A virtual symposium hosted by research collective 'Nonument' in October 2020.
THE LANDSCAPE AS ARCHIVE: PUBLIC ART AND CONFLICTING NARRATIVES OF PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE.
Public space is inherently paradoxical, made up not only of everything that has come to exist, but also haunted by everything that has disappeared to make way for it. The landscape, much like the archive, is subject to processes of selection that determine who, and what, is allowed to appear. An exploration of lost public art — runner-up proposals, unrealised artist visions, removed statues and sculptures temporarily hidden in the midst of redevelopment projects — begins to interrogate and question the power dynamics at play in the creation, production and performance of public space. Using three specific examples: memorial practices in Palestine/Israel; the recent toppling of statues across the world during Black Lives Matter protests; and the Millennium commission for public art in the UK, this presentation will unpick the conflicting narratives of past, present and future that are told through art in public spaces.