Whose Monument Where?

COURSE CONTENT

A theoretical course taught from the perspective of an artist examining Public monuments in the United States as a basis for cultural insight and critique of American values. This course uses urban Los Angeles as a textbook on urban space issues such as who is the “public” and what is “public space” in the 21st century? What defines a neighborhood and do different ethnic populations use public space differently.

READINGS: You are required to complete all reading assignments. A course reader will be available for purchase as well as four textbooks entitled:

Signs from the Heart: California Chicano Murals. Edited by Eva Sperling Cockcroft and Holly Barnett Sanchez the Social and Public Art Resource Center and University of New Mexico Press 1993

Siqueiros His Life and Works by Phillip Stein. International Publishers New York 1994
Mapping the Terrain The New Genre Public Art, Bay Press, Seattle, Washington, by Suzanne Lacy

The Gift The Erotic Life of Property by Lewis Hyde this book will need to be purchased. All other selected readings from books listed are on line.

Most of the readings will be reflected in the context of seminar discussions. For every seminar discussion, you will be expected to provide evidence of having worked with the text prior to your participation in class discussions.

PROJECTS: Throughout the course, you will be expected to demonstrate progress on your project. Demonstration of projects assigned during the course must be turned in when due. Work that is not turned in on time will not be evaluated.

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PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT: You will earn points based on attendance, punctuality; helpful and constructive participation in class discussions; a spirit of cooperation; civil behavior; and conversation that encourages a free and democratic exchange of ideas—this is conversation that furthers critical thought and acknowledges the dignity and worth of every person.

WHOSE MONUMENT WHERE? PROJECTS IN PUBLIC ART

READING LIST

1. “Tilted Arc: Enemy Of The People?” Robert Storr
2. “ Public Art—The General Will” Arthur Danto
3. “ Uninvited Guests. How Washington Lost The Dinner Party” Lucy Lippard
4. “ Out Of Order: The Public Art Machine” Patricia Phillips
5. “Temporality And Public Art” Patricia Phillips
6. “Public Art’s Critical Condition” Patricia Phillips

8. Critical Issues In Public Art Harriet Senie And Sally Webster
9. “Art Against Nature? What We Learned From Christo” Rhundp Shearer International Friends Of

   Transformative Art

10. The Re-Enchantment Of Art Suzi Gablick

12. “L.A. Riots; Just The Beginning” Mike Davis

    Pamphlet From Open Magazine Series. Tel 908 789-9608

13. “Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization Of Urban Space” Mike Davis

17. TALKING BACK By Bell Hooks

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READING LIST ON MURALISM

1. SIGNS FROM THE HEART; CALIFORNIA CHICANO MURALS edited by Eva Cockcroft with a foreword by Judith F. Baca published by the SOCIAL AND PUBLIC ART RESOURCE CENTER. by the University Of New Mexico Press 1993
2. TOWARD A PEOPLES ART; THE CONTEMPORARY MURAL MOVEMENT By Eva Cockcroft And John Weber
3. CULTURES IN CONTENTION By Diane Neumiere And The Real Comet Press. Interview With Judith F. Baca

8 MEXICAN MURALS IN THE UNITED STATES By Laurence P, Hurlburt University of New Mexico Press Albuquerque 1989 selected readings on line

10. SIQUEIROS HIS LIFE AND WORKS by Philip Stein International publishers New York 1994
11. DIEGO RIVERA MURAL PAINTING Text by Antonio Rodriquez Fondo Editorial de la Plastica

    Mexicana Trusteeship in the Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior Mexico City 1988

14 OTHER VISIONS OTHER VOICES: WOMEN POLITICAL ARTISTS IN GREATER LOS ANGELES

BY Paul Von Blum University Press of America Inc. 1994

15. MAPPING THE TERRAIN NEW GENRE PUBLIC ART Edited by Suzanne Lacy. 1995 (Chapter by

    Judith F. Baca)

16. MUSEUM OF THE STREETS MINNESOTA’S CONTEMPORARY OUTDOOR MURALS By Moira F. Harris Pogo Press St. Paul 1981
17. SPIRIT POLES AND FLYING PIGS By Erica Doss 1995 Chapter on the Murals of Guadalupe.
18. THE LURE OF THE LOCAL By Lucy R. Lippard

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TOPIC: VIDEO: PROJECT

Introduction – A Theoretical Course in Public Art.

Objects and Memory: PBS 911 memorials

Discussion of the Requirements for the class.
Final Project: Propose a monument that is about a sorely overlooked event, history, or story. Present your monument proposal prepared with a team to the class in media appropriate to the concept.
Free Writes: throughout the course lectures will include visual presentations. These will be available for you to review on line at our class website. You will be required to analyze these images and their meaning and respond to these lectures in one-page responses called. “Free writes”. These will not be graded but will assist the professor in assessing your attentiveness in class and your understanding of the concepts of the lectures.
Public Monument Visits: students will assess the monuments of Los Angeles by locating, photographing and assessing at least three monuments during the course in Los Angeles. This will serve as your midterm paper.
Criteria for Analysis: Who is its audience? Is the public monument appropriate for the site, why? Who is the sponsor, Why is it there? Who does it serve? What were the sponsors’ intentions in commissioning the work? What are the inherent values communicated. Are you convinced of those values? Does it move you? Why?

Mapping the Terrain: Edited by Suzanne Lacy Chapters 3,4,6,7

History of the U.S. Public Monuments -“From the Canon in the Park to the Picasso in the Plaza”

• Traditional Early American monuments
• Mount Rushmore
• Crazy Horse
• Picasso
• Tilted Arc
• Christo

WEEK Zero: Thursday

September 27th

READING

TOPIC:

SLIDES:

WEEK One: Tuesday October 2nd

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• James Turrell
PROJECT: Discussion of required term project for the class. Select

team members

READING:

TOPIC: History of the U.S. Public Monuments -“From the Canon in the Park to the Picasso in the Plaza” CONTINUED…

Patriarchy Fixed in Stone: Gutzon Borglum’s “Mount Rushmore”;

Public Arts Critical Condition

WEEK One: Thursday October 4th

WEEK Two: Tuesday October 9th

TOPIC: Tour of America Tropical

Topic: America Tropical by Jesus

TOPIC History of U.S Public Monuments: Representation of Women. The Muse, the Anonymous, the Symbolic.

WEEK Two: Thursday October 11th

SLIDES:

WEEK Three: Tuesday October 16th

• Various representations of women in built monuments
• Maya Linn: Vietnam Memorial

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• AIDS Quilt
• Crystal Quilt by Suzanne Lacy
• Dinner party by Judy Chicago
• Great Wall, DIA, Durango by Judy Baca

PROJECT: Research, define, and document site for proposal. Present to class complete with demographics.

READING

;

TOPIC History of U.S Public Monuments: Representation of Women. The Muse, the Anonymous, the Symbolic CONTINUED…

TOPIC History of U.S Public Monuments: Representation of Women. The Muse, the Anonymous, the Symbolic CONTINUED…

TOPICS: The Monument Redefined: What is chosen to be memorialized?

• How do various demographic populations define public space?
• How does the usage of public space vary in ethnic communities?
• Are there commonly held beliefs between communities about “public” space?
• Review of Los Angeles urban public spaces from Skid Row to the Valley
• The imposition of public art as a colonizing methodology
• Implications of public art as social intervention
• Are there particular ethical implications for artists of color working in public

  venues? How has work in public changed the classical models of the artist as a solitary creator?

Selected readings on Women in American Monuments

Uninvited Guests: How Washington Lost the Dinner Party; Art and/or Action;

Feminist Critique of Art History

Advertising: A Contemporary Cultural Perspective

;

The Sexual Objectification of Women in

WEEK Three: Thursday October 18th

WEEK Four: Tuesday October 23rd

WEEK Four: Thursday October 25th

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Review of these works:

• • • • • • • • •

Durango
Ninstant Site and Haida Totems. Haida Guai. Bill Reid
Edgar Heap of Birds
Bradley McCallum ‘s Gun Project
N.Y .C. Dump by Meryl Ukeles
Vik Muniz
Watts Tower
César Chavez Monument

Edgar Heap of Birds Reader; Haida House Reading

Potlach

Readings : Video

Topic:

Catastrophic and War Memorials from Iwo Jima to 911: the people’s memorials and the final official Monuments

• 911
• Flight 93
• Iwo Jima
• Aurora
• Grassy Knoll, JFK
• Ford’s Theater, Abraham Lincoln
• Ambassador Hotel, RFK
• Columbine
• Hurricane Camille
• Hurricane Katrina
• Holocaust
• Matthew Shepard
• Oklahoma City Bombing
• W ar in Iraq, Empty Boots
• Palestinian Wall
• Border Fence

  Works in Progress: Fort Ord conversion and La Memoria de: Nuestra Tierra

Film:

Reading:

WEEK Five: Tuesday October 30th

The Black Gash of Shame: Revisiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Controversy; Performing Civic Identity: The Iconic Photograph of the Flag

Raising on Iwo Jima

;

Re-enchantment of Art Chapter 1,7,8 in Reader

;

Columbine Aurora Reader

WEEK Five: Thursday

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Topic:

TOPIC:

Catastrophic and War Memorials from Iwo Jima to 911: the people’s memorials and the final official Monuments CONTINUED…

GUERILLA ART: UNSANCTIONED PUBLIC ART AND THE WORKS OF JOHN MALPEDE AND SUZANNE LACEY

• John Malpede
• Graffiti beauty or blight?
• Banksy
• JR
• Robbie Conal poster work
• Think Again,
• Guerilla girls
• Suzanne Lacy

  Guest Graff Artist

  Report on project continue work

  Graffiti Pit reader; America Tropical; Black Panther Mural

  Day of the Dead

  PUBLIC VS PRIVATE SPACE: The Artist Response to each? and the MEXICANIZATION of Los Angeles

• Homeless camps
• Surveillance, in public spaces
• Private response to public space
• Public response to private space
• Public response to public space
• Branded Cities: corporatization of public space
• Examples of V endedores,
• San Antonio Yard Altars

  Give update to class. Define intent

  Mike Davis, Fortress L.A.: The Militarization of Urban Space; LA Was Just the Beginning: Urban

GUEST SPEAKER:

PROJECT:

READING:

Special Event:

WEEK Six: Tuesday November 6th

TOPIC:

Slides

PROJECT:

READING:

WEEK Six: Thursday November 8th

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Revolt in the United States: a thousand points of light

;

City Project

discussions office hours

;

The Gift by Lewis Hyde

Ned Kaufman report

Website:

Student Project

TOPIC:

TOPIC:

PROJECT READINGS

OPTIONAL READING:

TOPIC

MURALS AS PUBLIC MONUMENTS

• Los Tres Grandes: Palacio de Bellas Artes
• The Electric Workers Union and Polyforum
• WP A murals

  Midterm due. Six page

  SIGNS FROM THE HEART AND READER;

  Life and Works of Siqueiros by Philip Stein; Siqueiros from Paradise to Utopia by Irene Herner

  Como se pinta un mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros (only available in Spanish)

  Issues of Censorship

• Self censorship by the artist
• First Amendment issues and interpretation
• Walking the fine line between community sensitivity and censorship
• What cannot be painted in Los Angeles
• Baldwin Park Metro Rail Controversy

WEEK Seven: Tuesday November 13th

Tour of the Great Wall

WEEK Seven: Thursday November 15th

WEEK Eight: Tuesday November 20th

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VIDEO READING: PROJECT:

Three short videos on Baldwin Park: Danzas Indigenous

“Tilted Arch: Enemy Of The People?” ROBERT STORR

Continue work reports in class.

Thanksgiving Holiday

WEEK Eight: Thursday November 22th

WEEK Nine: Tuesday November 27th

Presentation of Final Projects

(attendance by all students is mandatory)

Presentation of Final Projects

(attendance by all students is mandatory)

Presentation of Final Projects

(attendance by all students is mandatory)

WEEK Nine: Thursday November 29th

WEEK Ten: Tuesday December 4th

WEEK Ten: Thursday December 6th

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Conclude Presentation of Final Projects

(attendance by all students is mandatory)

STUDENT PROPOSAL FOR A PUBLIC ART PROJECT

STEPS TOWARD COMPLETION:

Select partners for your project. Present in class your idea and see who else might be interested in collaborating.

1. DEFINE THE AUDIENCE

   Develop a proposal for a public monument for a defined audience in Los Angeles. Do an analysis of the site and determine it is appropriate for your proposed project. Develop a methodology and complete research to substantiate a definition of your audience.

   Who is the work for?
   What function will this public artwork have within the community, if any?

2. WHAT ARE THE ISSUES INHERENT IN THE SITE?

   How will your public monument function toward mitigating these issues? Why will it enhance your audience’s lives?
   Give us insight into the issues affecting your audience.
   Why is it important to you and members of your team?

3. DEVELOP RESOURCES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROJECT What will it take to get it done?

   Who could help?
   Develop a plan for funding the project. Create a timeline and plan for fabrication

4. DEVISE A METHODOLOGY FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THE WORK. Is the work participatory?

   During its production what of the process is accessible to the public?

5. PLAN A PRESENTATION FOR APPROVAL OF THE PROJECT TO BE GIVEN IN CLASS.

   You will be required to give a public presentation to the class who will function as a commission

   for the approval or disapproval of the project.
   Why should we give you the permission to do the work?

6. PRODUCE A WRITTEN, VISUAL, OR PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION OF YOUR PUBIC ART PLAN.

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