"Art in the Public Space: A New Form of Institutional Nomadism", in Alves, Ana, et.al., Public Art: Place, Context, Participation ( Lisboa: IHA - FCSH/UNL, 2018). (original) (raw)
Related papers
2011
The rapid development of the big European cities in the XXth century and the change of the traditional city into a metropolis ga ve birth not only to an extraordinary dynamic artistic culture but also to a culture of i nterpreting, dedicated to the study and explanation of these urban phenomena and their soci al effects. The aim of this paper is to build a bridge between various practices of contemp orary art as they can be found in public art (to be more specific: site-specific art, as we ill see) and a series of disciplines dealing with the studying of urban space: urban sociology, human geography and the anthropology of the everyday, all inspired by critical theories of culture and society. From this point on, we will be able to meditate upon public art’s role in the urban public space.
The City as a Free Art Gallery. The Relationship Between the Exhibit and the Exhibition Space
Space&FORM, 2021
The city is an artwork in itself, as its urban and architectural structure creates unique spaces that offer emotions and experiences on various scales. Details and sculptures are used to build the city’s nature and recognisability. The paper presents an approach to the city as an exhibition, where the relationship between the environment and the displayed object is created. What is the contemporary role of these works of art, such as sculpture, in urban space? Do they only fill the space or commemorate historical facts, or were they consciously arranged in relationship with their surroundings to create unique values?
Public space and its many possible uses hold a central position in human life and the functioning of a society. Public space – whether as a real site, a representation or an imaginary vision – is also the place where different aesthetics develop, are presented and confronted to one another. This course will explore the relation between public space and the visual and spatial arts, in three major articulations. The first will interrogate public space as a (partly) aesthetic conception, both when new spaces are created and when existing ones are modified. Different scales and different degrees of ambition will be examined, from the Spanish Steps in Rome to the paving of the streets of Lausanne. The second axis will deal with the presence of artworks in public space, taking an interest in their function or meaning within a site, their modification of an existing space, or various types of human interaction with them. The third articulation will study the presence and role of public spaces in the pictorial arts, noting the selective or transformative appropriation of real sites by the artist, the selection of specific figures, activities, and moments, and the significant shaping of imaginary public spaces.
Mediating spaces: some considerations on the spaces of largescale art exhibitions
Large-scale temporary art exhibitions such as biennials present special characteristics which in turn illuminate broader questions of art practice, curatorship and cultural management, as well as cultural and social affect. This article considers the third Berlin biennale for contemporary art, focusing its initial discussion on questions of exhibition space including ‘hub’ forms that attempt to break from conventional ‘art-viewing’ practices. The article further considers the relationship of specific exhibition sites with prior social, cultural and economic histories to the reception of art, inquiring what is at stake in the semiological management of ‘sites of representation’, with particular focus on three Berlin locations. Contrasting ‘neo-liberal’ approaches to large exhibitions structured as commodities in major sites such as the Palais de Tokyo in Paris or London’s Tate Modern, with less consumerist and more participative approaches, the analysis considers alternatives to current practice on the part of cultural managers and curators, and debates what is at stake for cultural politics in developing modes of art practice and exhibition.
The Invisible City: Collaborative Artistic Practices in Historic Public Spaces
The international journal of the arts in society, 2011
This contribution aims to share and discuss different forms of intervention in public spaces relating art to the transformation of contemporary cities. The analysis of several emergent forms of creation allows discovering, through the artistic field, variousways of expression and socio-economical dynamicsshaping andmodifying the contemporary urban landscape.The paperintroduces a study related to the creative spatial practiceswhich detonate processes of empowerment of communities by means ofrecovering thememory and the dominance ofthe place.Through the case ofthe International Urban Art Exhibition, an ephemeral and open air festival based on the outskirts of Barcelona this paper shows different practices of re-appropriation that encourage creative participation of several social agents by collaborative and site-specific projects in some public spaces (publicwashing places) with different communities.
Art in Public Space: Spatial Strategies
Bizzare Love Triangle - Public Sculptures in Novi Sad, 2014
The aim of this paper is to clarify the concepts of public art and public space, possible art forms and modes of action, but also the ways citizens can participate in public space. The term "strategy" is used due to the complexity of the problem of art in public space and it includes a number of factors: planning, financing, permits, public tenders etc. Following the main theme of the meeting "Sculpture in Public Space", the article discusses the possibilities of artistic activities in less traditional, contemporary modes of artistic expression such as installations, objects, interventions and the possibility of creating a "place" through art in public space. The concept of public art Art in public space comprises all forms of art that are implemented in public space: from traditional sculptures to installations, objects, murals, street art, performances, happenings etc. The broader term of art in public space denotes all the activities which shape public urban spaces like urban planning, architecture, urban furniture, lighting and many more. Art in public space implies a wider audience than the art displayed in galleries and is more prone to criticism because it is directly interwoven in daily life. All of us are the audience of public art, whether we like it or not. For this reason, it is important to determine what our rights are when it comes to the use and creation of public space. The concept and the genesis of public space Public space was established during the development of the Ancient Greek polis as an agora, which served as a meeting place for the discussion of public issues and finding the solution for them. Agora was also the place where the town hall was situated. This tells us about the level of awareness and the importance of public space since ancient times. Starting from the agora and later on from the Roman Forum, different forms of organised public life were built up, among which the most important was certainly the city square. Public space requires a democratic society; it is a place of debates, while public art implies the audience of active citizens with critical views. The opposite of a citizen is not a peasant, but a vassal 1. Therefore, architecture is the kind of art that determines the public space as physical, but also as mental space i.e. the public sphere. There is no dichotomy between the concepts of architecture and public space as architecture is the very essence of public space. It is a projection of human needs, habits and beliefs within the space and the framework of its movement. As such, it creates public space both physically and in the sense of meaning and has a twofold role in articulating public art. The first role, immanent in the very architecture, is the physical creation of space, i.e. the architecture as the scene of events. The second, in a broad sense of the term public art can become, through the processes of architectural design, a player in the field of urban design, planning of the location for monuments and inclusion of the citizens and artists in the process of spatial planning. Who does public space belong to? The crucial issue regarding public space refers to the question of ownership, i.e. answers a broader sociological question: who is entitled to the city? The question of the participation in managing-how to act on the interests of the public, what are the interests and how many of them are at citizens' disposal when it comes to managing the public space. Architecture as art in public space is manifested in the fact that it constitutes public space by itself, although we tend to miss this point as we look at architecture not as art, but as something which is found within space itself-as something that occurs 1 KsenijaPetovar, a sociologist
When space becomes exhibition: a contemporary syllogism
Nowadays the exhibition space is, in most cases, an active device for the curatorial setting. The role of the exhibition space has experienced over time an evolutionary process, a kind of syllogism where first Artwork becomes Exhibition, then Space becomes Artwork, and finally, Space becomes Exhibition. How does space embody the work, the exhibition, and vice versa? Through historical and contemporary examples, such as Chateau de Tivoli (1990) by Jan Fabre, Riverbed (2014) by Olafur Eliasson, or Parasimpatico (2010) by Pipilotti Rist, this presentation will focus on the integration between the exhibition space and the poiesis of the exhibition: an aesthetic overlap.
The Circumstances of Art in the Public Space
Intercultural Relations, 2019
The public space and the art within it have taken different forms and functions in history, namely changing from being an agora, to present-day so-called hybrid forms. The resulting state of forms and functions of art in the public space depends on several determinants, including freedom and restrictions concerning the public space. While under totalitarian regimes priorities and restrictions prevail, after the fall of totalitarian regimes almost unlimited freedom comes into being. Consequently, questions arise regarding who makes decisions on the forms of art placed in the public space, and on what grounds such decisions are made. In our article, in taking the example of one city we are looking for the answers to questions whether and how it is possible to map the art in the public urban space, as well as who, and on what grounds, makes decisions regarding expressions of art in the public space. Methodologically, we have based our research on the identification and analysis of rele...
In Iolanda Pensa, with Marta Pucciarelli, Fiona Siegenthaler, Marilyn Douala Bell, Kamiel Verschuren, Xandra Nibbeling, Lucas Grandin, Asta Adukaite, Maud de La Chapelle, eds. 2017. Public Art in Africa. Geneva: Métis Presses , 2017