Public Art: Towards a Critical Discourse
Convenor: Jay Younger, Artist and Curator, Associate Professor, Queensland College of Art.When it comes to vocal attacks on public art, the voice of the art world is most often heard. In many ways, public art is generally seen by the art world as an inferior form of artistic practice that is constrained conceptually by its democratic `dumbing down? for the public context. The list of criticisms of the artistic outcome is long and comes from all quarters: the art world, mainstream media, the `taxpayer?, the community, the artist, the architect, and the commissioner.
The nature of positive outcomes and the processes required to avoid negative outcomes are subjects that have consistently been addressed by many in the field. Negative criticisms, of which there are many, describe the outcomes of public art as `bogus?, `bad? `ghastly? or `disastrous?. While there is consensus that public art outcomes are lacking or problematic, when the critic?s expectations are analysed they, perhaps predictably, vary greatly. The diverse nature of these criticisms supports the claim that expectations of public art are confusing and at times contradictory, which in turn supports Patricia Phillip?s often quoted claim that it is not possible to please everybody1. Because these criticisms are diverse and based on unstated assumptions, a lack of clarity regarding the nature of successful outcomes remains persistent in the field.
Papers sought for this session will examine projects and discuss theory relevant to the improvement of critical discourse in the arena of public art. The following questions are put forward as a starting point to provide a focus for the session:
Is public art simply artwork that is commissioned by private or public clients, permanent, and located externally or can it be critically engaged? Is the field, especially government commissioners, interested in and able to commission critical practice? If critical practice is not commissioned why is this so and how might this be changed? If the arena of public art is critically impoverished, is it less so than the gallery context? What are the successful public art outcomes and how do they come about? What is the nature of public art criticism and how can it be improved?
1. Patricia Phillips, `Out of Order: The Public Art Machine?, Art Forum, vol. 27, no. 4, (1988): p. 95.