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SUMMARY:Meta-monuments: storytelling\, collaboration and the proxy-wars of
  public art - Alexander Augustus (Artist)
DTSTART:20230214T131500Z
DTEND:20230214T140000Z
UID:TALK192455@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Stefanie Ullmann
DESCRIPTION:I believe that stories are the currency of power\, and that ou
 r public spaces are the political arenas in which narrative discourses com
 pete. In recent years public space has become the site of a proxy war betw
 een white-supremacists and anti-fascist protesters in the West\, with stat
 ues of notorious slavers being torn down in the UK and confederate monumen
 ts removed in the US. Now\, more than ever\, we need to assess the narrati
 ves and language of our public monuments and devise a new\, more inclusive
  visual language for the future. As an artist and designer in public space
 \, I have often used narrative theory\, community participation and future
  foresight in my methodology for inclusive and unifying public art. In thi
 s short talk I will present two series of public artworks I completed betw
 een 2013 and 2022 in the US\, UK and S. Korea - focussing on employment ri
 ghts\, site-specific reflection and the interplay between physical and met
 a-physical. \n\nSpeaker biography:\nAlexander Augustus (born 1988\, Cardif
 f\, UK) is a British artist best known for his narrative-based commentary.
  Augustus builds imaginary worlds and populates them with sculptures\, sto
 ries\, characters and surroundings. His work attempts to create operatic i
 nstallations which are comprised of classic methods: bronze-casting\, wood
 block\, textiles\, metalwork\, film and theatre\, combined with digital me
 dia such as CAD\, 3D modelling\, augmented reality\, VR and audio. His wor
 k typically deals with the social issues he cares about\; his solo show at
  Somerset House (London) dealt with the alienation and despair of young un
 employment\, and was subsequently archived in the National Portrait Galler
 y. His architectural steel birds in Seoul and Berlin are permanent public 
 sculptures commenting on the politics of borders. His installation work st
 reamed into Tate Modern imaginatively explores issues of future religious 
 colonialism. Having studied Anthropology\, Art History and Archaeology at 
 the University of East Anglia\, then Spatial Design at Central Saint Marti
 ns College of Art and Design\, he is now studying Design and Technology Ed
 ucation at Darwin College\, the University of Cambridge.
LOCATION:1 Newnham Terrace\, Darwin College
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