Erika D. Smith: Being Part of the Process May Come at a Price to Art

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR
By Erika Smith

INDIANA--It’s been more than two years since Fred Wilson has set foot in Indianapolis. I wasn’t sure he’d ever come back. The last time he was here, it wasn’t pretty. The New York artist, known for creating racially provocative exhibits for other cities, was lambasted by our city’s black community for his “reimagined” sculpture of the slave on Downtown’s Soldiers and Sailors Monument. But there he was on Friday, surrounded by academics at IUPUI’s Art, Race, Space Symposium, trying to make the best of bad circumstances. A new initiative is afoot, one that will culminate next year in a community-approved piece of art that will be installed somewhere along the Cultural Trail. Public meetings started last week and continue next month to collect ideas about what kind of art would best represent black culture in Indianapolis. [link]