damage, that because we know at 1972, groups that were founded locations around the country. And the summary is that it shows the finger in front of it, in front of the museum. And to me, the fact that they kept it. Understanding the statement that is, it. It has become a new object, not part and parcel of its time. And which shifts with the notion that bombing thought basically to me and sports trends dot plot. But I thought it was sculpture, which is probably not the departments in public thinking about the fact that it's in pregnancy. And that represents the stage. Or they believed that Nixon safe for the music, decided to keep it. To continue to think about the issues of the past of Rabban and issues 1970. And for the teacher about the importance of art and how it can begin thinking about suffix important to us. And then artist, they were just spoke with a disability. Who's my generation? Well noted in the circles. What he does is usually takes one of these buildings is just a projection on buildings. But hearing you Square Park, he decided to project Ms. statue of Lincoln. As you I came across it. I didn't know even my, you know, I don't but I didn't know was that he had done this. And as you come to the department, I have a little video. Hopefully. This is the first line of attack and you're going to document three months. So we're sitting I'm like, okay, you're going to die. Because we got into a very detailed I would understand why. I stopped for a minute because it's true. So why am I sitting here telling him as it does with clear water, I'm not going to frame. It was sunny. Like I was like I wanted to show under fire. Being that they're storing. When you go to Britain, goals are going to distinguish a body compromises, but it smells. Smelling the one where somebody over here. You still have that armor around the fire? Because it was hard for me to explain how it felt alone. It's got a boat. This of course, is a temporary project. You came into my head. Sometimes. Temporary projects had this intense power because I'm going to show something I worked with later. Self-deprecating. That was just amazing. I think it's really rather quickly through this one. This was a project in Japanese artist in Clovis circle. And this is the Columbus Circle language and monuments so high up you can barely see it from the street. So he decided to paint that. He built an armature all the way around the sculpture with stairs all the way up. It's called a secondary elements. This little building space there, yes. Of course you get the views of the city, which is quite incredible. You're actually apostle personal with this slide with a navigation with the subject Columbus, simply about this object that we go to Britain. It was extremely popular as much of a block for this piece. Of course it was temporary that God sent me the mirror therapy. Now, with my second we're trying to read my little brackets. This is at the district decided to your project. I was invited to present an exhibition of slavery and as motivating artists in the exhibition. But they liked the pieces so much, which was a piece that broke things from the collection of the Museum and put them together in a tableau situation to talk about the issues that the topic of the insufficient and the like so much they when they read it they're there, decided that route where they having bring it back permanently. So the first thing you see when you walk into my Project, Liberty, different. Here it is. I was really trying to retrieve the fact that they have many, many images, certain size to Washington. And I found SU 11, that's sort of a regal George Washington was rather sinister. Difference from the Greek world says he has the important ones above. But here he's created a contemporary flows at the time of her sister. Also, most amazing After Effect found there was this cigar store black man, which I had never seen anything like it before. And so I felt I had to use that particular structure in this arrangement exhibits social person there and he's, in his hand, he's holding a tobacco. And so between them is a balanced drives the balance right, that George Washington spoke to was inaugurated in front of him, New York City. And he has ovaries. Hand is a, the liberty cap, the kind that you'd see in French painting. The figure of Liberty and Greek, ancient Greek statuary. Liberty. And so here I have hedger produce it deliberately kept, that carries such needs to be president. What about us? But that's the front of it. And there's a picture of it. Also decides, besides Washington was Napoleon, who was in the Caribbean. You know, he had his own slaves, though he hadn't been used for its proper silence. Sodium was rendered. And so as you walk around the back, right. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture as it stands for the bank, but I have the original version which is basically the same, but it's a different space when he came around the back. These are also deflection and slave shackles of sleep tags. And then here, unfortunately I'm the close-up is a really beautiful picture of a cheer and read to be able to get to this one. This is, as I said, it's during pregnancy Savannah and as environment the scabies in part. This is a very new museum that I thought was a really wonderful architecture, architectural structure because it's an edited old city. Might start buildings. The architect didn't want it for this final structure of these overbuilding. So what he did was there, this was actually a old railroad station, really, really old rail station, and it was ruined. And so he built, rather taken down the rule and you build this. You see it within a part of the railroad station. Hi, there to work with the collection by Dr. Walter or admin staff regularly. Surgeon who was retired to Savannah is an incredible collection of Africa. But what I want, I actually met with him at his home and it turns out he has incredible documents, not only artworks but doctrines. Every person who ever wrote She seems like including a document from the pulpit to two months to several maturity is involved with those papers. Next, alerts from the Hodge. I mean, he has everything. But that was not what I said in charge to do. Let's see, let me just became an incredible opportunity for me to have a dialogue between minimum of letters and break figures. Artwork of similar time periods that these people are writing. And look at the synergies, look at the connections in a visual way. And so the exhibition will have combination of both of these incredible writings and ask directly and something else that this is the letter from the syllabus here, basically the same. This for the future, Great, Nice can kill the parents, things like that. And then you'd also have many ways to somewhat church steeple and Christoph. And it's just an amazing selection of, and this is what a publication by further deafness as well as letter to him. And it goes on and on and on, but it's got a red Florence. And so I end up placing these things together to see how I do it. Various things. This is probably revolt. And then there is the bricks. As I said, this is an old building with the new structure. But the curator, as I first walked with the Lucas said, well, you know, the bricks that is built where you were slaves. And so this of course, set me on a path. With this project. Realizing it will allow the most, if not all the Britain. Where were they made in a plantation right next to what part of the pattern? There are 172 individuals who produced the first several generations of white sand is very rich and they were all over town affect the whole city is built with these is Brexit decision. In fact, there's one, there's a break in a major wall of a house where you see the imprint of someone's fingers into the breadth. And so it's kind of very intense tau there as it is in its history. But this is just a folded layer and this is where this easily. So I couldn't about that. I, I sort of research images of the brick houses there. There were plantation, in fact, these buildings where they live far better than other plantations. However, it was still a plantation. In fact, one of his very fortunate UCSB. And this is the original disability had been before. And then up. And then there's an associated building for coming through the New Museum, but firstName and as long as it stays. Let's have a display of bricks. They're all different kinds of Brixton in Savannah and all of the Home Depot brick machine matrix. And then the last part of this is Savannah gray slate matrix. And you can see the structure of the building as the brick is very present. And so the whole exhibition is the art or the object, and the writing is all in space, but it's all. The bricks are this other metaphor that goes throughout the space. So we will close sculpture. Some of them are designs that I've found it in bricks around the city. As I think about borders and boundaries and obstructions. And also revolved around your work in progress. Report. In front of the first thing you see is this big table. This is the invocation of the table that of Dr. Evans, his house where he he'd bring out his visa cases cases of all of these documents that he that he had. And I sit there and I hopefully open up and it's fixed for bringing them out and I'd be opening it. Look, reading all these documents as I can in the camera's of these boxes. Digital oversized, head, reproduced. But legal like his, like his bosses for his books. But inside my boxes are a great way to be lifted up. You think something like, but the way that history is. So you are in ruminants, you know, Elizabeth tablets. Sorry, I haven't had many artists that, you know, which regards today and it is space at home behind there. There's a lettuce with James Baldwin. And also next, Let's talk about prison for blocks and from prison. James Baldwin really talking about the psychological state of the Indian closing hymn. That again, it's kinda, it's essential space for this particular little vignette. But having just three days of Brixton writing MF sculpture together, Aaron Davis advocates every story through squash of Moses. At anyway, it's a stair-step up to heaven. Some of these are myelinated is really bad. This is by jumping. African-american painter in the 19th century. Very prominent painter and it's obese, African-American. So he is provenance was he was he did quite well. Bumper excuse restaurant it now, but I put it over and put this painting by Thomas day yesterday regarding the cabinet maker of 19th century. It wasn't a collection, but it needed the retro refurbishing. And so I had her permission which really helped him using it as well as this piece come out of the storage. Anyway, I thought this is a little vignette of someone's home. When they're next to it would kill it. This campus by John Brown and his children. And then next to her, the other side, where it says runaway slaves weren't poster. And basically looking at the posters. And also who's holding this was his home. Sadly, this is the boy fishing, looks like a white boy, but then this is hatred done, Vinson, and certainly even probably wasn't specifically hear me, couldn't. He could have been as artists do, pretty producing himself in the painting instead of in the abolitionist fold, it could have been an African-American. So I was sort of creating something from nothing exactly. Bringing these, by bringing these things together, creating notions about whose space, place and what people be thinking. Beneath. Beneath the mantle is this spoke for a young artist making 20th whole fire. And it's been in front of, in front of, in front of the mantle was the same river light laying down of grace. And the pattern is the herringbone pattern that wants to seize if savanna climate is the anatomy of the retrograde braces, they make Britain bricks. And so I placed this on the ground. And actually, there are underserved needs to know each one representing individuals who work on the plantations that produce these breaths. And I did research to try and find out the names of all all the setting to individuals and to write them all depends. So cartilage breaks and then have them into the walls of the museum which was still being, being created. Extensions and so appropriately. Whilst because a lot of this history is just knows about and they don't really get onto everybody loves his mentor great bricks because evidential, individual and beautiful look at a specific the Spanish people, lovely music and the gardens that he's everywhere. And they're really expensive as opposed to other bricks. Not because of this history, but because it's static and it makes me feel like I wasn't able to the names I did the best I could. And that's the sort of ongoing project for me to see the image of the entire space. And one of the last few things I'm showing you, this is a little autograph, but we've got this date by Duncan said the painter, end of just people who came to his house and y graph that would be too little drawings in them. And destroyed, I thought was so nice to be painting. Artists seemed to be contemporary, almost surrealist are slipping beneath that. It says license link. And that was the claim that brought together for this project what is blinks his wife over time, over medium, over various issues. What is the latest? So you get this little book. The whole exhibition. Last thing is the sculpture that was making it look less seven years. There are two figures, what European almost like size. It's called the mental abuse, which basically set the measure to use. And it's a visual, is a visual kind of discussion that one can garner from these two figures together. So they went to see a very big, as it isn't public artwork. But right now exist as life-sized bronze sculpture that various peoples.