Pitfalls and Promise (II): Public Art for McLean County Today

The Museum is pleased to welcome Felix Fiedler, art historian and psychologist from Germany, who presents a program that builds off of a presentation from this past spring about how monuments have memorialized McLean County’s past. (See Bill Kemp's program here:    • Pitfalls and Promise: Memorializing McLean...  ) Fiedler’s program will explore how municipalities across the United States are calling on artists to mold new visions of their past and a more equitable future. Contemporary public art has long exposed the blind spots and distortions of mainstream memory. But, all too often, monuments that acknowledge racism and injustice can serve as fig leaves. How can we avoid that and foster public art that makes a difference? We will discuss examples from around the world and challenges right here in Bloomington-Normal and its surroundings. Felix Fiedler is an art historian and psychologist from Germany. After serving as the Research Associate at the City of Hamburg’s public art program, he taught art history at Illinois State University.