Mayor Michelle Wu is shaking things up in the Boston art scene, spearheading a program called Un-monument | Re-monument | De-monument: Transforming Boston that's dishing out $3 million in grant money from the Mellon Foundation. According to Boston.gov, this program is designed to get artists and the community to take a fresh look at the city's monuments. Wu is all about adding new layers to the city's narrative, stating, "Our City is filled with stories that are reflected in our various monuments. I encourage artists to apply to not only add to the embellishments of the City, but continue to spark conversations about the narratives that art creates."
Artists keen on making a mark can answer the call with proposals for temporary installations or 'un-monuments,' which are art pieces that don't conform to traditional monumental forms. An Augmented Reality Artist Workshop and a chance to join an advisory team also up for grabs, the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture is hunting for projects that dialogue with the city's already standing statues and memorials. “With this program’s focus on temporary public art, our city and our communities have the flexibility to experiment with new ideas and explore new ways of approaching memorials, commemoration, and public memory,” Kara Elliott-Ortega, the Chief of Arts & Culture, pumped to mix things up, commented.
A variety of community collaborators, including Emerson Contemporary and The National Center for Afro American Artists, are on board. They're commissioning pieces that will have you thinking twice about the city's historical narratives. Emerson Contemporary is getting into the groove with an initiative that invites artists to dabble in digital or analog exhibition in public transit areas, while over in Roxbury, an exhibition titled "Cancel Violence: Artists Speak" is gearing up to show that art can spark positive change in the community. For those eying the details, there will be virtual Q&A sessions on April 10, and the deadlines for applications are April 16 for the AR workshop and April 23 for the temporary monuments, complete with a nod to the schedule on Boston.gov.
Making history more inclusive is what it's all about with this initiative. Artists Paul Goodnight and Robert “ProBlak” Gibbs are just a few of the names contributing to an exhibition that will hash out the impact of violence and the power of community-driven dialogue. NAICOB is also threading Indigenous stories into the fabric of the cityscape by reimagining their building in Jamaica Plain. Meanwhile, Pao Arts Center is putting AAPI experiences on the pedestal. “Un-monument is designed to inspire meaningful experiential public art and reconnect us with the joy of storytelling," said Karin Goodfellow, Director of Public Art for the City of Boston.
What's clear is that Boston is on the brink of an artistic renaissance, with Un-monument hoping to stir the pot on traditional notions of history, rethinking who gets immortalized in granite and bronze. The city's betting that through these projects, it'll spark an ongoing chatter on commemoration that reaches further than any stoic statue could. "Monuments aspire to tell our stories of shared peoplehood," Dr. Brandon Terry of Harvard University's Hutchins Center told Boston.gov, highlighting the project's deeper democratic ambitions.
