Glenn Ligon - On Double America

Glenn Ligon explains the significance of his work “Double America” on loan to the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Madrid from 2013-2016. “I was thinking about how america and democracy has always had this sense of opposition showing tremendous promise and also tremendous amount of things wrong, things that need to be fixed, to be worked on.

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this is really the word what that word means
to various viewers both here in america and
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abroad. i was thinking about how america and
democracy has always had this sense of opposition
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showing tremendous promise and also tremendous
amount of things wrong, things that need to
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be fixed, to be worked on. Good. Neon is an
interesting medium because it is sculptural,
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and I don’t think of that I really do sculpture
but use language a lot, so it is a way of
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using language in a sculptural manner. the
Art in Embassies program is an interesting
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way to think about the breadth of american
culture. Embassies in most people’s imaginations
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are the places to go to get your passport
or get a visa, they don’t think of them as
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sites of culture, but I think they are sites
of culture…