Recent months have placed new light on public spaces, summoning new perspectives on what they are, what they represent, and why they matter. Chair of the Fine Arts Department Ken Lum and Senior Research Scholar Paul Farber react to images of an empty Times Square, respond to the removal of controversial public monuments amidst protests across the globe, and tease out the themes of several books they—and Monument Lab, the public art and history studio they co-founded—have had published in the past year. These books include “A Wall of Our Own: An American History of the Berlin Wall,” by Farber; “Everything is Relevant: Writings on Art and Life 1991-2018,” by Lum; and “Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia,” co-authored by both as an extension of and reflection on the ongoing Monument Lab, now connected with the newly established Center for Public Art in Space at the Weitzman School of Design.
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