TRUTH BE TOLD: PUBLIC ART ON THE NATIONAL MALL
A Temporary Monument, A Public Conversation
11 AM, September 22, 2018, National Mall, Washington, DC
Truth Be Told Artists’ rendering by Nora Ligorano Link to HiRes Image
WHEN: Saturday, September 22, 2018, 11am until it’s gone
WHERE: National Mall, 3rd Street, SW (corner of Jefferson Drive SW) Washington D.C.
WHAT: High Impact Visuals. Public Art, a temporary monument in 2000 lbs of ice
TRUTH is melting before our eyes. Artist duo LigoranoReese bring “Truth Be Told” to our political landscape, with a literal ton of ice in a one-word melting poem standing in contrast to the force and speed at which basic concepts of our nation’s history and governance are being undermined. What are we losing in the era of #fakenews? Combining message and medium, the unprotected work is intended to melt until it’s gone.
“Truth Be Told” is the sixth sculpture of the Melted Away series begun in 2006. The temporary monuments of Melted Away are markers for the opening decades in the 21st century – first, DEMOCRACY broken, then, the ECONOMY ruined; the MIDDLE CLASS disappears, THE FUTURE is tenuous, THE AMERICAN DREAM vanishes. TRUTH is an open question.
Melting ice is an ideal medium to depict the transformation of social values and semantic meaning. For Nora Ligorano the materiality of ice is essential to this artwork. “Ice is a time-based material and brings to mind feelings of loss and decay as it erodes. It has an elegiac feel. If you think of these pieces as temporary monuments, and monuments are public artworks for people to contemplate, bringing truth to Washington gives people the opportunity to reflect on what we are losing, because truth is at the center of it,” Ligorano says.
A writers residency accompanies the sculpture on the mall; DC-based writers and poets include: Sarah Browning, Split This Rock, Leslie Bumstead, Sepideh Jodeyri, Magus Magus, Chris Mason, Mark McMorris, Ethelbert Miller, Casey Smith, Rod Smith, Bernard Welt, others to be announced.
With the iconic U.S. Capitol in the background, this latest installation of Melted Away speaks to an America where belief supplants truth. The disappearance of the 10 foot wide, 7 foot tall sculpture is documented in photography and film, and streamed live on meltedaway.com, artseverywhere.ca, FacebookLive and to a network of galleries and websites in North America.
“This is a hybrid artwork. We’re combining sculpture, installation, performance, and an internet event to activate public space, to encourage people to think about the ways truth has changed over the past year and its effect on our country and society,” Marshall Reese says.
The sculpture is the focal point for a series of public events taking place in Washington around the themes of integrity and truth. On Friday, September 21, 6:30-8:30pm Busboys and Poets 450 K Street, NW, hosts a reading with D.C. poets, “Getting The News From Poems.”
After the melt, the artists convene with PEN America and Defending Rights & Dissent at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at George Washington University for a panel, open to the public, called “TRUTH BE TOLD: For Freedoms 50 State Initiative,” on Sunday, September 23, 1-3pm, Hammer Auditorium at 500 17th Street NW.
Register for the Corcoran event here.
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LIGORANOREESE
Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese collaborate as LigoranoReese. Their artwork examines society through images and sound from print, television, internet, and radio. They have exhibited at the Biennial of Contemporary Art, Cartegena, Colombia, Catharine Clark Gallery, Kent Fine Art, Portland Art Museum, MIT MediaLab, Museum of Arts & Design, New York Public Library, and Lincoln Center. They have received funding from the Jerome Foundation, Puffin Foundation, NYFA, NYSCA, NEA, and been in residence at the MacDowell Colony, Montalvo Arts Center, and Djerassi Resident Artists Program. They are represented by Catharine Clark Gallery.
