2 years ago
4 notes
public art
Wikipedia
Fred Wilson
Indianapolis
controversy
Fred Wilson’s E Pluribus Unum Wikipedia article will be on the Wikipedia main page until 7pm ET tonight.
Did You Know…… that local opposition to Fred Wilson’s public artwork E Pluribus Unum may cause sponsors to cancel its installation in Indianapolis?
Of my handful of Did You Know appearances, I am definitely most proud of this one. Maggie & I worked hard to update the article last weekend, we were thankful that Tyler Green gave our work a shout out on his weekend round up on Monday, and now we’re happy that even more will see the article and understand the context of this important artwork while it’s on the Wikipedia main page.
Download high-res photo
2 years ago
4 notes
public art
controversy
Fred Wilson
Indianapolis
E Pluribus Unum
Wikipedia
Wilson's E Pluribus Unum: New & Improved Wikipedia article
The article before and after.
I can’t deny my interest in the future of E Pluribus Unum. That’s why I’ve dragged my feet for months and have put off updating the Wikipedia article following the extremely heated controversy surrounding its installation. In Wikipedia, neutrality is of the utmost importance, and I just didn’t think I could calm my emotions down long enough to deliver.
When I had the pleasure of meeting Fred Wilson last year, I of course was introduced as the girl who updated his Wikipedia article. This isn’t a lie. I’d updated his bio and also created the stub for E Pluribus Unum, way back when things were still calm and cheery. Then September came… and October. That night at Madame Walker was one of the most eye opening and emotional evenings I’ve experienced, and my peers who were there with me agree.
Luckily I’m surrounded by museum studies grads who have been coerced had the opportunity to learn Wikipedia. When I was asked again about updating the E Pluribus Unum article, I quickly called upon the best of the best - my dear friend Maggie, who just so happens to be a research assistant working on further contextualizing the sculpture, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, and issues of race in Indianapolis history.
Thankfully (sigh of relief) she consented, and went straight to updating the article with her abundance of research. We were both still stuck, however, on how to go about the dreaded Controversy heading. But in the end, we did it… (thanks mostly to Tyler Green!) After two intensely collaborative days of Wiki-editing, which turned into an extremely healing, cathartic experience, we completed our task. Please, join us in our sigh of relief.
This is an extremely important artwork that has brought up deep-seated issues in the Indianapolis community. It’s important that all of the information is correctly out there for people to access. This is why we’re so proud to have helped get the article to its present state. (And know that it’s a never ending process, so edit away!) Here’s hoping that we make it onto the Wikipedia main page in the coming weeks and are able to share this artwork’s story with an even wider audience.
2 years ago
Indianapolis
controversy
public art
Fred Wilson
cultural trail
$50K Joyce Award for Fred Wilson's E Pluribus Unum
@FredWilsonIndy @TylerGreenDC
Receiving this award will do nothing but good things for a very worthy project that’s become entangled in an incredibly heated debate. See Tyler Green’s extensive coverage here: Part 1 / Part 2
2 years ago
2 notes
fred wilson
public art
controversy
amos brown
indianapolis
cultural train
Audio: Fred Wilson responds to controversy
It seemed to me that the majority of those calling in were not opposed to the sculpture, which is a positive turn. The level-headed were able to speak their piece.
Some quotes:
“(What about those who say) this dredges up memories that I don’t want to be confronted with?”
Fred Wilson: “You can’t heal a wound unless you open it up and air it out, clean it, and then it can heal properly. Covering over it just makes it fester under the skin. So my desire is to both create a new image with the original in a different way, but also to try to clean it out so that we can move forward.”
“Are you an agent for change in art?”
Fred Wilson: “That is the outcome often, but I don’t go in saying I’m going to make change…. I’m an artist and what I do is go into a given situation without any preconceived notions. I absorb that place and see what happens.”
