Where I live, at least 1% of the total budget for the construction of new public buildings or spaces need to be dedicated to public art. Only a tiny fraction of more than 1,000 pieces are dedicated to remember dead people. Most of the pieces are abstract subject matter and a good portion doesn’t have a clear subject. They are just there to make the space more pleasant and introduce art in our daily lives.
I think putting these Confederate statues in museums is the best solution. Learning about even the ugliest parts of one's country's history is important, and giving context to these works helps educate all of us, and to acknowledge wrongs done to minority groups.
I don't share a family history with the people who are hurt by the southern public art nor do I share a family history with those who want to preserve those statues, but having something haunting disturbing to one group of people displayed on land that belongs to ALL the people doesn't fit the concept of a united land, I believe it's time to have a mature and open conversation about alternative ways to preserve the history without harming the people.
We've been moving statues the whole time, it's not a new thing. Every time a king died and a new one came, he used to change all the statues of his palace. Fun fact, he kept the old statues in a depot, maybe waiting for a new king to come. A good example of recycling. ;-)
I mean, the public art people are upset at typically are of people who were absolute monsters, like slave owners. And yes, context matters for those. We do need to learn about them, but it needs to be in history books and museums, not in the form of statues since those tend to be understood as a way of elevating someone as important. Like, idk, I understand not wanting to destroy history. But that’s not what’s happening when monuments to slavers and racists are removed from the public. The history still happened, but it needs to be properly taught.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Germany doesn't have any monuments dedicated to Nazis, so why does America have monuments dedicated to Confederates? Instead there should be monuments dedicated to people like Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, MLK, and other important figures who fought against enslavement and Jim Crow segregation.
I think of political statues/monuments to conflict as quite far removed from ‘art’. Obviously they have creative elements but i consider them more like entering or architecture
good stuff! I am generally on the side of recontextualizing public art with modern lenses. I don't think destroying historic monuments helps anyone, but we shouldn't allow old problematic ideas be maintained with excuse of preserving history. Contextualize the history so we can continue to grow without erasing the past.
As an European, the idea of removing public art, statues or monuments is complete madness and an horrifying thought. Hope we will not get infected by this sickness too.
Yes, but it can be changed in position and contextualized in a proper environment. Even a 2000 years old Roman statue can be controversial if used to spread certain values as the fascists did in Italy; another thing is to use it to explain how Roman society worked and why statues were an important part of public communications in their times.
