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Founded in 1989, REPOhistory investigates and re-contextualizes historical representation through site-specific public art works. Based on the concept of re-mapping urban landscapes, our goal is to create works that intervene in an anonymous city-scape by drawing attention to the forgotten or suppressed narratives while revealing the spatial relationships inherent in power, usage and memory.
REPOhistory (repossessing history) is a collective of artists, writers, performers and educators. Originally we believed that guerrilla art projects would be the only course of action available to groups interested in re-presenting history based on a multicultural reading of class, race, gender and sexuality. However, we have created seven officially sanctioned, public funded site-specific project. Paradoxically, despite recent trends in U.S. politics, REPOhistory has been able to find support in three demographically diverse locations and has received its second National Endowment for the Arts grant.
While tactics have changed with each project, the concepts of collaboration in a multicultural context of community inclusion has been central to our original vision of site-specific public art works. The cognitive re-mapping of the ambient urban environment and the evolution of the collaborative process will be analyzed in relationship to previous projects and new works.
ART WORK
Lower Manhattan Sign Project 1992
Our inaugural project was inspired by the celebration surrounding the quincentennial of Columbus' "discovery" of the Americas. While the country planned to commemorate a carefully selected history of Columbus' legacy, REPOhistory created a project that presented alternative views of history. In keeping with the our general philosophy of making art more accessible to the public, REPOhistory arranged a parade for the opening ceremonies and later did walking tours. More than 40 artists, activists and writers combined efforts toward a history based re-presenting of 39 sites. A catalogue of The Lower Manhattan Sign Project is available with an essay by Lucy Lippard.
Choice Histories 1992
Choice Histories was a 1991 gallery installation investigating the history of women's global struggle for reproductive rights. Made up of an ensemble of artworks, essays, and discussions, the installation addressed such diverse subjects as the history of Native and African American medical practices, sterilization in Puerto Rico, and the Catholic Church's sexist views concerning marriage and child-bearing. Choice Histories was a project displayed within Artist Space's "A New World Order," an exhibition curated by Connie Butler which questioned the possibility of preserving free speech and a woman's right to choose within President George Bush's vision of "A New World Order."
Queer Spaces 1994
As our contribution to the Storefront for Art and Architecture's show Queer Spaces, REPOHistory exhibited eight signs that were placed at New York City sites where gays and lesbians gather for social and political purposes. The signs described and emphasized the political histories of each site, and their installation was timed in order to coincide with the commemoration the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. Further discussion of the Queer Spaces project can be found in REPOhistory's article published as a part of QUEERS IN SPACE: Communities | Public Places | Sites of Resistance, Seattle: Bay Press, 1997.
Entering ButterMilk Bottom 1995-96
"...movingly illustrates an expanded vision what art can be..." The Atlanta Journal/Constitution This project honors the passing of a community destroyed by Urban Renewal to make room for Modern Atlanta and the "New South." This site-specific public art installation consisted of signs, street markings, a pavilion that illustrated the history of the community and a reunion of former residents. The historical information was donated to the Martin Luther King Library and the reunion has become an ongoing event.
Voices of Renewal 1997-98
The second phase of REPOhistory's public art/public history work in Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward. Following on the heels of the 1995-96 "Entering Buttermilk Bottom" project, this Public Art Residency is a collaboration by REPO artist Tom Klem and residents of the Fourth Ward's Glen Iris neighborhood. Working directly with those who lived these histories, six artist-created public history markers were created and were installed permanently on the private property of those residents whose histories were unveiled and celebrated. This project was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts Public Art Community Residency program, the Puffin Foundation, the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation and by Sonny Franks.
Out from Under the King George Hotel 1997-98
REPOhistory was invited to Houston Texas to create a public art project. We decided to document seven layers of history on the location of the King George Hotel. We selected this site because the abandoned Hotel was across the street from a homeless shelter and one block from the site of a new baseball stadium that was the cornerstone of the cityıs plan to redevelop the downtown. We created a printed document that was distributed through out the city. The document was also wheat pasted to the facade of the hotel with the permission of the Non-Profit Housing Corporation of Greater Houston, an organization that was renovating the structure as a half way house for homeless. The Housing Corporation used the document for fund raising and will permanently hang a framed copy of the document in the lobby of the renovated structure.
sponsors: Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County, Buffalo Bayou ArtPark and the University of Houston.
Civil Distrubances 1998-99
Working with the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI), a non-profit legal advocacy group, our aim was to raise awareness about the impact of public interest law on society. Cases that extended and protected the rights of the politically or economically disenfranchised included equal education in Brown vs. the Board of Education, the rights for welfare clients, handicapped and children's rights. Cases that were currently in the courts were also the subject of the art work: these cased included police brutality; ending racial, ethnic, and religious discrimination for housing; and fighting against the privitization of the New York City hospital system.
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| all images and text İ 2000 by REPOhistory and participating artists |