Special to the Patriot-Bridge
As part of the ongoing activation and public programming at Lot Lab 2024 in the Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston Public Art Triennial is hosting two free public events this month to delve deeper into the meaning and magnitude of works.
Lot Lab is a free, outdoor, 24/7 experimentation zone for site-specific contemporary public art and part of the year-long programming of the Triennial, formerly known as Now + There. The three artists whose work is being presented in the Navy Yard are: Matthew Okazaki, Ifé Franklin, and Hugh Hayden. To discuss the history and art installations further, the public is invited to attend two public conversations this month in Boston:
• Let’s Talk: History, Public Memory, and Imagination: Sept. 14 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Charlestown Branch of the Boston Public Library, 179 Main Street, Boston. The discussion will center around untold stories, historical trauma, and how we can work to remember the difficult histories by acknowledging their realities while transforming them with love, empathy, and imagination. Featured speakers include artists Dell Marie Hamilton and Angela Counts in conversation with Nicole Aljoe, PhD, Africana Studies professor at Northeastern University and moderated by Kyera Singleton, Executive Director of Royall House and Slave Quarters in Medford.
• In Conversation: Hugh Hayden: Tuesday, Sept. 24 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at WBUR CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Ave. Boston. Join Lot Lab artist Hugh Hayden in conversation with WBUR arts reporter Arielle Gray about the artist’s work and practice as embodied in the comprehensive survey, Hugh Hayden: Home Work at the Rose Art Museum as well as his Lot Lab installation, Gulf Stream (2022), presented by the Triennial, and Huff and a Puff (2023) at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.
Lot Lab 2024 is part of the Triennial’s annual event, designed to shift an underutilized space into one where art and community come together. Lot Lab is a continuation of the Triennial’s collaboration with the National Park Service and is also part of the City of Boston’s “Un-monument | Re-monument | De-Monument: Transforming Boston,” a program of temporary artworks, public talks, and engagement activities supported by the Mellon Foundation’s Monument Project. This year’s theme, Presence, guides the three artists as they explore cultural symbols and hidden histories in Charlestown.