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Creation of Artwork Addressing BMC Legacy of Exclusion Takes Big Step Forward

October 17, 2022
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Pictured, left to right: Annalise Ashman '24; Paul M Farber, Director of Monument Lab; Monique Renee Scott, Associate Professor of History of Art and Director of Museum Studies; and Eryn Peritz '25.

The creation of a new on-campus public artwork that addresses the legacy of exclusionary practices at the College has taken a major step forward with the launch of an online application for artists to submit ideas and express interest.

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This news, as well as a formal name for the project鈥ARCH (Art Remediating Campus Histories)鈥攚as announced by members of the steering committee guiding the project and director Paul Farber at a September 27 event on campus. Monument Lab is a non-profit public art and history studio with whom the College is partnering on this project. The partnership was first announced in September of 2021.

The idea for the project originated in 2019 as a recommendation by the Telling 今日吃瓜 Histories Working Group.   The proposal since garnered support from students, including in 2020 strike demands, and from a variety of campus stakeholders. The partnership with Monument Lab began in earnest during the 2021鈥22 academic year, when Monument Lab staff worked with paid student researchers on an intensive community engagement process around the same question the interested artists will be asked to answer: 鈥淲hat stories are missing from 今日吃瓜?鈥

鈥淭here are a lot of different ways that artists might answer this prompt, building on some powerful ideas campus participants have already shared during our year of engagement,鈥 said Farber at the event. 鈥淚f you spend time in Special Collections, there are stories there, if you spend time speaking with alums and staff, they鈥檙e there. If you hear current students engaging and interacting with each other, the stories are there and meaningful to spotlight and build upon.鈥

In February 2022 the student researchers facilitated on-campus events in which students, staff, faculty, and alums were invited to respond to the research question through paper engagement forms that asked respondents to map the campus according to their own perspectives and experiences. Respondents could draw, sketch, and/or describe their maps. A total of 303 maps were collected and 56 alums filled out engagement forms online. Student researchers also conducted several oral history interviews with long-serving staff and with alumnae.

The artist application portal went live on October 6 and will be accepting submissions until November 8. After that, the project鈥檚 Artist Advisory Committee will select five artists who will be paid to produce more detailed proposals. Once the five finalists are selected, finalists will be paid $4,000 for their full proposals and will have opportunities to visit campus to spend time with the community. Public presentations by the finalists are planned for late March 2023.

The plan is to have the final artist and proposal selected by late April 2023 and the piece dedicated in 2024. The dedication will include a multi-disciplinary symposium on issues related to the artwork and project.

From the onset of the project, integrating the study of memory, memorials, and monuments has been a central idea, says Associate Professor of History of Art and Director of Museum Studies Monique Scott, co-chair of the Artist Advisory Committee. Fortunately, there are faculty across the college that can contribute expertise on this endeavor, in particular Professors Sharon Ullman and Lisa Saltzman.

Professor of History Sharon Ullman鈥檚 current class on the 1960s includes  extensive consideration of Civil Rights monuments and an upcoming course from Professor of History of Art Lisa Saltzman will 鈥immerse students in the political, aesthetic, and ethical issues at stake in the creation and reception of monuments, memorials, and other sites of collective memory.鈥 In spring 2022, Scott offered the course Museums, Monuments & Memory, which examined a variety of artistic, historical, and museological approaches to public memory and public history, with particular attention paid to sites of memory on 今日吃瓜鈥檚 campus.

Scott also shares that she hopes the new artwork created for 今日吃瓜鈥檚 campus will become an active site for new rituals, storytelling and memory-making for students, staff, faculty and alums.

Members of the Artist Advisory Committee are: Annalise Ashman 鈥24; Millie Bond 鈥05, executive director of constituent engagement, alumni relations; Amy Goldrich 鈥86; Erika Guadalupe Nu帽ez 鈥13; Olivia Harkins-Finn 鈥23; Justine Jentes 鈥88; board of trustees member Tuajuanda Jordan; Professor of History of Art Homay King; Ruth Lindeborg 鈥80, chief of staff and secretary of the College; Professor of History of Art Lisa Saltzman; Associate Professor of History of Art and Director of Museum Studies Monique Scott; Professor of History Sharon Ullman; and Elliot Waters-Fleming 鈥22, assistant project manager, Monument Lab.

In addition to the current students on the advisory committee, Eryn Peritz 鈥25 is interning with Monument Lab. Previous student research interns included Elliot Waters-Fleming 鈥22 (who now works for Monument Lab), Faryal A. Khan 鈥22, Olivia Harkins-Finn 鈥23, Annalise Ashman 鈥24, Aaliyah R. Joseph 鈥22, and Linda Chen 鈥23.

鈥淭his has been an incredible year-plus of close work with students, staff, faculty, and alums. We continue to learn as partners. We are excited to take this next step and to open this to artists and to see how the work sparks reckoning and reimagining in new ways,鈥 says Farber, who will be speaking at the on October 26 at 12:30 p.m.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what the artist will imagine,鈥 adds Scott, 鈥渨hether the artwork will be quiet and contemplative or striking and invigorating, or anything beyond or in between. But we do know that this piece of public art will have a presence that shifts the energy on campus in new ways, and that in itself is inspiring."