Mapping 1

WHOSE MONUMENT WHERE: PUBLIC ART IN A Many cultured SOCIETY BY JUDITH F. BACA The term "public art" used in an audience of many cultures  brings to mind different images, in each of us.  Perhaps some of  us envision the frescos and statues of the Italian renaissance,  Christo's   umbrellas,   the   murals   of   Los   Tres   Grandes,   or   the  ritual sand paintings or totems of native peoples.     Like   adobe   formed   from   mud   into   the   building   blocks   and  constructs of a society, the purpose of any monument may be to  investigate and reveal the memory contained in the ground beneath  a "public site" marking our passages as a people and revisioning  official  history.     The   ultimate  question   for   us   to   consider   as  public artists as we create the monuments of the '90's 'is what  shall we choose to memorialize in our time.. Over my years as a public artist I am continually struck by  how our common legacy in public art is derived from the "canon in  the park" concept.   By that I mean, that impulse that caused us  to drag out the rusty canons from our past wars and polish them  up  and  put   them   in  the  park for children to crawl over  at the  sunday picnic.  The purpose was to evoke a time past in which the  "splendid triumphs" and "struggles of our forefathers" veered the  course   of   history.     These   expositions   were   meant   to   inspire  an"awe"   in   us   of   the   power   of   our   great   nation   to   assert   its  military will and triumph over enemies.   Running our hands over  the polished brass we share in these victories become enlisted in 

their causes. Never mind,if as people of color they were not our  forefathers, or if the triumphs were often over our own people.  A   more   contemporary   example   of   the   cannons   in   the   park  occurred   at   the   promenade   of   military   weapons   in   the   mall   in  Washington   D.C.   immediately after  the  American  declared  victory  of   the   Gulf   War   had   a   similar   intention.     In   an   exhibition  prepared for  American families in the adjoining Smithsonian hall  of   Science,   a   grandfather's     voice   (sounding   remarkably   like  Ronald Reagan) soothed us into believing the war was a bloodless  giant   computerized   science   demonstration.     Young   American   men  with     reflects adroitly trained in a video game culture, were  asserted   to   have   demonstrated   our   superiority   as   a   nation   over  Saddam Hussane through video screen strategic air strikes.  From  the bronze general on horse back in the plaza, where the public's  view   is   the   underside   of   hooves   of   the   triumphant   soldier  galloping; to its more contemporary corporate versions, we find  examples   of   public   art   in   the   service   of   dominance.       The  intention of these works, is more than to create giant decorative  pigeon   pedestals.   It   is   by   their   daily   presence   in   our   lives,  that they intend to persuade us of the justice of the acts they  represent.      The   power   of   the   corporate   sponsor   is   embodied   in   the  sculpture   standing   in   front   of   the   towering   office   building.  These   grand   works,   just   as   their   military   predecessors   in   the  parks, inspire a sense of "awe" in the viewer, by their scale and  the importance of the artist. Here, public art is unashamed in  its intention to mediate between the public and the developer. In 

a "things go down better with public art" mentality, the bitter  pills of development, are delivered to the public.  While percent  for   art   bills   have   heralded   developers   creation   of   amenable  public places as a positive side effect of "growth",  every urban  inch   of   space   is   swallowed   by   skyscrapers   and   privatized   into  none public/ public space of shopping malls and corporate plazas.  In these developments, the public is predetermined to select out  homeless,   vendors,   adolescent   youth,   urban   poor   and   people   of  color,­­   undesirable.   Planters,   benches,   and   other   "public  amenities"   are   suspect   for   their   potential   hazards   as   public  loitering   places.   With   the   loss   of   botanicas,   mercados,  vendadors,and   all   things   familiar,   ethnic   people   disappear   to  another corner of the city reinforcing segregation .  Los Angeles provides the clearest examples of development as  a colonizing and displacement tool of ethnic communities. Public  Art   often   plays   a   supportive   role   in   these   agendas.   Infamous  developments   such   as   dodger   stadium   which   displaced   a   historic  Mexican   community,   the   Bunker   Hill   development   which   displaced  another   (now   home   to   the   premier   arts   center,THE   MUSIC   CENTER)  and   less   well   documented   history   of   the   intersection   of   four  major   freeways   through   east   Los   Angeles's   Chicano   communities  abound in public record, if not consciousness. One of the most  catastrophic  consequences occurred in the service of an endless  real   estate   boom   in   the   concreting   of   the   entire   Los   Angeles  river   on   which   the   city   was   founded.   The   river,once   atrophied  into   hardened   arteries,   created   a   giant   scar   across   the   land,  serving to  further  divide, an already  divided  city. It is this 

metaphor that inspired my own half mile long mural on the history  of   ethnic   peoples   in   the   L.A.   river   conduit.   Just   as   young  chicanos tattoo battle scars on their bodies, the Great Wall of  L.A. is a tattoo on a scar where the river once ran. Its imagery  reappears the disappeared stories of ethnic populations that make  up the labor force that built our city,state and nation. Painted  over   a   nine   year   period   this   half   mile   work   parallels   in   its  model   process   the   content   of   interracial   connections,   in  community and participant dialoques. Public art can become an amelioration by beauty, as in the  Melmid and Komar's work in first interstate bank in down town los  Angeles where two New York based Russian artists were selected to  decorate   the   lobby   of   the   new   skyscraper.   To   represent  multiculturalism   in   Los   Angeles,   the   artists   choose   the   angels  from   Our   Lady   of   the   Angeles   of   Porcincula's   chapel   in   Italy.  "Borrowing " the precolumbian feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl from  the   Aztecs,   the   crowned   mahogany   headpiece   from   the   Nigerian  masks   and   the   eagles   wings   for   our   diverse   native   peoples   as  "emblematic of a variety of   cultures"   the   artists   tacked   on   ethnic   emblems   to   european  angels.  These symbols stood in for the real voices of people of  color in a city torn by the greatest civil disorder in U.S. in  this   century.   At   the   dedication   which   took   place   shortly   after  the rebellion, black and latino children unveiled the angels in a  elaborate ribbon cutting ceremony. Hailed by the developers as a  great symbol of "unity," artifacts stood in for the real people  in a city terrified of the majority of its citizens. Tragically 

the 500,000.00 spent on this single work was more money than the  whole of the city's budget to funds public mural by ethnic artist  who work within los angeles's diverse  Chinese, African American,  Korean,   Thai,   Chicano,   Central   American,   neighborhoods   and  employs local youth as apprentices. This work provides just one  local example of a growing national phenomena in public art.  No single view of public space and the art that accompanies  it   will   work   in   a   metropolis   of   multiple   perspectives.   While  competition   for   Public   space   grows   daily,   cultural   communities  call for its use in dramatically different ways. What comes into  question is the very different sensibilities of order and beauty  that operate in different cultures.    When Christo, for example, looked for the first time at the  El Tejon Pass (badger in Spanish).  He saw potential.  He saw the  potential to create beauty, with a personal vision imposed on the  landscape.     A   beauty   that   fit   his   individual   vision   of   yellow  umbrellas fluttering in the wind marching up the sides of rolling  hills.  The land  became his canvas, a backdrop for his personal  aesthetic vision.     Native people would look at the same landscape with a very  different   idea   of   beauty   without   imposition.     A   perfect   order  exemplified   in   nature   itself,   integral   to   a   spiritual   life  grounded in place.   Nature is not to be tampered with, hence a  plant taken an offering made in return.    Richard Ray Whitman a  native American artist said , "Scientifically cohesive ­ I am the  atoms,   molecules,   blood,   and   dust   of   my   ancestors   ­   not   as  history but as a continuing people.  We describe our culture as a 

circle by which we mean that it is and integrated whole,....  It  is   the   circle   of   my   cultural   traditions   and   experiences   that  allows me to be a human person.  Our, and my way of being human  is to be a Yuchi person, not only human to humans, but human to  other forms of life". Maintaining a relationship with the dust of  ones ancestors requires a generational relationship with the land  and a respectful treatment of other life. Or   perhaps   native   peoples   could   not   think   of   the   area  without recalling Fort Tejon.  One of the first California Indian  reservations   established   near   this   site   in   the   Tehachapi  Mountains   placed   there   to   "protect"   the   Indians   who   had   been  rounded   up   from   various   neighboring   peoples,   most   of   whose  cultures   have   been   destroyed.     Two   different   aesthetic  sensibilities as divergent as the 19th Century English manicured  garden and the rugged natural New Mexican landscape of the Santo  Cristos mountains. Perhaps   a   more   extreme   example   of   Christo's   idea   and   far  less benign notion is the concept that landscape untouched by man  is "undeveloped land".  This is a continuance of the long line of  thought   that   can   best   be   described   simply   as   "the   man   over  nature" concept, on which this country was founded. This thought  has   brought   us   clear   cut,   in   first   growth   forest   in   the  Northwest,   and   concrete   conduits   that   kill   rivers   as   an  acceptable   method   of   flood   control.     These   ideas   find   their  parallel   in   the   late   modernist   and   post   modernist   cult   of   the  exalted   individual,   in   which   an   individual's   vision   and  originality   holds   the   highest   value.   As   a   solitary   creator   he 

values   self   expression   and   "artist   freedom";   ie.   separatenss  rather than connectedness.   He is therefore responsible only to  himself rather than to a shared vision or fails to reconcile the  individual to the whole.  When   the   nature   of   the  Tejon   pass  asserted  itself,   during  the   Christo's   project;   a   place   known   to   locals   for   its   high  winds, and uprooted the umbrella planted in the ground, causing  the   tragic   death   of   a   woman   who   had   come   to   see   the   work.  Christo said "My project imitates real life". Why   is   it   not   possible   for   public   art   to   do   more   than  imitate   life?     Public   art   could   be   inseparable   from   the   daily  life of the people for which it was created. Developed to live  harmoniously in the pubic space it could have a function within  the community and even provide venue for their voices.     I couldn't help musing what a different project it would have  been had the beautiful yellow umbrella marched through skid row  where Los Angeles's 140,000 homeless lie in the rain.  Art cannot  any longer be tied to the none functionalist state relegated it  by   modernism   and   post   modernism   in   the   "art   for   arts   sake"  tyranny.   Would it not have been even more beautiful sheltering  people in need of shelter and the gesture an important statement  about   our   failure   as   a   society   to   provide   even   the   most   basic  needs for the poor.  At least in part for the the Mexican sensibility, public art  is   best   manifested   by   the   work   of   Mexican   artist   David   Alfaro  Siqueiros in Los Angeles's  historic  Olvera St. This 19.. mural  having   been   painted   over   for   more   than   70   yrs   by   1930's   city 

fathers   because   of   its   portrayal   of   the   plight   of   chicanos   in  California, is currently in restoration.     Siqueiros depicted a  mestizo shooting at the American eagle and a crucified Chicano as  the central figure. While this mural is becoming museo­fied today  with millions of dollar provided by the Getty foundation for its  preservation and re­presentation to the public, it is important  to recognize that the same images would most likely be censored  on Los Angeles's streets today. The subject matter is as relevant  now,seventy   years   later   as   it   was   then.     The   subject   of  domination   and   resistance   by   Los   Angeles   latino   or   other  population   of   color   depicted   in   a   mural,   provides   contemporary  muralists   with   same   official   resistance   to   its   portrayal   as   it  did Sigueiros in 1927. Despite these struggles, Murals became the  only   interventions   into   public   spaces   that   provide   the  articulated   presence   of   ethnicity   in   many   communities.  Architecture and planning did little to accommodate communities  of   color   in   our   city.       As   competition   for   public   space   has  grown, public art policies have become calcified and increasingly  bureaucratic.  Art that is sanctioned has lost the political bite  of  earlier  70's murals.   Nevertheless, a rich legacy of murals  has   been   produced   since   America   Tropical   was   painted   by   the  maestro   in   Olvera   street.   Thousands   of   public   murals   in   places  where people live and work have made tangible in public monuments  the   shared   experience   of   communities   of   color.   Here   chicano  murals provided the leadership for other communities to use the  form   to   assert   their   presence   and   articulate   at   least   in   part  their   issues.   Today   in   our   city   works   appear   that   speak   of 

children caught in the cross fire of gang warfare in the barrios  of Sylmar to the hidden problem of Aids in the african american  community of south central, to the  The generations that followed the mural movement who grew up  in neighborhoods where the murals dotted the landscape have been  influenced by these works.  With few avenues open to training and  art   production   graffiti   art   has   become   another   method   of  resistance by the youth to privatized public space. As the first  visual   art   form   developed   by   youth   culture   it   has   become   the  focus of increasingly severe reprisals by authorities that spend  52 million dollars annually in the county of los Angeles to abate  what   they   refer   to   as   the   "skin   cancer   of   society".   It   is   no  accident   that   the   proliferation   of   graffitti   is   concurent   with  the reduction of all youth recreation and training int the arts  programs   in   the   schools.   My   work   in   communities   in   the  producition of public artworks has put me into contact with many  of these youth.   I   was   called   to   a   local   high   school   one   day   after   having  convinced   one   of   the   youth   of   the   Great   Wall   that   he   should  return   to   school.     (The   Great   Wall   project   one   of   my   projects  that is a mural that is a half mile long mural in Los Angeles on  the history of ethnic people in America which has employed over  300   youth   artists.)     The   urgent   call   from   the   boy   in   the  principles   office   said,"   I   need   you   to   come   here   right   away  because   I'm   going   to   get   thrown   out   of   school   again."   My   deal  formulated  over  a long  association was that he would not leave  school again without talking to me first.  I arrived to find the 

principal  towering  over  the young cholo whose head was held in  the defiant manner, I had seen over and over in my work with the  gangs.   This   stance   reminiscent   of   a   warrior,   the   kids   call  unceremoniously, "holding your mug" is about maintaining dignity  in   adverse   circumstances.     The   principal   said   with   total  frustration,   "You've   written     on   the   school's   walls   and   you  simply do not have respect for other peoples property. Tell me,  would you do this in your own house?" I couldn't help but smile  at his admonition at this point, in spite of the seriousness of  the   situation.     This   boy   was   an   important   graffiti   artists   in  town and indeed having visited his house I had seen the walls of  his   room;   where   every   square  inch   was  intricately  covered  with  the  writings  of  the  boy.   What was operating was two  different  notions of beauty and order.  Obviously there was a dispute about  ownership of the school as well.   The boys opinion was that he  had aesthetically imporved the property not destroyed it. This is a time when the conditions of our communities are  worse than those that precipitated the civil rights activism of  the   60's   and   70's.   52%   of   all   african   american   children   are  living in poverty and 42% of all latino children are living in  poverty.

Drop out rates exceed our graduate rates in the african 

american and latino communities.       What then is the role of a  socially responsible public artist?  When wealth and poverty are  increasingly   polarized   in   our   society,   face   to   face  confrontations occur more often in our urban enviroments, often  with catastrophic consequences.  Can public art avoid coming down  on the side of wealth and dominence in that confrontation? How 

can   we   judge   the   success   of   our   public   artwork   and   as   artists  avoid becoming aids to colonization? If we choose not to look to  our victories and advancements in terms of triumphs over nations  or neighborhoods, what monuents shall we build? How can we assist  in   creating   a   public   memory   for   a   many­cultured   society.   Whose  story shall we tell?   Of greatest interest to me is the inventions of systems of  voice­giving   to   those   left   without   venue   to   speak.   Socially  responsibly   Artists   from   marginalized   communities   have   a  particular   responsibility   to   articulate   those   conditions   and  provide catalyst for change, as perceptions of us as individuals  are   tied   to   the   conditions   of   our   communities   in   a   racially  unsophisticated society.  We cannot excape it even when we choose  to try. We are made of the "blood and dust" of our ancestors in a  "continuing History". Being a catalyst for change will change us  also.   We can evaluate ourselves by the processes we choose, not  simply by the art objects we create. Is the work a private act in  a   public   space?   It   is   the   focus   on   the   object   devoid   of   the  creator that has brought us to a moral bankruptcy in eurocentric  modernism and postmodernist traditions.  For   me,   what   represents   something   deeper   and   more   hopeful  about the future of our ethnically and class divided cities are  partnerships   that   move   well   beyond   the   traditional   notions   of  architect   and   artist.   These   partnerships   include   artists   and  social service providers, artists and environmental activists and  artists   and   communities,   and   bring   people   into   conversations  about   their   visions   of   and   for   their   neighborhoods.   Finding   a 

place for those ideas in monuments that rise from below is the  most challenging task for public artist in this time.

EXCERPT FROM SELF DESCRIPTION    OVER THE PAST 24 YEARS AS A CHICANA ARTIST, MURALIST, ACTIVIST  AND INSTITUTION BUILDER, I AND MY COMPANEROS HAVE CREATED MODELS  OF   PUBLIC   ARTISTS   AS   MENTORS,   MEMBERS   OF   A   COMMUNITY,   AND  STIMULUS   TO   CHANGE:     RECOGNIZING   THAT   THE   WORK   OF   ARTISTS   OF  COLOR WERE AND ARE TIED TO THE CONDITIONS OF OUR COMMUNITIES. THE  WORKING POOR, AND  " public by creating monuments that serve as public memory that  resonate through the streets" JB QUOTE IDEA: 

Should   public   art   and   public   good   be   equated?     "Why 

not"?  Certainly,  public art should not imitate the worst of our  experiences   in   life   nor   be   used   as   a   method   of   promoting   and  individuals vision at the expense of the public.

An   artists   genuinely   interested   in   working   in   the   environment  inevitably will begin, as many have, to address some of the most  complex issues of our time; from toxic waste to garbage disposal,  to   the   destruction   of   rivers,   as   well   as   the   race   relations,  cultural retention, gang warfare, aging and homelessness.   I think so.   Where does the art begin and end?   artists  have   the   unique   ability   to   transcend   designated   spheres   of  activity.     Collaborations   can   move   beyond   the   artist   and  architect   to   the   artist   and   the   historian,   the   scientist,   the  environmentalist,   or   the   social   service   provider.     Even   to   the  artist in the community. What is exciting to me as a public artist, about the future in  public   art   is   precisely   the   postulating   of   answers   to   these 

difficult questions.   Who is the public now that it has changed  color?   how do people of different ethnic and class groups use  public   space   differently?     What   do   we   want   to   place   in   the  publics memory?   How do we as people of diverse culture measure  time, societal advancement, and achievement? IDEA:   Possibly of greatest interest to me is what sort of processes  can   we   invent   that   will   make   it   possible   to   make   an   art   that  raises from below, so to speak, an art that gives voice to the  voiceless.