98
Ahearn’s assimilative model based in community interaction—isolates some of the terms of that rethinking. Tilted Arc is a seminal instance of a nonassimilative, oppositional mode of site specificity that, while vilified by many, has been lauded by others for its critical capacity to challenge the prevailing tendency of public art to cover over the many contradictions that underlie public space. John Ahearn’s project in the South Bronx, while contrarily an assimilative and integrationist effort, simi-
< >
Richard Serra, Tilted Arc, Federal Plaza, New York, 1981–1989. (Photo by Susan Swidler; © Richard Serra/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.) Walton Avenue block party for inauguration of Back to School mural, Bronx, New York, September 3, 1985. (Photo by Ivan Dalla Tana; courtesy Alexander and Bonin Gallery, New York.)