Why Is Everyone So Mad About Public Art?

Thank you for another great Art History lesson!

As an European, the idea of removing public art, statues or monuments is complete madness and an horrifying thought. Hope we will not get infected by this sickness too.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Germany doesn't have any monuments dedicated to Nazis, so why does America have monuments dedicated to Confederates? Instead there should be monuments dedicated to people like Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, MLK, and other important figures who fought against enslavement and Jim Crow segregation.

I think of political statues/monuments to conflict as quite far removed from ‘art’. Obviously they have creative elements but i consider them more like entering or architecture

Thank you! Your last video inspired me to go to the Banksy Museum in NYC!

Wow. The addition of the swing to the Soviet statue by Szejnoch is such a great piece. It brought me to tears seeing people swing back and forth. Wow.

Thought provoking. Thanks for those videos!

Super proud of my city, Philadelphia. Our wonderful mural arts program has fostered more public art than most other major cities.

Remarkable series

The Bean is for everyone! Vantablack, however...

We've been moving statues the whole time, it's not a new thing. Every time a king died and a new one came, he used to change all the statues of his palace. Fun fact, he kept the old statues in a depot, maybe waiting for a new king to come. A good example of recycling. ;-)

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good stuff!

What another great episode!

Thank you. I am learning much from this series.

Thank you.

She should do one about postmodern art.

I think putting these Confederate statues in museums is the best solution. Learning about even the ugliest parts of one's country's history is important, and giving context to these works helps educate all of us, and to acknowledge wrongs done to minority groups.

Could literally just put these things in a museum and replace the park statues with cool dragons.

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Really impressed with this one! Was surprised to see the topics you addressed straight from the jump

That swing on a Polish soviet statue is amazing.

I really appreciate this series, thanks Crash Course folks

Excellent, as usual!

Where I live, at least 1% of the total budget for the construction of new public buildings or spaces need to be dedicated to public art.

Only a tiny fraction of more than 1,000 pieces are dedicated to remember dead people. Most of the pieces are abstract subject matter and a good portion doesn’t have a clear subject. They are just there to make the space more pleasant and introduce art in our daily lives.

No art should be destroyed. There are always alternative ways to address justice

I mean, the public art people are upset at typically are of people who were absolute monsters, like slave owners. And yes, context matters for those. We do need to learn about them, but it needs to be in history books and museums, not in the form of statues since those tend to be understood as a way of elevating someone as important.

Like, idk, I understand not wanting to destroy history. But that’s not what’s happening when monuments to slavers and racists are removed from the public. The history still happened, but it needs to be properly taught.

I don't share a family history with the people who are hurt by the southern public art nor do I share a family history with those who want to preserve those statues, but having something haunting disturbing to one group of people displayed on land that belongs to ALL the people doesn't fit the concept of a united land, I believe it's time to have a mature and open conversation about alternative ways to preserve the history without harming the people.

Cool 💪🏼

An old monument graveyard could be a cool idea but I think location would be important as well.

good stuff! I am generally on the side of recontextualizing public art with modern lenses. I don't think destroying historic monuments helps anyone, but we shouldn't allow old problematic ideas be maintained with excuse of preserving history. Contextualize the history so we can continue to grow without erasing the past.

Thank you for the wonderful podcast !

It took me way too long to learn that pub was short for PUBlic house

Commenting for the algorithm

I heart art history 💝

Woah this is cool