censorship and public art
o b j e c t i v e
- Examine historical and current incidents of Censorship in the US and their relationship to public funding for the Arts
- Explore the relationship of cultural values to free speech and tolerance
a r t i f a c t
I chose to represent the Runquist murals in a single image — merging technology and art into one cohesive unit. Just like the evolution along the tree in both murals, so does the floral display function: from objects fading into the background, visible present, and blurred glimpse into what is to come in the future.
r e f l e c t i o n + f u t u r e g o a l s
The biggest thing I took away from this unit is the necessity of tolerance and dialogue in community — including very specifically public art. You don’t get to fund artistic endeavors and then not select certain items because they don’t agree with your own value system. To relate to previous chapters, it’s terribly spiritually incomplete and doesn’t serve anyone.
This unit really brought home some over-arching themes that were present throughout the duration of this course, primarily polarization. Polarization, much like ultimatums don’t serve healthy progress — which should be the goal of an individual or collection of individuals. The more we are all exposed to differing points of view and different aesthetics the more likely we are to become accepting of them — for it to be rendered old hat and non-threatening.
Moving forward I want to explore the realm of public art. Historically my own art has either been for a classroom, gallery, or private experience. The public sector offers such a fascinating mouthpiece for dialogue to manifest.