Public Art and Memorials: Seeing Home?

American Studies Association Annual Conference:
Home/Not Home: Centering American Studies Where We Are.

Public art and memorials shape how we imagine, interpret, and represent home. As much as public art and memorials reference home as place, idea, and experience, they also rival home leading us to believe public art and memorials are the material imprint of a false consciousness, anywhere and everywhere but home. By examining historical, cultural, and intellectual dynamics of home, this panel will theorize “home” and its complicated relationship to public art and memorials. In what ways are complex histories of home conveyed and represented in the public sphere? Are there instances when public art has the capacity to remember time, place, and people while also attending to constantly changing audiences? How do public art and memorials located in civic centers and community green spaces envision home whether home is nostalgic, romantic, absent, or even violent? Are public art and memorials in nature preserves/reserves such as national, state, and indigenous parks distinct from urban and suburban sites in their articulation of home? Whether public art and memorials are commissioned and sanctioned by municipalities, governments, or private foundations, cultural and countercultural organizations, or impromptu, this panel encourages a visual studies and art historical conversation querying histories and narratives of home in the public sphere.

If you’re interested in forming a panel, please email John-Michael H. Warner (jwarne26kent.edu mailto:jwarne26kent.edu>) by Wednesday, January 13th.

Contact Info:
Dr. John-Michael H. Warner, Visiting Assistant Professor of Contemporary Art

School of Art, Kent State University
PO Box 5190
Kent, OH 44240
United States

Email:
jwarne26kent.edu <mailto:jwarne26kent.edu>