New Codes: Public Art for Boston in 2019

Almost twenty years into the new millennium, it’s clear that old, staid, exclusionary ways of seeing and experiencing art are collapsing. Add to that our rising consciousness of intolerance and inequitable structures and we can’t ignore that it is time to forge new precedents for the who, what, where, and why of public art.

Now + There is responding by instigating distinctive, contemporary forms of public art that bring joy to our shared spaces and spark new ways of building togetherness. We’re committed to amplifying voices of those systemically excluded — from emerging artists to community members — and generating more inclusive, equitable art experiences. And so, we’re eager to announce our 2019 theme, New Codes, which encapsulates these values while upholding exemplary artistic production.

New Codes sets the stage for several years of N+T programming that will address equity and access and examine our broken social structures; the old codes. Through our work and the projects we bring to Boston, we will question the systems of power that drive inequity and challenge divisive precedents. We will create opportunities to reflect together on the positive changes we want to see in our city and foster conversations about how art can fuel those paradigmatic shifts.

Artists are integral to this structural recalibration. As images of division and violence permeate our news media, the artists we’re working with in 2019 resist sorrow and separation by fashioning new representations of shared happiness, resilience, and vibrancy. Co-opting familiar, accessible forms and media, these artists imagine a more harmonious world, where interdisciplinary, expansive, critical thinking is celebrated. These artists acknowledge our nation's struggle with injustice and oppression and collective uncertainty but are, nevertheless, persistently positive in their approach to conflict and its ultimate resolution. Embracing and encouraging plurality in their work, the nine artists in New Codes reaccess our current moment through artworks that incorporate the new with the old.

From a local artist returning to paint in the neighborhood that shaped him, to an internationally recognized artist who’ll lead us in amplifying joy, to a guest-curated artist reimagining a contemplative space, to the six N+T Accelerator Artists, we’re generating a new way of curating, producing and participating in public art. We’re building a public art city that looks toward a better future. We’re foregrounding artists and community, and together, with you, testing new codes.

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kate Gilbert
kate@nowandthere.org
c: 617-283-1841

Now + There to Unveil Nine New Public Artworks This Summer

Introducing Now + There’s 2019 Theme: New Codes

Boston, MA – May 22, 2019 – The transformative power of public art will be on vibrant display in nine new installations throughout Boston this summer. Produced by Now + There—a non-profit public art curator active in the city since 2015—the lineup of site-responsive projects is called New Codes.

Three of the projects will feature widely acclaimed artists Nick Cave, Rob Gibbs, and Oscar Tuazon. In addition, six N+T Accelerator Program graduates will debut their works: David Buckley Borden, Pat Falco, Samantha Fields, Dell Marie Hamilton, Cat Mazza, and Daniella Rivera.

New Codes, which rolls out beginning in June and culminates in September, represents the latest phase of N+T’s ambitious goal to build a public art city—one that supports artistic risk-taking, community dialogue, and cultural change.

The artworks co-opt familiar forms, techniques, or media to fashion wholly unique representations of happiness, resilience, and vibrancy. They will also address equity and access, examine our broken social structures, and create opportunities to reflect together on needed changes in Boston.

The first to launch is Rob “Problak” Gibbs’s Breathe Life 3, a mural now taking shape at 808 Tremont Street, set to open June 5 with a free celebration from 4–6 PM. Celebrating positivity, it depicts two children, one on the shoulders of the other. Breathe Life 3 is the third in a series of murals by Problak that represents hope, Blackness, and kinship, and marks a homecoming for the Roxbury native.

Breathe Life 3 is N+T’s second curation at this site, in partnership with The Community Builders and The People’s Baptist Church.

In July, Oscar Tuazon’s Growth Rings will rise in one of the waterfront’s most distinctive green spaces: Central Wharf Park (250 Atlantic Avenue, near the New England Aquarium), with its stand of 26 mature oak trees. The work is comprised of three vertical oak circles, each up to 18 feet in diameter, creating graceful portals in recognition of our symbiotic relationship with trees and their importance in urban landscapes. This spatial intervention is guest curated by Pedro Alonzo.

The following month, N+T will unveil its largest project to date, Augment, a two-site project fostering collective joy from the creative spirit of renowned artist Nick Cave. The work—an inflatable sculpture fabricated with more than 300 lawn inflatables—will open in the South End in August.

Augment is a signature Cave assemblage, a whirlwind of color and images that aims to spur communal happiness at a time of national division and alienation.

In September, the city will celebrate Augment with a one-of-a-kind art parade, moving the sculpture from the South End to the Upham’s Corner neighborhood of Dorchester, where it will be reimagined in a radical way in a City-owned building.

There, it will incorporate designs created by the Upham’s community during workshops facilitated by partner organization Design For Social Intervention (DS4SI) and four local artists. With this work, Cave invites us to consider what brings joy and how we can foster more of it.

Lastly, beginning in mid-summer and continuing through September 31, the works of the 2019 Now + There Public Art Accelerator Artists will begin to appear in Boston neighborhoods. These emerging talents—David Buckley Borden, Pat Falco, Samantha Fields, Dell Marie Hamilton, Cat Mazza, and Daniella Rivera—have all completed N+T’s challenging Public Art Accelerator and have each been awarded $25,000 by N+T to produce their projects.

This program, generously supported by Joyce Linde, was founded to develop a pipeline of local public artists capable of producing ambitious public artworks.

All nine projects in New Codes seek to break down staid, exclusionary ways of seeing and experiencing art and spark new ways of building togetherness. Learn more at www.nowandthere.org.

Now + There is a non-profit public art curator changing the landscape with temporary and site-specific public artworks. Through its curatorial and fundraising efforts, N+T is transforming Boston into a public art city by creating a portfolio of projects that supports artistic risk-taking in order to catalyze community dialogue and cultural change.