Taubman College faculty and fellows have been named 2022–23 Public Art & Engagement Fellows by the Arts Initiative, a program that promotes engagement with the arts on and outside campus. The 18-month fellowship explores the topic of monuments, memorials, and collective memories through the lens of history, public art, and justice. The Taubman College awardees are Anca Trandafirescu, associate professor of architecture; Kevin Bernard Moultrie Daye, spatial and racial justice architecture fellow; and Vyta Pivo, Michigan Society of Fellows architecture fellow.  

Led by Curator-in-Residence Paul Farber, the fellowship will launch on Oct. 17 with a trip to Philadelphia, where fellows will explore the changing definitions of monuments and memorials. Farber is the director of Monument Labs, a Philadelphia-based non-profit committed to cultivating critical conversations around the past, present, and future of monuments. 

The residency emphasizes interdisciplinary study, with this year’s fellows coming from diverse studies and departments. The Arts Initiative will provide support for their travels and facilitate sessions led by Farber and guest cultural experts. Fellows will also engage with local and regional institutions to learn the ways they grapple with the stories told through their public art and acknowledge the stories that have been left out of shared histories. 

This fellowship is a partnership between the U-M Museum of Art and Monument Lab, marking the beginning of a wider set of U-M programs that will explore the theme of Michigan monuments and facilitate related research and creative practice.