RELEASE: Announcing Exhibition Dates of Beyond Granite: Pulling Together
RELEASE: Announcing Exhibition Dates of Beyond Granite: Pulling Together
AUGUST 18 – SEPTEMBER 18, 2023; INAUGURAL ‘BEYOND GRANITE’ EXHIBITION, ‘PULLING TOGETHER,’ TO BRING NEW PERSPECTIVES AND VOICES TO THE NATIONAL MALL
Trust for the National Mall and partners to launch curated exhibition signaling a new inclusive and more representative process for commemorative landscape on America’s Civic Stage
For Immediate Release – May 24, 2023
Media Contacts:
Julie Moore
Trust for the National Mall
202-297-6106
jmoore@nationalmall.org
WASHINGTON (May 24, 2023) — Beyond Granite, a brand-new initiative, will bring to the National Mall a series of dynamic installations that are designed to create a more inclusive, equitable, and representative pathway for the commemorative landscape. The partners behind Beyond Granite will welcome the public to experience this pilot exhibition Aug. 18 – Sept. 18, 2023.
This first exhibition, Beyond Granite: Pulling Together, will feature installations from six leading contemporary artists that respond to a central curatorial question: “What stories remain untold on the National Mall?” The artists will interpret this question through their work, while focusing on the concepts of storytelling, narrative change, and national identity; monumentality and democracy; and public memory and memory making. Exhibition sites will include spaces near the Lincoln Memorial, Constitution Gardens, and the Mall, the expansive green lawn between the U.S. Capitol building and the Washington Monument.
Beyond Granite, is presented by the Trust for the National Mall, in partnership with the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), and the National Park Service. The initiative is made possible through the support of the Mellon Foundation.
“Beyond Granite’s first exhibition will give us a more inclusive and democratic way to honor our shared histories and authentically represent the complexity of diverse and varied lived experiences in our nation’s premier commemorative space,” said Catherine Townsend, President and CEO of the Trust for the National Mall. “As the country continues on a pathway to share fuller American histories and stories, Beyond Granite offers a thoughtful space for expression and reflection.”
“Our goal for Beyond Granite is to develop more innovative and accessible ways to tell America’s stories in our nation’s capital,” said Marcel Acosta, NCPC’s Executive Director. “The Pulling Together exhibit is an exciting pilot that will test and inform new approaches to the commemorative landscape that would not permanently build on the National Mall’s open spaces.”
Curated by Monument Lab under the direction of Dr. Paul Farber and Dr. Salamishah Tillet, Beyond Granite: Pulling Together is the first curated outdoor exhibition of its kind in the history of the National Mall.
Farber and Tillet invited artists to draw inspiration from Marian Anderson’s performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday in 1939, after she was prevented from singing at Washington, D.C.’s Constitution Hall because of her race. A crowd of 75,000 attended this watershed performance; one that civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune called “a story of hope for tomorrow, a story of triumph, a story of pulling together, a story of splendor, and real democracy.”
“From the reference point of Marian Anderson’s historic performance, the Beyond Granite: Pulling Together artists will produce art installations that will summon deep reflection, express democracy, and inspire and educate through storytelling,” Dr. Tillet said.
“Pulling Together will bridge the past, present, and future of the artists and their experiences. The exhibition will share a fuller American history and explore how art installations can engage in conversation with the monuments on the National Mall to help expand and bring dimension to the stories of our collective American consciousness,” Dr. Farber said.
The six works of art will be installed on the National Mall in August and will be open for public viewing for one month. The exhibits will include public programming and interactive components. The set locations and specific themes of each art piece will be unveiled at a later date.
As announced previously, the upcoming exhibition will include the work of the following artists:
· Derrick Adams (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
· Tiffany Chung (Houston, Tex.)
· Ashon Crawley (Charlottesville, Va.)
· vanessa german (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
· Paul Ramírez Jonas (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
· Wendy Red Star (Portland, Ore.)
ABOUT THE TRUST FOR THE NATIONAL MALL: As the leading nonprofit, nonpartisan philanthropic partner of the National Park Service dedicated to restoring, enriching and preserving the National Mall, the Trust brings expertise, private funding and in-kind support to ensure that the National Mall endures and evolves as a vibrant space for all. To learn more and to support our mission visit: www.nationalmall.org | information@nationalmall.org | @thenationalmall
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