Artist Nick Cave’s Vibrant 'Augment' Inflatables To Come Down

A year before “Black Joy Day” was declared in Boston, prolific Black artist Nick Cave led a “Joy Parade” from the South End to Upham’s Corner in Dorchester. Aspiring to bridge the two communities, hundreds of local artists, costumed street performers and members of the public flooded the streets with exuberance. The event was part of a larger effort spearheaded by nonprofit Now + There in collaboration with Design Studio for Social Intervention (ds4si) among others to engage the public around Cave’s multipart work “Augment,” anchored in togetherness, assemblage and finding joy in sadness. Full of bright billowing inflatable spiders, birthday cakes, horns and more, the piece — first displayed at the Boston Center for the Arts’ Cyclorama and now at Upham’s Corner — feels both joyful and dark. Soon though, on Oct. 19, Cave’s celebrated larger-than-life inflatables portion of “Augment” will come down.

But what does it mean for a neighborhood when art is removed or uninstalled?

Lori Lobenstine, program lead at ds4si says, “I think there's a sense of loss.” But the process around the removal matters too. That’s why Lobenstine and her team along with Now + There have been trying to get the word out. She was relieved to hear that the second part of “Augment,” the bold building wrap at 555 Columbia Rd. in which Cave incorporated the art of local residents, “is staying up as long as it looks good,” she says. Read more.

With 'Code Listen,' A Violinist Brings Police And Citizens Together To Address Gun Violence And Race In Boston

On the third floor of the Center for Teen Empowerment in Roxbury, more than a dozen people, including youth, local police officers and moms who’ve lost their children to gun violence, gather in a too warm room. In the bright, cobalt blue and brick-walled space, they embrace, devour pizza and chat easily before the official agenda. Once it begins, smaller groups form to recite poems, monologues and stories around grief, forgiveness and motivation.

"I became a police officer so there’d be one less of those [kinds of cops] on the street," says Jeremiah Benton, as he recalls getting harassed by police as a teenager in Dorchester.

Benton, a member of the force for nearly 30 years, and the others have been working together — with classical violinist and composer, Shaw Pong Liu — to find common ground through the "Code Listen" project.

Liu's civic arts initiative leverages the transformative power of music, storytelling and performance to support healing and spark dialogue around gun violence, race and law enforcement practices in Boston.