Co-Thickculturite, Don Waisanen had a great post a while back about the political effect of public signage. here’s another jarringly effective example of what I’ll call “engaged public space.”
This tally of military suicides is outside the studio of Brooklyn artist Sebastian Errasuriz. Its power comes from its simplicity.
BTW, if you have some free time, check Don out on the latest Sociology Improv podcast.
Also, take some time to read through fellow-Thickculturan Russell Stockard’s compelling reflections on his current trip to Haiti.
Finally, if you need some bedtime reading material, here’s one of my articles just published in the Journal of Public Deliberation.
Comments 2
D — October 14, 2010
My initial reaction is that these numbers are taken out of context, so many more soldiers have died in combat, why only highlight 2009 numbers? My follow up thought is what are those numbers compared to how many people have deployed to combat over the past 8-10 years or even in 2009 alone. My next question is does that suicide and death rate include both Afghanistan and Iraq?
And my final thought is, even though these questions never seem to be addressed and the general population is completely unaware of the answers, I guess none of those questions are really relevant to the artwork. Every life lost, whether it be in the fight or the fight thereafter, matters and it's time for the rest of our soldiers to come home and heal.
Thank you for sharing. Keep us in your thoughts.
With love from Basra,
-Sgt D.
jose — October 15, 2010
Thanks for your comments... I suppose it's hard to capture all that through public art, but you raise important points.
Thank you for your service.