The Score | IndianapoliS
2018-2020
THE SCORE | Indianapolis responds to the legacy of monuments in Indianapolis, as well as the city’s relationship to change -- ranging from climate change to cultural shifts. The Score is installed at the Indianapolis Judicial Center, where it is mainly seen by police, judges, and people facing incarceration. In this context, it brings the monolithic nature of the police state into question and announces that enduring justice is a tool held in the hands of communities. The Score makes space for diverse emergent future.
This project is made possible through the Arts and Humanities Institute at IUPUI, in partnership with Ignition Arts, iMOCA, People for Urban Progress, and PRINTtEXT. City State is generously supported by the Central Indiana Community Foundation, Eskenazi Health, IndyGo and Blue Indy.
THE STONE
A block of limestone was quarried from southern Indiana in the early twentieth century. For the last 50 years, it was a cornerstone of an iconic fountain in front of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. When the museum recently changed mission and vision, the fountain was removed. Given a new life, the stone is now etched with score marks which will eventually crack along these lines. Installed in a public place, the piece reveals the impermanence of power and the malleability of a city.
THE TOOLS
20 sets of traditional quarrying tools are forged with metal reclaimed from Indianaolis’s first piece of public sculpture. As part of an artist-designed community process exploring who and what will shape the future, the tools will be distributed to local activists, advocates, neighborhood leaders, and engaged citizens. Although simple and archaic, the tools hold immense power as both destructive and creative. They serve as a gift and an implication for community leadership to disrupt the culture of gentrification and erasure.
EXHIBITION: The Score
Indianapolis Contemporary will host an exhibition in tandem with the unveiling of The Score. The gallery will feature large drawings and 20 sets of quarrying tools. Selected community members will be invited to relocate the tools to their neighborhoods and organizations, representing a slow redistribution of power among the citizens of Indianapolis.
COMMUNITY LISTENING
The Score emerged through Nina’s role as a City State Resident where community listening sessions led to the relationships and connections that facilitated her creative engagement with the future of the city. Listening sessions were organized and hosted by: Kheprw Institute, IndyConverge, Hoy Poly, People for Urban Progress, Ball State School of Urban Planning, Indianapolis Art and Humanities Institute, the Art and Ethics public seminar, and several engaged citizens groups.
DRAWINGS
The land was shaped by the planet’s most recent glaciation, the Wisconsin Ice Sheet, only 16,000 years ago. Underneath the city is one of the most dynamic parts of the Earth. Nina’s large scale drawings explore the geologic history of Indianapolis, illustrating how quarries reveal an often hidden history of change.
