In 2018, we planned Now + There’s annual themes for 2019-2021 with an arc of highlighting inequities and animating egalitarian and democratic action.
We intentionally left the content prompts undefined, so our selected artists could choose which social issues they’d highlight. We also ceded to them how we, as participants in their work, could mobilize for change. (Our favorite so far has been a parade.)
We did and still do trust in the process of letting artists set the conditions for how we build a public art city, one that uses the power of art to open difficult conversations that provoke, heal, and unite.
Through fictionalizing our realities, inviting us to play, or complicating issues humans naturally force into simplified binaries, artists reflect our existence in a nuanced way we wouldn’t accept if were more plainly stated. (“That’s not us, we’re not racist,” we might say.) Today, as we move into 2021, we call on artists and their ability to live in ambiguity, take risks, and question the status quo to help reinterpret this reality we find ourselves in. To help bring us back to a place where fact can be told from fiction and where we can co-create equitable communities.
What N+T anticipated would happen from 2019 to 2021 and what did occur is still open to interpretation and translation, and historians will help us get there. But as early as May 2020, we began to reconsider the curatorial theme for 2021 as we observed and sat with how over-simplistic we’d made our three years themes.
2019’s theme was “New Codes,” meant to explore how art can recalibrate power structures to be more equitable, accessible, and joyful.
That year, Boston celebrated images of two proud young Black children with Problak’s then-largest mural to date, Breathe Life 3. We amplified Back joy and augmented community involvement in Upham’s Corner’s development with Nick Cave’s Augment and Joy Parade.
Anticipating a contentious US Presidential election, we set 2020’s curatorial theme as “Shared Power.”
Justin Favela kicked us off with a piñata-inspired tapestry, jokingly reminding us that not all Latin American food is “Mexican.” And yet, it was never just a joke — it’s a testament to how pervasively White European-centric views are embedded in American culture. The rest of 2020, from March 13th on, was a blur for us as much as it was for you. We stopped pretending we had any answers about how to make temporary public art. Instead, we listened to 32 passionate people share their fears and hopes for a more equitable Boston through the virtual program N+T Asks.
We completed two incredibly poignant projects about power and how very few people actually share in it. Sari Carel’s The Shape of Play with JArts, open in June, asked us: “who feels free to play?” not only across the history of Jewish culture but in the face of physical distancing. It also asked us to consider who feels free to exist, to simply be free from harm, in our public spaces. This as the nationwide #TakeItDown movement — a call to remove statues of racism, oppression, and violence — was reignited across the country and as Boston’s statue of Christopher Columbus in C.C. Park was removed. With the artist and partners, we were thrust into a conversation about who decides the visual iconography presented in the public realm.
Jose Dávila’s To Each Era Its Art. To Art, Its Freedom. was quietly installed around the US Presidential election. Its balancing rocks on formed concrete await physical distancing restrictions to subside to ignite more activity and deeper dialogue about art’s ability to embody freedom.
2021’s theme was supposed to be “Mobilization.”
See how that would work? Show some faces not usually seen in contemporary art, question power structures, and then take to the streets and make change. By 2022 we’d be a more open, equitable, and vibrant city — all neat and tidy.
But we all know what happened.
A pandemic hit. And while we were all inside and digitally connected, we once again witnessed the state-sanctioned murder of Black people, over and over. There were calls for racial justice, protests, and changes in municipal funding and government leadership. Today, we’re weathering a pandemic that is tightening its grip. And after January 6, Americans acknowledge domestic terrorists live among us, desiring to dismantle our democracy. In their faces, in those of us who are white, and in our systems of power, we see the White Supremacy that we must dismantle to rebuild our country.
So here’s where we are today, as a six-year-old arts organization founded to wield artistic risk-taking, community engagement, and the power of temporary, public art to create a culture shift.
We are reinterpreting everything we do, say, and create symbolically with a new curatorial theme for the year, and systemically with a strategic plan to build a more open and equitable organization.
You’ve heard this elsewhere, and we believe it to be true: 2021 will be a year of rebuilding. Small businesses have been crushed, and many of us are holding our breath to see how our economy holds up. Our children need education that accommodates their needs and those of their working parents. Black people, Indigenous people, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ communities need to be safe from violence and oppression. All deserve structures that empower them into leadership positions.
It’s time to reevaluate where we are as a society and how we got here. Before we imagine bold new futures and mobilize for change, we need to pause and completely reinterpret our reality.
We need to be both optimistic and pragmatic, which is why Now + There’s curatorial theme for 2021 is "The Way We Could Be: A Year of Reinterpreting.”
From our inception, we have held to the value that “we are brave.” That “we” is every artist, team and board member, financial contributor, content partner, and human who interacts with our work. I believe being open is one of the bravest things we can do right now. And I invite you on the journey of 2021 — one of opening minds, conversations, and spaces with public art.
It’s going to be a very long ride. But we hope we can look back in December 2021 with some glimmers of hope for how we could be and boldness to do so much more.
As we enter a new year and reinterpret what it means to be a public art city, I ask you to share your thoughts. What artworks and what questions should we be proposing? What neighborhoods can we support with our work? And who should be part of the conversation? Find me or any of our dedicated team members online. Or connect with us on N+T Asks starting February 4. And please, show up! There are five projects up right now and many, many more to come in 2021.