About

Spectres of Liberty is an on-going public, hybrid media project about the history of the movement to abolish slavery in the United States. Through this project we explore the following questions: How do we make visible histories of people and movements which resisted a status quo of oppression? What are the best forms to manifest submerged and complex collective memories? How do artists interact with a public in meaningful ways to animate the history of specific locations?

Our first iteration of this project took place in May 2008 and was entitled The Ghost of the Liberty Street Church. Built in 1840 in Troy, New York, the Liberty Street Church was an important meeting place for organizers of the Underground Railroad. The Church’s first Reverend, Henry Highland Garnet, was internationally known for his militant orations and publications calling on people to actively participate in the fight to end slavery. From old photos of the site provided by the Rensselaer Historical Society, we created an inflatable 1:1 scale model of the church and installed it at its former location, which is currently a parking lot. We animated this ghost church through video projections, sound, and digital animations representing Henry Highland Garnet and his words. The church provided a theatre in which to hold a cultural event that brought community members to think more deeply about the space, its history, and its relevancy for today.

The next iteration of Spectres of Liberty will be in Syracuse, New York, another important abolitionist site. This version of the project is tentatively entitled, The Great Central Depot, based on Syracuse's reputation as an important stop on the Underground Railroad and the road to freedom from slavery. Through research, we will develop a project that highlights anti-slavery activists from this area. We will work with the "central depot" metaphor used by abolitionists to visualize this history in a manner that will resonate with today's audiences. Interpretations, form and specific content for this public work will develop as the project progresses. We are partnered with the Community Folk Art Center to develop The Great Central Depot.

Spectres of Liberty is a project by Dara Greenwald, Josh MacPhee, and Olivia Robinson. Our hybrid work emerges from a practice that combines expanded cinema, relational aesthetics, situated and community practices, as well as media such as digital animation, video, inflatable sculpture, web, text, and print.