MAY 21 | 6:30pm at McNally Jackson Seaport
Constructing and Reconstructing American Public Art
Irvin Weathersby, Jr. & Erin Thompson
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I'd just like a seat, please - $5.00
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How have monuments and museums helped construct Americans’ public subconscious about race, class, gender, and history writ large? Panelists will discuss the rise and fall of public art, the healing potential of newly commissioned projects, the expanding role of museums, and the challenges currently confronting activists and artists.
Irvin Weathersby, Jr. is a Brooklyn-based writer and professor from New Orleans. His work has been featured on ABC News Live Prime, at the Brooklyn Museum, in the Los Angeles Times, Elle, LitHub, Guernica, Esquire, the Atlantic, EBONY, and elsewhere. He has earned an MFA from The New School, an MA from Morgan State University, and a BA from Morehouse College. He has received fellowships and awards from the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation, the Research Foundation of CUNY, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Mellon Foundation. In Open Contempt is his first book.
Erin L. Thompson, America’s only professor of art crime, holds a PhD in Art History and a law degree, and is a professor at City University of New York. She has spoken about monuments controversies with outlets including the New Yorker, New York Times, CSPAN, and “The Today Show.” Stephen Colbert and John Oliver have referenced her work. Her book Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of American Public Monuments, was published by Norton in 2022. She is now completing a book about antiquities forgeries.