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E Pluribus Unum
Artist	Fred Wilson
Year	2011
Type	Limestone
Dimensions	3.0 m × 3.7 m (10 ft × 12 ft)
Location	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Owner	Indianapolis Cultural Trail

E Pluribus Unum is a future public artwork by American artist Fred Wilson, which will be located along the Indianapolis Cultural Trail at the northeast corner of Delaware and Washington streets, near the City County Building in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Funded solely by private donations and fundraising by the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), the sculpture was scheduled to be unveiled on September 22, 2011, the 149th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's initial reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to members of his Cabinet. However, due to an increase of public opposition to the project beginning in September 2010, the future of the statue will depend on the output generated from a series of community meetings in 2011. The sculpture could be installed in mid-2012.

Design

E Pluribus Unum, named after the Latin phrase meaning "Out of many, one," will be a re-contextualized reproduction of the nameless, semi-nude African-American male sculpture seated at the base of the west facade of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in downtown Indianapolis. Wilson submitted only one entry to the Indianapolis Cultural Trail committee and the design proposal of E Pluribus Unum was accepted without modification.

"Rather than creating a statue of a contemporary person as the “new heroic African American” for Indiana, it was more interesting and appropriate to reanimate the existing image. I wanted to give this nameless man a purpose and his own place in Indianapolis. It is also a vehicle for the populous to notice him, ask the questions I have asked, and to ponder the history of Indiana and Indianapolis."

—Fred Wilson, in his early description of E Pluribus Unum

The replica of the African American figure will be slightly enlarged to nearly 15 feet high and created in Indiana limestone. The African American figure will remain seated, but will be tilted forward in an upright position. Additionally, Wilson will substitute of a flag of his own design for the pair of broken manacles lifted upward in the right hand of the formerly enslaved figure. The multicolored flag is a composite of African flags and the African diaspora, and was inspired by the designs of African African quilts and African fabric. The positioning of the flagpole was inspired by the Marine Corps War Memorial, also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial, in Washington, D.C.

Once isolated from the Soldiers and Soldiers Monument, the sculpture will sit atop a granite, three-tier pedestal that will stand six feet above the ground. . This base is designed to complement the materials and design present in the City County Building's civic plaza as well as provide seating for visitors. The granite slabs of the pedestal will be removable to allow etching of the names of influential African Americans chosen by residents of Indianapolis, such as African American war heroes or community advocates. Wilson envisions this process to be an annual event, with the hope of establishing E Pluribus Unum as a living memorial that maintains an ongoing relationship with the Indianapolis community. At night, a series of lights will illuminate the sculpture.

Like his previous installations, E Pluribus Unum will focus attention on the institutional framing of cultural difference. As an artist, Wilson creates shifts in meaning by manipulating the context of existing objects rather than physically altering the objects themselves.

Location

The sculpture will be located on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail at the northeast corner of Delaware and Washington streets, near the City County Building. The site was selected by Wilson for its visibility from all angles on the Cultural Trail and its lack of a visual point of interest. Some opponents of the artwork's location are concerned about the statue's close proximity to the Marion County Jail, pointing to current racial disparities in mass incarceration in the United States.

Wilson hopes that the proximity of the proposed location for the artwork to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument will encourage visitors to think about the relationship between the two sculptures. In Wilson's words, "I try to bring the invisible into view." One of the sites available on the Cultural Trail was located near the grounds of the Indiana Statehouse at 200 West Washington Street in Indianapolis. However, Wilson decided against placing his artwork among monuments depicting important Hoosiers and events related to the State of Indiana:

"...they’re of so called great people, great men, and mine is a sculpture. It’s not a monument. It’s not of a specific person. And I felt that my project should be seen as an artwork, rather than a monument. With the notion that this would be a catalyst for asking the question, and then following up that, with why are there no other images of African Americans in monument form -- and if they were to be done, they should be done at the Statehouse and other locations.”

— Fred Wilson, interview with WTLC-AM radio talk show, "Afternoons with Amos.",

Artist

Main article: Fred Wilson (artist)

Wilson describes himself as of "African, Native American, European and Amerindian" descent. He received a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant in 1999 and the Larry Aldrich Foundation Award in 2003 and represented the United States at the Biennial Cairo in 1992 and the Venice Biennale in 2003.

Wilson's work examines, questions, and deconstructs the traditional display of art and artifacts in museums. With the use of new wall labels, sounds, lighting, and non-traditional pairings of objects, he leads viewers to recognize that changes in context create changes in meaning. Wilson's juxtaposition of evocative objects forces the viewer to question the biases and limitations of cultural institutions and how they have shaped the interpretation of historical truth, artistic value, and the language of display.

Background information

In his visits to Indianapolis, Wilson found that there was only one, unnamed African-American represented in the city's many memorials and sculptures.The formerly enslaved African American figure appears at the base of the Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, a 284 ft. 6 in. commemoration of the US Civil War, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War and the Mexican-American War. Some suggest that with the passage of time the commemorative nature of war memorials has been replaced with a more utilitarian purpose, such as city beautification.. Consequently, the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument is said to symbolize both the city of Indianapolis and the state of Indiana. While others argue that there is nothing more invisible than monuments, some art historians suggest that art can be utilized as a vehicle for racist ideology.

Peace group

Detail of the west facade of the monument (ca. 1904) showing the seated figure that Wilson will use at the center of sculptural group

The original figure of E Pluribus Unum, a formerly enslaved African American man, is seated among a 250-ton sculpture known as the Peace group, which was designed by Hermann Matzen and carved by German sculptor Rudolf Schwarz from fifty five separate blocks of limestone. In the center of the Peace group, a female figure known as both "Liberty" and "Angel of Peace" holds a Union (American Civil War) shield and a flag wrapped in an olive branch. On the shield are the words E pluribus unum, which offers the sculpture its namesake. However, for Wilson the phrase references Africa and the Black Diaspora. She is flanked by a blacksmith sitting on an anvil, who represents industry; a sheaf of wheat, which represents agriculture; and a homecoming of soldiers, whose lack of headgear symbolically illustrates the end of the war. At her feet sits the freed African American male figure, whose positioning reflects a common trope in nineteenth century American sculpture that depicts African Americans kneeling in gratitude while holding broken manacles or discarded whips. These post-Reconstruction era of the United States depictions of formerly enslaved people, often shown with uncertain, upward gazes aimed toward their liberators, minimized African American efforts and sacrifices in obtaining freedom and instead interpreted the Emancipation Proclamation as an act of white benevolence.

Fabrication

In 2009 the figure was digitally scanned to create a three-dimensional image of the original figure. The process of creating a computer model was completed in one evening using a hand-held laser scanning system. The data will be sent to a computer-controlled stone cutting machine for a rough cut of the sculpture in Indiana limestone. This material was chosen for E Pluribus Unum because of its prominence in Indianapolis architecture in the late nineteenth century and to reflect the state's geological heritage. Like the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, many official buildings and monuments in downtown Indianapolis are constructed with Indiana limestone. After the figure is cut from the stone, an artist will refine the sculpture's more detailed areas.

Multiple copies of Wilson's flag will be constructed by professional flag makers if needed for replacement. The Brooklyn, New York foundry that fabricated the flagpole for the Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) will be constructing the flagpole for E Pluribus Unum.

Public dialogue

Wilson often incorporates social dialogue into the development of his artworks. He first considers projects with a connection to the culture and history of a place and then engages in talks with the museum or community that he's working with in order to enhance the work's meaning within that context.

A series of public discussions took place in 2009 and 2010, beginning with his first introduction of the project on February 25, 2009. Held at the historic Madame Walker Theatre in the Indiana Avenue district in Indianapolis, Wilson discussed his prior work and unveiled the digital rendering for E Pluribus Unum. The following year Wilson returned to Indianapolis for further talks with the community, including an event in April 2010 at Crispus Attucks High School and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

After opinions of the proposed artwork became more heated in September 2010, an additional public talk was organized on October 19 at the Madame Walker Theatre. It was at this point that the discussion became more controversial in nature and began to attract attention from arts critics on a national level.

In his initial reaction to the heated response at the Madame Walker Theatre Wilson responded, "Having dialogue, having the discussion happen, having people tell me what they thought was really a good thing." In an interview with modern art critic Tyler Green, Wilson further elaborated, "Everyone in Indianapolis has been great to me and respectful and thrilled with what I do, but even people who are against (E Pluribus Unum) seem to still respect me and my work. They just don’t like this one." Wilson explained that promoting discourse in a large city like Indianapolis is much different than in a museum, which is a more finite environment. In earlier community talks in 2009 and early 2010, Wilson and the CICF had had little success in creating an ongoing dialogue. It wasn't until the discussion around the artwork took a more controversial turn that a larger portion of the city began to take notice. Wilson explained, "With a city, you realize — or I have come to realize - that as many groups as you speak to there are other groups. You can’t ever reach everyone. So I’m just really thrilled that there’s engagement and talk about art."

Reception

Historical context

In the past, others have voiced their opinions of the freed slave depicted on the Soldiers and Sailors' Monument. Freeman Henry Morris Murray (1859-1950), an African American art historian who earned his living as a typesetter and as a lecturer, offered an early condemnation of Indianapolis' representation of African Americans in public art. In Emancipation and the Freed in American Sculpture (1916), Murray charges that with the symbolic and figurative overload of the Peace group and its sister composite, the War group on the east facade of the monument, the African American figure appears as an insulting, last-minute addition:

"It reminds me of the 'grand finale' of our old country tableau-exhibitions, in which finale (illuminated by red fire) we would try to introduce every character that had been used in the preceding 'pictures' -- from 'Mother Goose' to the 'Angel of the Resurrection,' and from 'Columbus' to 'Uncle Tom and Eva' -- adding, of course, 'Uncle Sam' and 'Columbia' with the Flag, and as many other characters as we were able to costume and could crowd on the stage." “I feel an impulse to seize this 'super' by his dangling foot and slide him gently off into oblivion -- or else say to him, as sternly as I can: 'Awake, awake, put on thy strength... shake thyself from the dust; arise.' You deserve a place at Liberty's side, not at her feet. Assist her soberly to uphold the Flag, while others rejoice; for, but for your strong right arm the Flag would even now perhaps be trailing in the dust!”

— Freeman Henry Morris Murray,

Controversy

In September 2010 controversy surrounding the sculpture intensified when The Indianapolis Recorder published a letter to the editor criticizing the artwork. The editorial questioned the re-contextualization of a sculpture that poorly depicts the African American community. The debate continued on the local Amos Brown radio show , leading it to gain even more attention on local news broadcasts.

Due to the increasingly heated dialogue, the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) organized an additional talk between Wilson and the Indianapolis community, which was held on October 19, 2010 at the Madame Walker Theatre. Those opposing the sculpture were against its location and its representation of an African American man as shirtless and shoeless, pointing to the "painful reality that black men continue to be enslaved by crime, racism and poverty which leads to disproportionately high numbers behind bars." After initial opening remarks and Wilson reintroducing his work to the crowd, the meeting became increasingly heated when an organized group opposing the sculpture spoke out. Indianapolis Cultural Trail curator Mindy Taylor Ross stated, "It was just one of those situations where there are hundreds of people there and the loudest voices get heard and everyone else gets drowned out."

- Discuss point about being a public artwork. People respect him but want his work in a museum.
- Describe positive reaction in Amos Brown radio interview.
- Point out Tyler Green's "Top Artworks of 2010"

Indianapolis Cultural Trail

E Pluribus Unum was commissioned by the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) to be included in the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. The Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene and Marilyn Glick, a $63 million privately-funded project, is an urban pedestrian and bike path connecting the city's five cultural districts: Indiana Avenue, Massachusetts Avenue, Fountain Square, the Wholesale District and the Canal and White River State Park. A total of $2 million has been invested for new public artwork along these cultural districts in Indianapolis. The curatorial advisory committee for the Cultural Trail is composed of representatives from the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indiana State Museum, and other cultural organizations in city.

Progress on E Pluribus Unum has been on hold since October 2010. At that time $51,000 of Wilson's $325,000 commission for E Pluribus Unum had been paid. In January 2011, the sculpture was awarded $50,000 in project support from the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation. The annual Joyce Foundation grant supports community engagements and the development of dance, music, theater, and visual arts by artists color in major Midwestern United States cities. The grant will be used to fund part of Wilson's commission as well as public outreach about the artwork. This outreach will consist of discussions lead by local art educators and the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee's Race and Cultural Relations Leadership Network, with each session limited to 20 participants. The $50,000 grant will be returned to the Joyce Foundation if the sculpture is not created.

External links

• Fred Wilson biography on Art21