the truly restorative aspect of an official public redevelopment programme of historical statues

Question

Does the highlighted sentence mean:1. The artist represents an agonistic show of the lack of social cohesion2. This show is based on the restorative aspect of a public program that redevelopes historical statuesContext:For an exemplification of this process, see Rosalyn Deutsche’s exhaustive analysis of Wodizcko’s Homeless Projection proposal for Union Square Park, New York City. In it she identifies the truly restorative aspect of an official public redevelopment programme of historical statues to be the artist’s agonistic exposure of a lacking social cohesion.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

I don't think your interpretation is correct. I would need more context.

Catttt · Answer

Hi. It is a short description in the Notes section of the book I am reading. This is the whole text of the note:

note 15. For an exemplification of this process, see Rosalyn Deutsche’s exhaustive analysis of Wodizcko’s Homeless Projection proposal for Union Square Park, New York City. In it she identifies the truly restorative aspect of an official public redevelopment programme of historical statues to be the artist’s agonistic exposure of a lacking social cohesion. Wodiczko’s practice could be viewed as an instance of situationist detournement in the way it reconfigures institutional signifiers ‘against themselves’ as a means of drawing attention to ironies and contradictions within public sculpture and built form.

and this is the main text of the book that this note could be seen with number 15 at the end of which:

Community is premised effectively on its ‘impossibility’, then, on recognising its limits and limitations or, indeed, its ‘lack of identity’. As Nancy himself puts it: ‘Being in common has nothing to do with communion, with fusion into a body, into a unique and ultimate identity that would no longer be exposed. Being in common means, to the contrary, no longer having, in any form, in any empirical or ideal place, such a substantial identity’. Being ‘inoperative’ – the English translation for Nancy’s use of the term d´esoeuvre – implies a self-reflexive un-working or un-doing in which the self-imposed questioning of the terms by which a given social grouping establishes its own legitimacy is the only thing, indeed, that might confirm it as legitimate. So art’s function within the context of urbanity is to facilitate, as Kwon puts it, a ‘critical unsiting’ (2004: 155). In other words: a being put to un-work in the city (15).

And, I just found some information about this artwork by Wodizcko. Seemingly, a decision was made to evict the homless from New York city. In reaction to this decision Wodizcko projects images of the homeless on the buildings and statues of Union Square Park.

SoSaysSunny · Answer

Sometimes you can't see the sentence for all the words. So let's do some pruning.

Chopped into info nuggets:

In it
she identifies
the ~~truly restorative~~ aspect (restorative˜ healing)
of a~~n official public redevelopment~~ programme
~~of historical statues~~
to be
the ~~artist’s agonistic~~ exposure (agonistic˜ painful, exposure˜ revealing portrait)
of ~~a lacking socia~~l cohesion. (lacking social cohesion˜ strife)

She identifies the (healing) aspect (of the project) to be the exposure (revealing portrait) of strife.

My paraphrase:

Her analysis identifies
the healing part of the project
to be
the artist's painful depiction of strife.

Or, More Clearly:

Her analysis identifies
the artist's painful depiction of strife
to be
the healing part of the project

My understanding:

After researching the historical statue project, she thinks the artist's painful portrait of strife helps the community to heal.

the truly restorative aspect of an official public redevelopment programme of historical statues

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Sometimes you can't see the sentence for all the words. So let's do some pruning.

Chopped into info nuggets:

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