On June 3, artists and art world leaders met at the SVA Theatre for Unearthing Public Art, Madison Square Park Conservancy’s annual symposium.

Inspired by Cristina Iglesias’ Landscape and Memory, this year’s symposium considered the ways artists working in the public realm are unearthing concepts and materials, artifacts and ephemera, at and just below the surface of civilization to guide their work.

The symposium began with a panel discussion moderated by arts and culture journalist and New York Times contributor Ted Loos. During the discussion, Ian Alteveer (Aaron I. Fleischman Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art) and artists Alice Aycock, Maren Hassinger, and Kennedy Yanko explored vital questions surrounding how their work presents and questions natural and cultural progress.

The keynote conversation, Excavating History: Landscape and Memory was between artist Cristina Iglesias, whose Landscape and Memory is currently on view in Madison Square Park, and Lynne Cooke, Senior Curator of Special Projects in Modern Art at the National Gallery of Art. They explored Iglesias’ work over decades and how her projects—often including water as a material—have a resolve to will the viewer to look at and below the ground plane.

The audience then listened to presentations by Alan Michelson (Artist, Mohawk member, Six Nations of the Grand River) and Mark Wigley (Professor of Architecture and Dean Emeritus, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University). To conclude the program, Deborah Landau (Poet and Professor and Director of Creative Writing Program, New York University) read three poems from her work that consider the depths of human experience.

Madison Square Park Conservancy is grateful to all the symposium’s exceptional participants for their contributions. We would also like to thank all those who were in attendance for their in-person presence and thoughtful questions throughout the program. SVA Theatre welcomes our symposium annually to their auditorium. We thank our colleagues at SVA for their partnership. Madison Square Park Conservancy is grateful to The Henry Luce Foundation whose generous support makes this event possible.

A complete video of the proceeding will be posted shortly.