Public Art Review issue 40 - 2009 (spring/summer) by forecastpublicart

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20 T H

ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

G O R D O N HUETHER RECENT

PROJECTS M,

art in a r c h i t e c t u r e

Issaquah Transit Center, Issaquah, Washington

Fire Station 17, San Jose, California

gordonhuether.com

art m a t t e r s

1821 Monticello Road • Napa, CA 94558 Phone 707.255.5954 • Fax 707.255.5991

"Solar Illumination I Evolution of Language". Lynn Goodpasture. 2008 Pearl Avenue Library San Jose. CA Collection of the City of San Jose Public Art Program Four art glass windows e m b e d d e d with 144 photovoltaic cells that provide electricity for artist-designed suspended glass lamp Photo Richard Johns

Germany:

PETERS^-LASS

STUDIOS

United States:

GLASMALEREI PETERS

GmbH

A m Hilligenbusch 23 - 25

Further Information:

www.glass-art-peters.com

D - 33098

Paderborn

phone: 011 - 4 9 - 5 2 51 - 160 fax: 011 - 4 9 -

PETER

KAUFMANN

3618 S E 69th Ave. Portland, O R 9 7 - 0

52 51 - 160 97 99

phone: mail:

97206

503.781.7223

p.kaufmann@glass-art-peters.com

D a v i d B. D a h l q u i s t www.rdgusa.com/artstudio Artist D a v i d B. D a h l q u i s t leads RDG D a h l q u i s t A r t Studio, a c o m p r e h e n s i v e d e s i g n a n d f a b r i c a t i o n s t u d i o that w o r k s o n m a j o r p u b l i c art installations across t h e c o u n t r y . Their w o r k is r e c o g n i z e d specifically for n u m e r o u s "Art-in-Transit" installations m a d e in a v a r i e t y o f s c u l p t u r a l materials a n d t e c h n i q u e s i n c l u d i n g : terra cotta, GFRC, metal, glass, tile, l i g h t i n g , a n d d i g i t a l d e s i g n

" H y b r i d Icons" A m o n u m e n t a l g a t e w a y installation, based u p o n the DNA of hybrid corn a n d local agricultural production, marks the entrance to the Iowa G r e a t Places C o m m u n i t y o f C o o n Rapids, Iowa. This piece celebrates t h e 5 0 t h anniversary of Soviet Premier Nikita K h r u s h c h e v ' s historic C o l d War visit t o t h e Roswell Garst Farm.

RD2"* D a h l q u i s t A r t

PLANNING â&#x20AC;˘

OESIGN

Studio

Pam Beyette Nature's Filter Environmental Services Facility, Charlotte, NC r o g r a m * Arts & Science Council,Charlotte, NC â&#x20AC;˘ Sarah Gay, Project M a n a g e r

P h o t o s b y Tom Kessler

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Metro Art congratulates Public Art Review on their 20th anniversary and for their innovative and unparalleled contributions to the field.

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Poster Series (12 of 18 total)

A r t i s t posters convey t h e d i s t i n c t i v e character a n d vitality o f n e i g h b o r h o o d s a n d d e s t i n a t i o n s served by t h e M e t r o n e t w o r k a n d are d i s p l a y e d t h r o u g h o u t t h e bus fleet a n d rail system. N o t e c a r d s a n d posters are available t h r o u g h t h e M e t r o Store.

A f f i r m i n g t hat art can m a k e the transit experience m o r e i n v i t i n g a n d m e a n i n g f u l f o r p u b l i c life, M e t r o c o m m i s s i o n s artists for a w i d e array o f p r o j e c t s t h r o u g h o u t Los A n g e l e s C o u n t y . T o find o u t m o r e o r t o a d d y o u r n a m e t o o u r d a t a b a s e for n e w art o p p o r t u n i t i e s , call 213.922.4ART or visit

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A Site for Environmental Art GreenMuseum.org ALLISON L. C O M P T O N

Treading Lightly: The Behavioral A r tof Mprcus Young M A S O N RIDDLE

nedkahn.com

PliblicArlReview issue 40 • spring/summer 2 0 0 9 • volume 20 • number 2 H E R E TO STAY

DEPARTMENTS 16

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Artist Page

Featured State: W a s h i n g t o n The powerful pull of the land in the Evergreen State makes it a hotbed for environmentally-minded public art.

A R L E N E G O L D B A R D and GLENN H A R P E R

BUSTER S I M P S O N

S U Z A N N E BEAL and JUDY W A G O N F E L D

On Location: R e p o r t s f r o m t h e F i e l d For this new department, PAR offers expanded coverage of people, places, and projects from around the globe. 76

Contemporary Placemaking Practices in Berlin

Public Art in Post-Katrina New Orleans

SITE-Specific and Sustainable in Santa Fe

A Watershed Moment for Public Art in Calgary

Inalienable Rights: Speaking of Home in Minneapolis

C H R I S T I N A LANZL

D. ERIC B O O K H A R D T LEANNE GOEBEL CLIFF G A R T E N D I A N E MULLIN

Conference Reports R O N I T E I S E N B A C H , JUILEE DECKER, D O N N A ISAAC, PALLAS C. L O M B A R D I , and JACK BECKER

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Last Page A New Deal? Wind Powered Art

ANDREW LEICESTER

O N THE COVER Artist Alan Sonfist, in collaboration with Anderson Ranch Art Center and members of Design Workshop, created 7Vees of Aspen, a sculpture that explores cultural issues, global climate change, and shifting ecological zones (see John Grande's article on page 42). A monument in remembrance of natural disasters. Trees was made from a collection of burnt pine and aspen trees from a high altitude forest fire near New Castle. Colorado. Sealed by wax into the base are seeds collected at the site of the fire, anticipating the rebirth of a future forest within a living sculpture. Steven Spears, a landscape architect, urban designer and environmental artist with Design Workshop, was one of the collaborators. "Over the last thirty years," Spears told PAH, "the southwestern United States has seen a continual increase in drought and forest fires. These disasters challenge us all; as a part of any community, we are affected by climate change." The installation stood for three days before being taken down and stored, in the summer of 2009, the SMART Museum of Art at the University of Chicago will receive the Trees of Aspen as part of their permanent collection. Photo by D.A. Horchner/Design Workshop (www.designworkshop.com).

Celebrating 20 Years of PAR!

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FOREWORD

PUBLIC A R T IN THE A G E OF O B A M A It seems fitting that I'm writing about this special, blockbuster issue of Public Art Review (PAR) concerning sustainability—printed with eco-friendly inks on uncoated recycled paper from renewable forests—on Earth Day. (I only wish I had a solar-powered laptop.) In 1990, we devoted an issue of PAR to the environment, and it's truly heartening to see the tremendous growth of activity since then. That was before the term sustainability became popular. Now it seems overused; everything is marketed as sustainable, green, eco-friendly, or renewable. (It almost makes me want to buy more stuff!) Yet what does sustainable mean in the context of public art today? Is it artists saving the environment; maintaining collections of art exposed to the elements; retaining careers in the field; eco-activism; community building; preserving the "art" in public art; restoring civic life; or defining new forms of creative expression? It's all of the above. Here to Stay, above all, is about public art in the Age of Obama—a celebration of artists as creative problem-solvers, engaged with the public, and ready to change the world. Their shovel-ready efforts have the ability to illuminate—and yes, solve—some of the most challenging issues of our time. As we work together to develop a sustainable future, artists are one of our greatest natural resources. We are at a momentous point in history, a time of hope and fear. It's hard to recall another time in American history when the shift in ideologies at the federal level was in synch with a majority of civic-minded artists and designers working in and with communities to address pressing areas of concern like the environment, health, education, infrastructure, race, war, and our fragile future. Moreover, the marked shift in our

economy from private to public may lead to renewed support for public art and its creators, if percent-for-art mandates capture some of the trillions of dollars flowing down to state and local allocations. Ironically, the very people managing public art programs may lose their jobs before the funds reach their hands. On the other hand, if the arts continue to be viewed as a "frill" by policy-makers, it could be an enormous missed opportunity. Imagine what one percent of the stimulus package could mean for art! We could bring back the WPA, CETA, and a whole lot more. The brave new world of public art will deal with recovery, rethinking, and renewal. Solar- and wind-powered artworks are appearing. LED lighting is predominant. Recycled and biodegradable materials are in vogue. Temporary, performative, programmatic, interactive installations are in. High-tech festivals, street art, stenciling, and independent productions are flourishing. Web-based environments and Web 2.0 social media projects are becoming more sophisticated, and new online providers are delivering public art information, wiki-style, to handheld and GPS devices worldwide. Meanwhile, more memorials are likely to emerge while the lack of maintenance money will force the deaccessioning of both bad and good works. Some of the changes will no doubt be painful. The bottom line is this: Public art stands to gain in the new economy—in the Age of Obama—and the field's link with sustainability is definitely here to stay. is executive director of Forecast Public Art, a thirty-one year-old nonprofit based in St. Paul, Minnesota and publisher of Public Art Review since 1989.

Since the last issue of Public Art Review six months ago, it seems like everything has changed. When we started PAR in 1989, every six months was a manageable frequency for keeping up with the slow-but-steady growth in the field. Yet the field's rate of expansion in the past 20 years has increased so dramatically, it's clear that twice a year is not enough. For Forecast, the challenge of publishing PAR today, with the rising cost of writers, editors, designers, paper, printing, postage, and more seems, well, less sustainable. Yet, in spite of the dire economic climate, we have a bold vision of expanding coverage of the field online, with more frequently distributed content. In addition to continuing our regular print schedule, we will also digitally archive all 20 years of back issues, with indexed articles and images going back to 1989. As an accessible educational

resource, with an extensive bibliography and numerous links to online resources and information, the history of contemporary public art will reach as broad an audience as possible. Our biggest challenge may be how to sustain this vital and constantly refreshed website. For that, dear readers, we hope we can rely on your continued help and support! And on behalf of everyone at Forecast Public Art, I want to thank the incredible list of contributors who helped create Here to Stay—more than 50 artists, critics, curators, administrators, consultants, designers, educators, and historians—including a few who have been with us since the early days. And to all the contributors, designers, printers, subscribers, advertisers, and funders who have helped sustain Public Art Review over the past two decades, thank you, thank you, and thank you! - J.B.

JACK BECKER

s S s

g Z 15

SOAP BOX

ARLEN E C O L D B A R D

Cultural Recovery

What sustains us? Americans have bet the farm on a string grants through Health and Human Services could support of wrong answers: peace through war, safety by becoming In- community arts work as part of disease prevention, as could carceration Nation, leaders who heed a chorus of tame experts Justice Department crime-prevention funds; Department of Laand ignore the rest. bor Employment and Training Funds could underwrite arts-reWhat actually sustains us? Whatever nourishes our resil- lated jobs and training for both youth and adults. But because ience, our evergreen ability to summon will and possibility, the administration wants to spend the money quickly and recover, and move forward. Communities derive nourishment inoculate recovery funding against charges of waste, the Act from stories that offer inspiration, empathy, and guidance, channels money only to existing programs, privileging past rethat help possibility to bloom. We create cipients who have already been vetted. So stories on walls and other sites of public even though the Act is national, whether C U L T U R E IS T H E memory, in dance and theater, movingarts projects and jobs receive funding will image media, print, music, digital comcome down to something quite local: Can munication. We pass our lives enveloped artists and advocates persuade the adminCRUCIBLE FOR C H A N G I N G in stories, stoking our spirits with heartistrators of these local, state, and regional lifting songs while walking to work or programs to open them to arts projects? cooking dinner. Under even horrific con- PERCEPTIONS A N D FEELINGS, The difficulty is that most policy ditions—in prison, in refugee camps—we makers don't yet comprehend culture's make art. centrality to recovery. Culture is the cruFOR C O M M U N I C A T I N G cible for changing perceptions and feelFor many artists, Barack Obama's ings, for communicating hopes and fears campaign stimulated hopes for a public HOPES A N D FEARS A N D and creating choices in places of desperasector grounded in true sustainability, sotion. How people feel about the economy, cial imagination, and creativity. Recently, C R E A T I N G CHOICES I N for instance, is as central to recovery as artists have proposed many ideas for naany regulatory intervention. Yet when tional recovery: artists' service corps for they hear mention of "the arts," instead of tyros and volunteers; a "new WPA" for PLACES OF D E S P E R A T I O N envisioning a rich matrix of opportunity our times, putting veteran artists to work for constructive public-interest cultural in communities; a cabinet-level arts post intervention, most officials see marble halls and red carpets, to counter trivialization of cultural policy; and more. These imagining privilege and perversity at taxpayer expense. In the draw on the 1930s New Deal and on arts jobs under the 1970s recent debate over recovery spending, "the arts" were so conCETA program to show that artists are "shovel-ready" to invest taminated by these associations that they became a handy club our gifts in recovery, bringing sustaining stories to light. It's to batter all public stimulus. encouraging to see how fertile artists' imaginations have been with the stimulus of a new administration: Another arts recovTo actualize our good ideas, this must change. Public artery plan seems to arrive every week, many from sources new ists and allies must now set aside the failed call to "support the to the cultural policy debate. arts" and instead assert—using artful means—art's crucial role But so far, these have not found a listening ear in Wash- in nurturing resilience. It's time to tell this story everywhere: Sustainable recovery demands cultural recovery. ington. President Obama could do as thousands of petitioners have urged and decree that 1 percent of recovery funds will go to the arts; but so far, he has been silent. The only recov- A R L E N E C O L D B A R D is a writer, speaker and consultant on culery funds earmarked for arts are add-ons to existing NEA pro- ture, politics and spirituality, based in Kansas City, MO. She grams to preserve existing jobs in the face of funding losses. is a veteran of the community cultural development field who began writing about cultural policy (including public service Other elements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment employment for artists) more than 30 years ago. Her most reAct of 2009 could potentially support arts projects, too. For cent book is New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Deexample, Community Development Block Grants through velopment (New Village Press, 2006). Subscribe to herblog and HUD underwrite housing and other construction, potentially download her writings at arlenegoldbard.com. involving public art projects; Prevention and Wellness Fund

Public

Review

COMING FALL 2009:

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Public Art 2.0 Media, Technology, and C o m m u n i t y in t h e N e w I n t e r a c t i v e C i t y

GLENN HARPER

SOAP BOX

Remember the Art The sculptor Mary Miss recently reported that when she arrived with the rest of the design team to present a proposal to a commissioning agency, the committee thought that as the "artist" she was simply the one who had produced the drawings. She and noted environmental artist Ned Kahn both have recently observed that commissioning agencies ask artists for "gateway" projects and, having accepted a proposal, ask the artist for extensive changes, leading both artists to move away from that typical "public art" scenario into other ways of working. Both refuse to be described as "public artists," though both are pioneers in the field with extensive portfolios of what anyone else would describe as public art. What's going on here is a dissonance at the interface between artist and commissioner about what the artist is there for. And the process, biased toward design teams, proposal packages, and so on, is more related to the practice of architecture than the typical practice of art. What is the art, who is the artist, and w h y do we want this person involved in our project? That's a question that is seldom asked bluntly. What is art good for? How does it function? And why do we want it? Or to back the question u p a step further, what is art? Ad Reinhardt published a list of statements about what art is (and what art is not) in the mid-twentieth century, flowing from his primary statement that "Art is art." (My favorite is "Art is not the spiritual side of business.") Some of the statements

are in the form "Community building in art is c o m m u n i t y building." His position is extreme, and doesn't really describe the art of the twenty-first century very well, but his point is worth examining. An artist can participate in c o m m u n i t y building, for example, as a citizen and a design-team memberâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; but is what results from the process "art," and is what is asked of the artist appropriate to art or to the role of the artist? In an age that will d e m a n d our concern with sustainability in terms of materials, capital projects, and the construction or fabrication of any work of art, w e must remember the art. In the words of critic Patricia Phillips in these pages almost 10 years ago, "Any consideration of public art must first acknowledge that art is an active agent rather than an amenity or diversion [and] that its circumstances and context are inevitably complex and often deeply conflicted." ("Dynamic Exchange: Public Art at This Time," PAR Issue 21) That lesson has not been learned: Too often, public art projects subordinate the art and the artist to a program that seeks either to symbolize a bland civic image of an actual (or imaginary) community, or to reduce the art to architectural decoration. The challenge for the future sustainability of the art in public art is to reverse the flow of energy away from the artist: to create tougher art, better audience education, and more adventurous commissioning bodies. GLENN HARPER is the editor of Sculpture

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DENNIS OPPENHEIM Recent Public Projects

Still Dancing, Distillery District, Toronto Raining Halos, Olympic Park, Beijing Pathways to Everywhere, Jamieson Place, Calgary Journey Home, The Rapid, Grand Rapids Directional Trees, Shelby Farms, Memphis Garden of Evidence, Municipal Bldg, Scottsdaie Paintbrush Gateways, Arts District, Las Vegas Safety Cones, Nam June Paik Art Center, Seoul Light Chamber, Denver Justice Center, Denver

Exhibition Dennis Oppenheim "Public Projects" May 9 - June 28 at Marta, Herford, Germany accompanied with a 300 page book by Charta, Milano

7:00PM N E W

W O R K

P R O G R E S S

Ironwood Hall Pedestrian Bridge Chandler Gilbert C o m m u n i t y College Gilbert,Arizona Promenade for W a l n u t Street Park Cary, N o r t h Carolina

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A G E N C Y :

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I N S T A L L E D :

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CONVENTION

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BEACH C O U N T Y ART

CENTER

USA

IN PUBLIC

PLACES

2009

Medal of H o n o r Memorial City of San Antonio,Texas Gateway t o the Humanities Olympic College Bremerton, Washington Sculptural Railing for South Park Bridge Replacement Seattle,Washington Sculptural Promenade EL Paso Civic Center EL Paso,Texas

Barbara Grygutis P O

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Kino Parkway Interchange Bridge Tucson,Arizona

TUCSON A Z

85702-3028

Ocean Boulevard Median Sculptures Long Beach, California

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520-882-5572

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Kuban Park Phoenix, Arizona

EMAIL: B Z G 1 @ M I N D S P R I N G . C O M W W W . B A R B A R A G R Y G U T I S . C O M

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CHRISTOPHER

S C U L P T U R E

LLC

The first 20 years of Public Art Review tens the story *

emergmg

incredibly vital-field of inquiry, filled with great thinkers, passionate change agents, creative talent, and thoughtful human beings. This journal, a unique clearinghouse of ideas about art in the public realm, has served as newspaper, community-builder, and intellectual spur to thousands of readers over its two decades. For our 20th anniversary issue, we're pleased to offer this special collection of 20 pieces by a broad spectrum of public artists, writers, curators, critics, consultants and administrators. Not only do these contributions commemorate Public

Art Review's

20 years, they also offer a sweeping view of public

art today. We asked each contributor to address "sustainability" and public art. Each responded in a different way, applying various concepts of sustainability to not only the living world, but to artists and art itself: Can artists sustain their artistic integrity in the face of increasing bureaucratic demands and red tape? How can administrators sustain their vital role in the public art equation? Will new collaborations and cooperative efforts sustain communities mired in wasteful practices? How can communities write their own stories? What is required to sustain a living being or an ecosystem? Can life on our planet survive long enough for us to find solutions? The adventurous thinkers and doers in these pages reflect the vision, passion, creativity, and thoughtful consideration that make public art the compelling and rewarding field that it is. Their individual voices can inspire, help show us the way, make us think harder, plan better, and create great works that are truly engaged with the world. Here's to the next 20 years of engagement!

- A N N KLEFSTAD, editor

Patricia Phillips • Seyed Alavi • Lance Fung * Jerry Allen • Peter Kramer

Lucy Lippard • Judy Baca « David Abram • Cathey

Billian • Mary Altman • Brad Goldberg • Deborah Karasov Gregory Sale Steve Dietz %,

Janet Echelman • Margaret Bruning • Mel Chin Suzanne Lacy • Jeffrey Kastner • Liesel Fenner I I

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A e r i a l v i e w o f S t a t e n I s l a n d ' s F r e s h K i l l s l a n d f i l l , t h e l a r g e s t l a n d f i l l in t h e w o r l d , r e c e n t l y c l o s e d b u t t h e n r e o p e n e d t o t a k e w r e c k a g e f r o m t h e W o r l d Trade C e n t e r 9 / 1 1 disaster. O v e r t h e next ten years, artist Mierle U k e l e s will w o r k w i t h N e w York City percent-for-art f u n d s to create a n e w entity f r o m this 2 , 2 0 0 - a c r e d u m p .

ACCEPTING THAT SUSTAINABILITY is "culturally creative, and

also ambiguous," the relationship of sustainability with public art stimulates different, but arguably dependent, lines of inquiry.* A public art of sustainability represents artists' practices and projects that actively engage discursive concepts of sustainability and centrally, if conditionally, cite this urgent subject in dialogues about art, environment, common space, and public values. Mierle Laderman Ukeles is a striking example. Her prodigious work negotiates theories and practices of culture, ecology, sociology, sanitation, maintenance, and public life. Her work first guided my ideas as a young, green (and I do mean inexperienced) critic and continues to now as a more seasoned, green (and I mean more ecologically minded) writer on art in the public realm. Another just as timely, even urgent, dimension is the sustainability of public art. One angle might focus on progressive practices in the use of materials, conservation methods, and a fruitful, companionable connection of art to the character and conditions of site (its continuing viability). But just as insistently, sustainability of public art proposes a dynamic and dialectical, critical and theoretical environment for the field to develop, deepen, and connect in significant, "culturally creative" ways in the future. There are programs and mechanisms in place to ensure the continued production of public art (even in this unsettled time), but persistence and perseverance in the present does not "naturally" nourish best practices and animating ideas for the future. The sustainability of public art requires an investment in and commitment to a future made more meaningful and sustainable through a vivid and vigilant critical discourse today. Ukeles's work is still deeply relevant, 40 years since she wrote a m a n i f e s t o that e x a m i n e d and advocated for attentiveness

to recursive work, m a i n t e n a n c e , daily life, and public values, a n d brilliantly presaged the inherently connective character of public, e n v i r o n m e n t a l , and critical sustainability that preoccupies us today. In 1969, as a young m o t h e r a n d " m a i n t e n a n c e artist," she began the often challenging process of theorizing, making, a n d connecting work w i t h art, labor with thinking, and a discursive practice w i t h deeply felt ideas about culture, feminism, a n d the public realm through an auspicious range of projects t h r o u g h o u t four decades.

If sustainability implies a commitment to make responsive and responsible connections between bodies and minds, environments and communities, it is fruitful—and inevitable—to link these two tangents of public art and sustainability. Ukeles's work over four decades is a vivid example of public art of sustainability that seeks to prompt and focus public attention and response to environmental issues by engaging complex issues, in discursive sites, and with tactics that radically expand to involve people, communities, and, arguably, an entire nation. Her connective process represents the sustainability of public art through intricately layered ideas and methodologies that negotiate theory with practice, stimulating, contributing to, and—yes—inspiring a vigorous legacy of trenchant and transformative critical discourse on public art and its future. PATRICIA PHILLIPS is an art critic, curator, and editor who chairs the art department at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. NOTE * General thoughts on sustainability from George Myerson and Yvonne Rudin. The Language of Environment: A New Rhetoric (London: UCL Press Limited, 1996).

SEYED ALAVI: What It Means

IN GENERAL USAGE, sustainability has become almost synonymous with the notion of renewable resources. Without question, this is a positive thing, to begin thinking about the future, "trying to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (Brundtland Commission on Sustainable Development). However, this strikes me as only a portion of the story. To "sustain" a rosebush involves caring for it in order to prolong its life, so that it will ultimately present whole and healthy flowers. However, the ability to truly nourish a rose requires a deep understanding of the entire rose plant as well as the conditions necessary to provide for and promote its growth and well-being. Superficial attempts to sustain the rose will ultimately result in an unhealthy plant. To know or to understand something involves a complete comprehension of its meaning, purpose, and function. In other words, only once the full meaning of something is recognized and understood can it truly be cared for, supported, and sustained. Where can this deep understanding be found? How does one come to recognize meaning and embrace it? In order for us to come to know a rose, we must begin by asking, what is a rose? This single question inspires a multitude of others. Is a rose a plant that grows in soil? Is it something that develops roots? What are the functions of the stem, branches, and leaves? How does a rose gather the necessary nutrients

from its environment? How does it eventually produce flowers? As one researches the answers to these questions, one realizes that although a rose includes all these aspects, they do not seem to fully encompass the intricate totality of a rose. What of the more delicate aspects of a rose, such as the scent or its interrelationship with the sun, or the process of photosynthesis? And what about the other thousand and one facts that have not even been discovered yet? It soon becomes clear that a rose is part of a vast complexity of interconnected and unified parts, elements, and situations. And every one of these seemingly separate entities also has its own network of interconnectivity, as well as its own particular meaning or purpose for being. In this context, meaning may be seen as all-encompassing, the foundation that sustains everything that exists. Sustainability, therefore, is relative to the depth of knowledge one has explored, and the wealth of meaning one has discovered. Obviously, a superficial understanding will only result in short-lived sustainability, while a more comprehensive degree of knowledge will lead to more successful efforts. Recognizing and accessing the web of interconnectivity concealed within the realm of meaning seems to be a necessary step toward any harmonious and long-lasting effort for sustainability. SEYED ALAVI is an interdisciplinary

artist based in

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California.

I WRITE THIS DURING a c h a l -

lenging economic period, and on the eve of the most significant change in leadership the world has seen in my lifetime. Confusion, the economy, and the quality of public character will soon affect the art world. One constant reality prevails: People need and have always needed great works of art. Great art sustains us, and the question of how to sustain art's greatness reaches into the collective artmaking of our societies. The global economic crash we are currently experiencing painfully reminds me of two previous lapses in policy which caused socially harmful recessions I had the humbling pleasure of living through. During their chaos, coincidence brought me to public art by way of the same method I entered the art world to begin with. Sometimes termed "fate," it was a completely unintentional, but most welcome, product of chance. As the Sirens would have it, I simply stepped through a hole in the commercial side of the fence, closing the Lance Fung Gallery in 2003, and followed those Sirens' call to communal freedoms on the nonprofit side, becoming an independent curator. Art lovers may be most familiar with my curatorial work on the Snow Show exhibition in Finland, and more recently

LANCE FUNG Sustaining Greatness

the 7th International SITE Santa Fe Biennial, Lucky Number Seven [see report on page 80]. But my focus is, as it has ever been, to provide a rich cultural benefit to the general public. Some call it public art, but that term can imply a compromise of artistic goals. In my experience, though, I find the public to be actively engaged in any available project that elevates culture through great works of art. What degrades artistic scope is often "catering to the masses" by self-preserving administrators. Great works of art are often achieved with the help of the general public and, yes, achieved despite fear of disconnect in the public forum. What makes art great and how will the current demands of sustainability affect the great art of our societies? All who know me can list these words that I live by: passion, community, and dialogue. Where our great works are engaged by our

need for them, and we hold to these three values, at whatever scope and no matter how transformed, great works of art, both new and in our heritage, will remain socially powerful and relevant. Art professionals all too often will look at pragmatic indicators such as auction records or budget. Such market-driven approaches fail to measure greatness. Appraisal must first be made with respect to transitory experience. I suppose the best approach the arts can take to today's great crash of capital is healthy indifference. Because, to invoke Clement Greenberg, to make art for art's sake is the way the art world, public art, great art, and humanity has, in the long run, sustained itself. LANCE FUNG is a freelance curator, most recently of Lucky Number 7 at SITE Santa Fe.

IN THE PAST 40 YEARS, public art has evolved from being a "museum without walls" to "placemaking" and site-specific art to "design team" collaborations. This desire for art relevant to site and community has inspired artists to branch out into greater community collaborations, temporary public art projects, and involvement in urban problem-solving. During these years public art has been constantly searching for new avenues of expression and new forms of engagement. In fiscally cautious times, how can this adventurous evolution be sustained? There are many options: •

•

Public art festivals—recurring events highlighting artists creating temporary, experimental works—are promising. The annual Burning Man Festival in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada and the Glow festival in Santa Monica are two examples. Glow festival's overnight display of temporary public art on the pier attracted more than 200,000 visitors in 2008. An international, public art-focused biennial in the tradition of "Documenta" (held each decade in Kassel, Germany) or the Muenster Sculpture Project (held every five years in Muenster, Germany) holds promise. A residency program bringing together established and emerging artists to explore ideas relevant to art in the public realm, without the constraints and pressures attendant to design of a specific public art project, could give rise to new concepts. Could such a laboratory advance thinking in the public art field? Many communities are creating cultural districts, concentrating art and culture facilities and enhancing civic identity and arts marketing. But few cities have focused primarily on public art. Such public-art zones could serve both civic and artistic purposes. It is legitimate to ask the question "Is the public space of the future a virtual space?" Facebook, MySpace, SecondLife, and other networking sites are becoming virtual gathering places. Is there a role for public art in these new "public spaces"?

« Some agencies have begun to explore the development of private sector partnerships to foster new public art. The City of San Jose has been promoting collaborations with the local tech industry, matching up artists with corporations whose hardware and software are raw materials for the artist. The payoff for the corporation is that highly inventive people are testing the creative possibilities of their products. In San Jose's case, these products and associated artworks will be displayed at the new airport terminal building. • One of the most interesting forms of community engagement has emerged from direct collaborations of artists with the community. All of the concepts for Mel Chin's 33 artworks at the San Jose public library grew out of a series of 20 public meetings facilitated by the artist. Public participation can translate to public support, thus sustaining adventurous initiatives. • More and more, artists desire to address significant civic, national, and global issues. The San Jose public art program has invited artists to develop designs for a global warming clock, tracking in a highly visible way man's impact on the climate. A major public art project in New Orleans seeks to address the removal of toxic materials left in the soil in the aftermath of Katrina. In Oakland, Calif., Suzanne Lacy works with at-risk youth, gangs, and the City of Oakland Police Department to confront some of the most vexing problems of that city. What other local, national, and global issues might America's public art program undertake? How can these initiatives bolster public support for public art? The risk of an implosion in the public art field fueled by economic fear can be addressed by creativity. I can't wait to see what artists will conceive next. JERRY ALLEN is a California-based and consultant.

arts

planner

O t t o R a m s t a d w i t h B o d y C a r t o g r a p h y , b o t h S u s t a i n a b l e A r t M a k i n g f e l l o w s , p e r f o r m i n g Station/Stationary P l a t f o r m 1 2 , L o n d o n , in 2 0 0 8 .

L'INQUIETUDE, or "restless striving," describes our mood lately at Public Art Saint Paul. In our sustainable art initiative, we seek to match the extraordinary dynamic of the environment with intense investigation and passionate creating. We ask Sustainable Art Making fellows to look behind the screen: to seek beyond popular nomenclature, typical material concerns, and mandated processes to hear what is not heard and see what has not yet been seen. We ask these artists to seek the meaning of sustainability and its relevance to their own behavior and practice. Their research and experimentation are being documented for broadcast on local community cable. Says fellow Aaron Dysart, "We seek subtleties and explore how nuances might be described. It is a restless quest, for what we are investigating is always in motion; our questions must always be updated." Through Wishes for the Sky, Marcus Young gathers thousands at the Mississippi River's edge. While we live in a hard-scape world, Young grasps that we also live in the softness of metaphors and dreams. Each Earth Day, this project creates a communal act of wishing, in order to catch glimpses of a better reality. In one recent incarnation, a mother nurses her child in a bamboo "house to touch the wind" and the sky fills with swallow-shaped pastel kites. An opening into a new place appears. "We are restless to get to that place of our aspirations," says Young, "but patience and viewing the horizon are necessary companions to our inquietude." Through object and ritual, artists Seitu Jones and Marcus Young are seeking to create behavior change through The Art of Recycling in Mears Park. Jones's sculptural recycling bin will ultimately disappear when people leave nothing

at t h e C r e w e R a i l w a y S t a t i o n ,

behind on the ground or in the bin; Young and Jenna Schneider's beautiful small box in fine wood and ceramic, to be passed from person to person, teaches about the need for recycling, especially plastic bottles. Olive Bieringa, of BodyCartography, seeks to "agitate the landscape to seek new conversations and transform my perceptual field, whether I am doing a handstand on a traffic island in downtown Brooklyn or talking to someone outside my discipline in a landscape." Leading Hunting and Gathering: Interdisciplinary Dialogues, she matches artists, scientists, and spiritual leaders to walk together, two at a time, seeking fuller understanding of nature. In 2011, these dialogues will expand into an International Environmental Art Symposium in St. Paul, with a yearlong series of collaborative projects throughout the city: permanent artworks, temporary installations, and public art events. Nature in Balance: Art in the Time of Climate Change is an annual lecture series with presentations each autumn. It seeks the insights of artists whose work is rooted in deep understanding of natural phenomena and materials and is on the cutting edge of environmental practice. Launched in 2007 with presentations by our international advisors James Carpenter and Atsuo Okamoto, the series is ongoing. These programs of Public Art Saint Paul do not seek to invent the future, but to reveal the truth of the present with restless striving... L'inquietude. PETER KRAMER is on the board of Public Art Saint Paul. Thanks to Christine Podas-Larson, Public Art Saint Paul president, for her assistance.

LUCY LIPPARD: An Insurmountable Opportunity

MAYBE PUBLIC ART is our last chance? As Alfredo Jaar has pointed out, "For all its failings, the world of art and culture is....the last place where you are still free to dream of a better world." In that world—where vision is respected—artists would be called to envision and help build a sustainable future. For instance, Alan Sonfist's 1978 Time Landscape at Houston Street and LaGuardia Place in New York turns out to have been prescient. According to a recent article, in order to better cope with storm water and sewage runoff, and to ease the pressure on Manhattan's aging infrastructure, a law is being proposed to develop green rooftops and "landscaped sidewalks and streets with larger, deeper soil and plant areas as well as permeable pavements." Sonfist's artwork functions like that, but in addition it is a poignant hybrid of art and nature, a "living history" showcasing plants that thrived in colonial times. Another example is Patricia Johanson's prescient ideas, demonstrated in her 1960s writings on "total environmental design," and her call for artists to be seen and employed as "creative intelligences." It seems imperative for all visionary artists to begin immediately to participate in the movement to halt global climate change, which physician John Fogarty has described, in the words of Yogi Berra, as "an insurmountable opportunity." The economic disaster we are experiencing today could be solved with an all-out attack on the sustainability front. A clean energy workforce, as projected by environmental organizations, could produce some 5 million new green jobs, including many for artists—a kind of green WPA. Public art, in its infinitely varied and unlimited forms, can potentially attract the broad audiences necessary for "change we can believe in." Many young collectives around the world, as well as other independent thinkers and believers in DIY, are not waiting for the feds to act. They are doing it themselves. I admired each of the 17 temporary public works around the town of Boulder, Colorado, that were made for my exhibition Weather Report in 2007. But the image that sticks with me (maybe because it can be expressed so well in words) was a projection piece by Helen and Newton Harrison inside the museum. Grounded in a scientific collaboration, The Mountain in the Greenhouse illuminates the way ecosystems are climbing mountains as the climate warms. When they reach the top, they will have nowhere else to go. This image holds a clear and powerful—and very visual—message for everyone on this planet. I'd like to see it displayed from Times Square to Tiananmen Square, and on TV and all the other so-called public media. I'd like to see environmental organizations actively seeking out artists who can deliver this kind of cultural impact, who can make art that may or may not answer to conventional definitions—actions and object lessons that may be hidden in social energies not yet recognizable as art.

N e w t o n a n d H e l e n H a r r i s o n , The Mountain in the Greenhouse, 2 0 0 1 , f r o m t h e v i d e o " P e n i n s u l a E u r o p e , " d u r a t i o n : a p p r o x . 3 m i n u t e s . To v i e w t h i s " g l o b a l m o r a l i t y p l a y " o n l i n e , visit h t t p : / / t h e h a r r i s o n s t u d i o . n e t / g h _ v i d e o . h t m l .

LUCY LIPPARD is the author of 18 books including The Lure of the Local: Sense of Place in a Multicentered Society.

THE HUMAN BODY is precisely our capacity for metamorphosis. We mistakenly think of our flesh as a fixed and finite form, a neatly bounded package of muscle and bone and bottled electricity, with blood surging its looping boulevards and byways. But even the most cursory pondering of the body's manifold entanglements—its erotic draw toward other bodies; its incessant negotiation with that grander eros we call "gravity;" its dependence upon cloudbursts not just to quench its thirst but to enliven and fructify the various plants that it plucks, chomps and swallows; its imbroglio with those very plants and a few animals, drawing nourishment from them for its muscles, skin, and senses before passing that chomped matter back to the world as compost that might, if we were frugal, be used to nourish the soils in which those plants sprout; its bedazzlement by birdsong, its pleasure at throwing stones into water and through glass, its mute seduction by the moon—suffices to make evident that this body is less a self-enclosed sack than a realm wherein the diverse textures and colors of the world meet up with one another. The body is a place where clouds, earthworms, guitars, clucking hens, and clearcut hillsides all

converge, forging alliances, mergers, and metamorphoses. This body is subtly altered and transformed as it travels between different earthly places; as the shifting climate within a single valley can alter the demeanor of even the sedentary bodies within that valley. But if this is so, it is because the body is itself a kind of place—not a solid object but a terrain through which things pass, and in which they sometimes settle and sediment. The body is a portable place wandering through the larger valleys and plains of the earth, open to the same currents, the same waters and winds that cascade across those wider spaces. It is hardly a closed and determinate entity, but rather a sensitive threshold through which the world experiences itself, a traveling doorway through which various aspects of the earth are always flowing. Sometimes the world's textures move across this threshold unchanged. Sometimes they are transformed by the passage. And sometimes they reshape the doorway itself.

philosopher,

J U DY BACA

, author of The Spell of the Sensuous, is a writer, and performance artist.

Public Memory w H Y A r c h i t e c t u r e ' s d i g i t a l r e n d e r i n g of a " g r e e n " i n t e r p r e t i v e b r i d g e o v e r t h e T u j u n g a W a s h F l o o d C o n t r o l C h a n n e l , h o m e of t h e Great Wall of Los Angeles. T h e b r i d g e w a s d e s i g n e d in c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i t h S P A R C . Photo © 2009, courtesy SPARC.

M a t t h e w C h a s e - D a n i e l , Kahena, 2 0 0 3 , p h o t o m o n t a g e , H a w a i i .

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IT WAS NEARLY 33 YEARS AGO that three artists—Christina Schlesinger, Donna Deitch and myself—professed that art could indeed change our world and opened, in an abandoned police station, the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in Venice, California. Armed with the precedent of the WPA and funding for an artist workforce from CETA (the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act), we initiated a citywide mural and public art program specifically geared toward the underrepresented of Los Angeles and the United States—the working poor, immigrant communities, youth, and women. Sites of public memory were created by h u n d r e d s of artists and thousands of community members and youth, and these sites creatively solved myriad problems in blighted neighborhoods. Artists and community members created installations in children's play areas, youth centers, senior citizen centers, parks, and on street corners. In 1974, CETA enabled the initiation of SPARC'S Great Wall of Los Angeles. A "tattoo on the scar where the river once ran," it became the signature work of our organization and a life's work for me. The mural, located in the Tujunga Wash Flood Control Channel, was continued over five summers, bringing together 400 youth and their families as well as artists, oral historians, ethnologists, scholars, and h u n d r e d s of residents from the many diverse enclaves of Los Angeles. At half a mile long, it is one of the country's largest m o n u m e n t s to interracial harmony and a landmark pictorial representation of the history of ethnic peoples of California from prehistoric times to the 1950s. The Great Wall's success in uniting diverse groups made possible the Great Walls Unlimited: Neighborhood Pride mural program, w h i c h generated 105 new public murals by talented muralists of diasporas from all over the world. Individually, each mural celebrates the specific community for which it was painted. Collectively, like a string of pearls, the murals enable the emergence of one city through the amalgamation of individual neighborhoods, linked together by giant visual histories that speak to one another from the streets. During the Neighborhood Pride Program's 18-year lifespan, Los Angeles became the mural capital of the world, attracting tourists in throngs to see its public

artworks. Today these same works have fallen into disrepair through neglect, vandalism, and w i t h d r a w a l of city support. This summer, alumni of the Great Wall youth teams (now parents with children the age they were w h e n they first participated) will lead the next generation in the Wall's restoration and continuation. SPARC (www.sparcmurals.org) is also collaborating with wHY Architecture to build a new, green, interpretive bridge over the Wall. It will be built, in part, from the debris and detritus of the Los Angeles River, symbolizing the relationship between the history of the river and the history of the people of Los Angeles. The preservation of the murals and construction of the bridge are d e p e n d e n t not only on technical conservation and construction techniques, but also on renewing our contract with the people of Los Angeles and local, state, and national governments. Los Angeles is a duplicitous city. On one h a n d it is the world's commercial factory; on the other it is promoted as the world's leading creative capital. Yet it is a city that fails to protect the artistic access and cultural democracy of its "majority-minority" low-income population. Growing directly out of the hopes, dreams, and desires of the surrounding population, communitydriven public art gives a voice to those w h o inspire it and provides a breath to all those w h o pass it as it speaks from the streets. Institutions like SPARC are critical to the delivery of the arts directly into neighborhoods, a n d are as vital as m u s e u m s to the health of the arts in a great city. In a time w h e n we are poised to rebuild our country's image, w e need a n e w WPA or CETA, a program that incorporates artists into our workforce to rebuild America's infrastructure and international image. Now is the time for cultural as well as social democracy. We need a new New Deal that includes the pencils, brushes, chisels, and tripods of this country's artists. It is our opportunity to show the world what a democratic nation truly looks like. JUDY BACA, a founder of the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), is a muralist and activist based in Los Angeles.

C a t h e y Billian, A Whispering

Benchwork

in Progress, 2 0 0 9 . P r o t o t y p e d e v e l o p e d in collaboration with Milgo-Bufkin Fabricators for

WHAT OPPORTUNITIES lie a h e a d

for those of us eager to explore what public artists can contribute to the coming national focus on rebuilding our infrastructure? Is a door opening to expand the role of public amenities, to add layers of interpretive content, cultural values, and metaphors to daily experience? Can artists and designers collaborate to embed dual functions in both new and retrofitted sustainable structures, provoking a richer awareness of time and place? My long history of projects with the National Park Service and its trails program suggests, "Yes, we can." Long before sustainability captured our conscience, the notion of wilderness sparked passion and fed the desire to preserve nature among those who thrived in it. Since the nineteenth century, urban parks have provided city dwellers with a means to step back from the pace and congestion of metropolitan life. It is hard to imagine any amenity better suited to accomplish this dimensional transformation than a park bench. Captivated by the bench's simplicity and ubiquity, I have focused on it in my recent research and works in progress. The seeds for these projects were planted while I was traveling Pacific Coastal parks with my elderly parents. I saw that for people with restricted mobility, the experience of nature can be quite limited. I thought that a bench

P r a t t I n s t i t u t e S c u l p t u r e P a r k , N e w York (this v e r s i o n r e t r o f i t s a N Y C W o r l d ' s Fair b e n c h ) . P o e t i c text c u r a t e d b y S t e p h e n M o t i k a o f P o e t s H o u s e .

CATHEY BILLIAN: Structural Retrofits

addressing their limitations could enable them to experience an intensified sense of place from a seated position, providing a transformative tool with which to experience the site. Later I realized that the same sensory deprivation of the sites and sounds of nature affects the daily lives of many urban dwellers as well. For a moment, imagine that a filter transforms a transportation node, reclaims a river-way trail, or envelops a park bench, and now these environs are experienced through a memorable, fresh, perceptual, and sensory lens. New information brought to the site changes how a user pauses and observes the still moment. Elements such as sound, illumination, or imagery wrap the user in a subliminal dimension to ignite an amplified experience of the place he or she is pausing in or passing through.

The project draws upon regional writers contributing poetic text that appears to float across the sky. It uses studies in sound therapy and environment-based cognitive studies. Lightreflective imagery of native species is baked into bench slats. Solar cells energize sound scores that incorporate recordings of regional and endangered shorebird species. By reinventing park benches as perceptual instruments, and subsequently recreating existing park structures though visual, acoustic, and literary retrofits, people's often fragile, sometimes fractured relationship with the rest of the natural world can be transformed. CATHEY BILLIAN is a sculptor based in New York who works at the intersection of public art and environmental interpretation.

MARY ALT

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Circle of Sustainability

AS THE ARTIST ASSIGNED to a major street reconstruction project in downtown Minneapolis, Lisa Elias is designing 30 tree corrals and grates. The corrals are short railings and, like tree grates, will help protect trees from the harsh conditions of the urban streetscape. Elias's vocabulary of welded metal grasses is particularly suited to the corrals and will be a welcome addition to downtown sidewalks where real grasses wouldn't survive a season. The project, which started out as a strategy to sustain trees, is just as much about the sustainability of the artâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;its durabilityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and the City's maintenance budget. Public Works staff and the City's Tree Advisory Board raised a number of issues upon reviewing Elias's designs, including the erosion of paint by sidewalk salt, probable damage by maintenance equipment to the corrals, the cost of replacement, the tendency of grates to collect litter and compact the soil, and the potential of the grate opening to constrict tree growth. Months of meetings and dozens of drawings have led to a complex, integrated corral-and-grate design, where the corral could be removed if damaged, leaving the grate in place, thus reducing Public Works' cost for repairs. The pieces will be constructed of CorTen steel, which needn't be painted and is stronger than mild steel. The design of the grate includes halfinch openings, which will prevent litter collection and which

complies with ADA codes. The opening can be enlarged if the tree radius grows beyond eighteen inches. The soil surrounding the trees will include structural cells to increase the soil volume and reduce compacting by the grate. Elias's final design considers the tree's needs, the durability of the materials, the capacity of Public Works' crews and equipment, code compliance, public safety, and ongoing maintenance costs. Elias's flexibility and persistence have been admirable during a design process that has taken turn after turn while attempting to address these multiple agendas and concerns. Perhaps the real sustainability issue at the heart of this story relates to maintaining the artist's interest during such a process. How many artists would be so tolerant, and how many projects like this will Elias endure before she reconsiders doing public work? How can we continue to sustain the creativity of artists in light of a public agenda that values environmental sustainability and at the same time faces major challenges to providing basic services? Arts adminstrators need to consider how to sustain artists in the face of these demands. MARY ALTMAN is the public arts administrator Minneapolis, Minnesota.

for the City of

L i s a Elias, Stream of Trailing Reeds, 2 0 0 6 , M i n n e a p o l i s , M i n n e s o t a . E l i a s ' s r a i l i n g c o m p l e m e n t s a c i t y b i k e w a y ' s p e d e s t r i a n b r i d g e a n d t h e s u r r o u n d i n g r e s i d e n t i a l c h a r a c t e r . T h e d e t a i l s o f c a t t a i l s , f l o w e r s a n d r e e d s e m e r g e naturally f r o m t h e l a n d s c a p i n g a n d p r a i r i e g r a s s e s .

RAD GOLDBERG:

Art That Sustains

MY INTEREST IN "sustainability" seems to have been with me all along the journey of my career, although the term sustainability is a more recent development. My interest in stone as a primary material in most of my work comes from being uncomfortable with art that, in material, is frankly a kind of pollution. Because stone's renewal is in terms of geologic time, 1 have felt confident and comfortable that most of my work will slowly decompose over the millennia with no adverse effect upon the earth, since it is inherently the earth itself. This prompts me to continue the exploration of stone, and more recently my work with natural boulders reduces the carbon footprint of the extraction and fabrication processes. I have drawn in the same kind of notebook for almost 30 years now and have kept them all. As a rule, I have never torn out a page. Every now and then, I peruse them and often discover things I had forgotten. One idea I drew over and over again in the early 1980s was of a water sculpture, made of stone and powered by the windâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the wind providing the energy to run the pumps, as has been done for centuries. Some-

what unconsciously, with Cisterna, I seem to have returned to that seed thought. I believe that it could not have been realized, however, without the current dialogue regarding the need for a sustainable culture in order to develop a balance between humans and the governing systems of our planet. It is interesting to note how so many people still disregard global warming and the overall issue of sustainability. As for me, I have embraced it and it has become the central focus of my work. No longer am I content to make something that just sits there and looks good. My focus now is centered on a kind of work that multi-tasks, at once being aesthetic and serving some kind of sustainable purpose. This kind of thinking has led to Illumination, a recently completed project comprised of what I term "solar light sculptures," as well as several new projects with wind and solar that are currently in the works in Texas, Minnesota, Arizona, and Florida. The need to work toward a sustainable culture in our time begs that public art address this issue. If artists are truly on the forefront of ideas, then it is a perfect time for us to work toward

a new aesthetic, both in our individual work and with those we can influence. It is my belief that public art is at a critical fork in the road. One fork leads in the direction of a sustainable world, while the other leads to a subordinate field of superficial embellishment. This better fork in the road must be followed and embraced for public art to be relevant from this point on. BRAD GOLDBERG is a sculptor based in Texas who has pioneered work in landscape and with natural elements.

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B r a d G o l d b e r g , Cisterna, 2 0 0 8 , M o n t g o m e r y F a r m , A l l e n , Texas. T h i s w i n d - p o w e r e d w a t e r s c u l p t u r e c l e a n s a n d a e r a t e s the retention p o n d that irrigates the s u r r o u n d i n g landscape.

THE FIRST ART BOOK I owned was also a book of nature: In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World (Sierra Club, 1962), with photographs by Eliot Porter and selections from Henry Thoreau. Porter was unlike many nature photographers of the time who sought out the unusual, the grandiose, and the far away. Instead, his subject matter complemented Thoreau's, evoking the daily and hourly miracle of the usually unnoticed beauty that is close at hand. In his foreword to the book, conservationist David Brower wrote something that has forever altered my view of public art: There is no science and no art of greater importance, he said, than that which teaches seeing, which builds sensitivity and respect for the natural world. Today, despite over 10 years in the conservation field, I know little more about sustainability than what Porter and Thoreau taught me so long ago: We become more deeply appreciative of what the beauty in nature is by virtue of it being sustainable. In Thoreau's words, "We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor.... We need to witness our own limits transgressed." Today also I readily admit my inadequate appreciation of the full range of art. I find myself impatient with didactic art that speaks only to our intellect, even if the art discusses issues like ecology. Porter taught me to hope for a moment of experienceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;an instant when the ordinary suddenly reveals and makes us take a second look at human nature, our transgressions, and at the life that will go on. To see that way is to understand sustainability. DEBORAH KARASOV is a writer, and serves as director of Great River Greening, a conservation nonprofit in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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GREGORY SALE: Starting a Dialogue

BECAUSE TEMPORARY PUBLIC ART is n i m b l e , it c a n g r o u n d

projects in a rapidly changing social consciousness. The fact that much public art is temporary both challenges and underscores our notions of sustainability: It is not the art piece itself that persists, but the content. A provocative interface of contemporary art and sustainability is the community-based politics of food. Fallen Fruit by the collective of David Burns, Matias Viegener, and Austin Young conducts expeditions in which artists lead participants on walks through urban communities in order to "liberate" the profusion of fruit that may end up rotting each year. Fritz Haeg's Edible Estates transforms "useless" front lawns into productive vegetable gardens. These projects blur the lines between art, ecology, and social initiatives. The impulse is to design an activity that anyone could do themselves. Investigations of cultural and social sustainability through art excite many artists: Paul Chan staged Waiting for Godot in

New Orleans' post-Katrina Lower Ninth Ward. Gustavo Artigas' Rules of the Game (part two) was a sports event that addressed two cultures living in the same geographical space but playing by different rules in San Diego-Tijuana. Jochen Gerz's Les Mots de Paris (The Words of Paris) featured poems and thoughts of the homeless on the glass cover of an underground tomb-like hole in the forecourt of Notre Dame Cathedral, complete with a slot for depositing money. Artists here serve as cultural barometers, provocateurs, and illustrators of community stories. In my own current series Love Buttons, Love Bites, I investigate a different kind of sustainabilityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;not ecological or cultural so much as human: What lasts, what sustains us as people? The series takes on love, loss, and language by flirting with the fluid parameters of public and private, prose and poem. Over the past year, the work has connected participants through chance encounters and by dispersing a sea of poetry into the audiences of jazz festivals, a summer art walk, an art

JANET ECHELMAN Can Art Save the World?

WE ALL EXPERIENCE the bombardment of images and data about the ticking time bomb that is global climate change. One would have to be in complete denial not to acknowledge that the icebergs are melting, the frequency and severity of floods are increasing, and our oceans are warming and becoming acidified to the detriment of coral reefs and marine life. So as professionals in the arts, what are we to do? We can't all drop our lives and become full-time activists, and who knows how useful we'd be, even if we did. So the question becomes, how can we stop being part of the problem, and find a natural and meaningful way to take our skills and expertise, and become part of the solution? How do we use art to save the world? I believe public art and design can play a pivotal role in the sustainability of our physical environment. I'm trying to find ways to engage that may be small but are themselves sustainable, both personal and professional. I will share a couple here. Two years ago, the Aspen Institute established a new Energy and Environment Awards program, and asked if I'd be willing to design their new award. I accepted, and last year was invited to join the board, where I was able to initiate a new Art and Design category for the awards, convincing others of the fact that public art and design are able to make a critical difference in public opinion and in energy conservation. This year, I look forward to seeing a more direct environmental impact, as my sculpture commission for the Richmond

G r e g o r y S a l e , Love Buttons, 2 0 0 8 , S c o t t s d a l e , A r i z o n a . T h e b u t t o n s initially f u n c t i o n e d a s e v e n t t i c k e t s a n d b e c a m e w e a r a b l e , i n t e r a c t i v e p e r f o r m a t i v e art. A t a S u n d a y a f t e r n o o n jazz festival, 9 , 0 0 0 b u t t o n s a n d 5 0 0 F r i s b e e s w e r e d i s t r i b u t e d . M o r e at w w w . l o v e - b u t t o n s . c o m .

wedding, a museum opening. By confounding preconceptions of appropriate civic dialogue and expanding the possibilities, it is part psychological experiment, part collaboration with strangers, and part compulsion to elicit intimacy. Are all these projects within a discourse on sustainability? Today many artists striving for a transition to sustainability are asking questions rather than offering answers. Artists with

Olympic Oval, the speed-skating venue for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, has just opened. In this new contemplative environment that encourages visitors to linger in a shared public space, people approach a new water garden by walking on curving red wooden bridges. Above their heads, red netted "sky lanterns" move in the wind, and below, "water drawings" can be seen amid reflections in the pond. What remains unseen is the environmental component: This project takes the runoff water from the Olympic Oval's five-acre roof and cleans it through aerating fountains and plant selection. The water garden with fountains serves as a wetland treatment pond that provides storm water retention, water quality treatment, and water storage for irrigation use. The planting elements absorb heavy metals, prevent siltation and remove other impurities from water; provide native habitat for birds, mammals, and aquatic life; and recreate an authentic native wetland garden experience for visitors. I'd like to close on the subject of collaboration. I've found that reaching out to other professionals in collaborative work opens new doors. I believe that if the art and design community take our creativity and apply it to the task of preserving our planet, we will have an impact.

JANET ECHELMAN is a sculptor who creates monumental public sculptures that respond to environmental forces including wind, water, and sunlight.

experience in problem solving and facilitating complex negotiations often set up new and unusual systems of communication. There is an impulse to take the art into the everydayâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the Lower Ninth Ward, one's front lawn, a jacket lapel. In these places, where artists are exploring multiple and varied intersections of art, sustainability, and the public realm, sustainable can mean "maintainable" or "balanced" or "lasting." is a public artist who works in visual and performance art, and creates community-based projects in Phoenix, Arizona.

D. A . T h e r r i e n , Beautiful

Light, 2 0 0 9 ,

S c o t t s d a l e , A r i z o n a . For v i d e o a n d s o u n d , visit w w w . b e a u t i f u l l i g h t . o r g .

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MARGARET BRUNING

Sustaining a Cultural Edge THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY French playwright Jean Anouilh wrote that "the object of art is to give life a shape." The love of a place is intensified when you live its art. Art enables consideration of all places (perceived as having value) and spaces (devoid of value), formal and informal, including infrastructure and interstitial spaces, as opportunities to sustain meaning and resonance. One such space was the Scottsdale Waterfront along the Arizona Canal. The generally unnoticed channel has been evolving into a vital urban destination in Scottsdale's downtown, complete with the four pillars of successfully developed place: retail, residential, commercial, and cultural. Scottsdale Public Art's (SPA) Artpath on the Canal initiative incorporates artworks and free arts events that create and sustain an appreciation for the canal's significance and beauty. Working closely with developers in public-private partnership, the SPA's Artpath plan sustains arts experiences along the promenade. Artpath, now coming into fruition, is beginning to redefine the canalscape as forum for cultural exploration. Along with its historic significance (based on an ancient Hohokam Indian water channel system), the canal's physical qualities—its linearity, unmitigated corridor view shed, visual expansiveness, and glossy slate-like water surface—invite intersection by artworks. The sensory conditions of the functional waterway, separate from the new construction adjacent to its canal banks, informed the goals of sustaining cultural memory and meaning and retaining the human scale and visual porosity and clarity imparted by the canal. Permanent, temporary and ephemeral artworks will be sited within walking distance of each other in coming years, interspersed with pedestrian paths, plazas, and crossings over

the canal. Initial installations are diverse, including Donald Lipski's three-story-tall sculpture The Doors (2007), with sound component by Jim Green (2008); a large-scale western monument by Herb Mignery (2008); Kurt Perschke's RedBall Project (January 2008); Cycle the Arts community bike ride and public art tour (2008); and a pedestrian bridge and plaza by Paolo Soleri (scheduled for completion winter 2009-2010). While the appearance of art along the 131-mile canal system is rare—it has been managed strictly as a network of utility corridors bringing domestic and irrigation water to the Valley for more than 100 years—public art programs in the past decade have been exploring the possibilities. Scottsdale's most recent commission, Beautiful Light by D. A. Therrien (January 2009), was the first large-scale, ephemeral, experiential art spectacle to truly use the canalscape as a canvas for cultural expression. Spanning the 60-foot-wide waterway and hovering 80 feet above the water's surface, the lightbased performance produced a mesmerizing visual dialogue in the airspace of the waterway. Culturally, public art translates the human impulse to give shape to life and in turn helps to shape the community. Public art engages the ancient canalscape and reinvents it as a cultural asset, awakening its desirability and translating it into economic vitality, sustaining the economic life of the city. The successes of temporary installations such as Beautiful Light, with its grandeur and richness, are an important step in the strategic process of sustaining the perceived value of arts experiences, refraining them as investment, civic assets, and pure cultural edge. MARGARET BRUNING is Associate Public Art in Arizona.

Director for

Scottsdale

ON THE CLEAREST AUTUMN NIGHT, in t h e 8th

Ward of New Orleans, long after the horizontal rains of Katrina and Gustav, the precipitation is the lead of a gat 9 Glock: "poppoppop-popâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; pop-popâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;poppoppop." A staccato riff delivered into street party crowds confounds DJ Baby Boy's remixed "hammer hammer hammer." The unequalized, contrary rhythms are background to a screaming stream of adrenaline athleticism, a frantic race on this crumbling asphalt track of a road between streets named Music and Arts. Police lockdown and the lamenting, open, unedited howls of a mother cannot shake the brooding silence of eventual retribution that hangs out on the corner of the scene. In some other worldwide corner you can download the lowdown on "sustainability." It's a jewel-like Venn diagram of interlocked translucent orbs labeled in primary hues of SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENT, and ECONOMIC that yield complementary-colored in-betweens of Bearable, Equitable, and Viable and a gray-matter core of Sustainable. That being said... back to this corner in New Orleans. What bullets swept away in the night, trash talk replaces, and laughter peels away the yellow tape. Grandmothers with strong wit who will carry the new child through great generations make a courageous stance in the day. And with the help of mouths of the south at least a Bearable love is available and audible. In this unrepaired, flood-wrecked, povertyand drug-dosed neighborhood, discover the other gray ore. Lead of nano scale in the soil,

micro bullets industrially made and traded on stock exchanges, yielded great wealth to a few but is now stripped into dust by time or by labor, from old house paint, or spit from exhausting autos as tetraethyl lead. It is mined by a baby's lung or child's hands and is conveyed through blood to be locked away in the bone and brains. Here it will confound education's promise and complicate the body with a lifetime of elusive health. Where the magnitude of environmental injustice is figured with the math of hurricane destruction, for those without options to flee, tragedy roots deeper and deeper into humid and heavy air where a beautiful culture defiantly clings thick. Here "Sustainability" is a flawed bauble, an imperfect luxury for those who can afford its bling, or an exclusive delusion for those who can even consider it an option. MEL CHIN is a North Carolina-based artist whose work promotes the idea that art is a catalytic structure that can bring about the climate for options unexplored or on the edge to be considered.

M e l C h i n is e n g a g e d in N e w O r l e a n s , L o u i s i a n a , c o n d u c t i n g Operation Paydirt a n d c o n t i n u i n g t h e F u n d r e d D o l l a r Bill P r o j e c t . S c h o o l c h i l d r e n all o v e r t h e n a t i o n a r e d r a w i n g 3 0 0 m i l l i o n F u n d r e d d o l l a r s w o r t h of c r e a t i v e c u r r e n c y , all t o b e c o l l e c t e d via a r m o r e d t r u c k a n d d e l i v e r e d t o C o n g r e s s f o r a n e v e n e x c h a n g e . T h e f u n d i n g will b e u s e d t o r e m e d i a t e h i g h c o n c e n t r a t i o n s of l e a d in t h e soil o f N e w O r l e a n s . B e l o w , Safehouse, 2 0 0 8 , a r e p u r p o s e d C r e o l e c o t t a g e in t h e E i g h t h W a r d , s e r v e s a s a b a n k vault f o r " F u n d r e d D o l l a r Bills."

IN SIX

MEMOS

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THE

MILLENNIUM,

Italo Calvino described different "values, qualities, or peculiarities of literature" in which he wanted to situate the "so-called postindustrial era of technology." One of them was lightness, about which he wrote, in part: It is true that software cannot exercise its powers of lightness except through the

weight

of hardware.

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software that gives the orders, acting on the outside world and on machines that exist only as functions of software and evolve so they can work out ever more complex programs. The second industrial revolution, unlike the first, does not present us with such crushing images as rolling mills and molten steel, but with "bits" in a flow of information traveling along circuits in the form of electronic impulses. The iron machines still exist, but they obey the orders of weightless bits.*

How, in the twenty-first century, do we make sense of the world around us, which is increasingly based on algorithms and bits and nano-scale particles and things in general that we cannot touch, or which have so much complexity that they are difficult for any one person to grasp? This is the daunting task of all of us but in particular the committed artist, who can create compelling experiences about complex issues and cause us to ponder and even change our relation to these issues in a way that a 1,000-

page report of scientific data about global climate change is unlikely to, no matter how well we understand that it is "good" for us. Electricity consumption is an example of invisible data for most of us. At most, it generally manifests as an inscrutable and post-facto monthly bill. Through the efforts of the artist duo HeHe (Helen Evans and Heiko Hansen), for a time, this data became large, green, visible, and reactive. Their public artwork Nuage Vert (Green Cloud) used lasers to project a neon green outline of the emission cloud from the Salmisaari coal factory in Helsinki, Finland. From February 22 through 29, 2008, a challenge was set for local households to reduce their electricity use, which would cause the size of the green laser cloud to increase, creating an immediate, visible feedback for the residents' actions. Nuage Vert brought down local energy consumption by 800 kVA during a one-hour "unplug event," equivalent to the power generated by one windmill running for one hour. Nuage Vert won the Green Prix award for environmental art at the 2008 01SJ Biennial (http://www.01sj.org).

STEVE DIETZ is a curator of and thinker on new media.

NOTE * Italo Calvino, Six Memos for the Next Millennium {Vintage. New York: 1988), p. 1.

H e H e , Nuage Vert ( G r e e n C l o u d ) , 2 0 0 8 , Helsinki, Finland.

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SUZANNE LACY: The Public Body

AT A RECENT CONFERENCE at the Akademie der Ktinste in Berlin ("re.act.feminism: Performance art of the 1960s and 1970s today"), I was curious to see that early women's performance art was attracting the attention of a new generation of young women artists. Tania Bruguera, for example, spoke on excavating the work of Ana Mendieta; Andrea Saemann did a piece inspired by the work of Ulrike Rosenbach; Sanja Ivekovic worked with artist Sonja Pregrad to restage the former's performance in Yugoslavia; and Lilibeth Cuenca did a mash-up of several iconic performances. Sustainability was much in the air: How was women's performance art "re-membered," and being installed in the "canon"? Finally the times seemed right for a conversation between generations of artists exploring gender and identity. During the conference bodies clothed and unclothed themselves, experienced pain with ironic detachment, displayed their ambivalences, sexuality, and sexual preferences in lengthy durations, and playfully engaged with art world professionals and histories. I waited expectantly as performances were enacted and references were made, but it seemed that the radical edge of feminism was interpreted as the representation of the body itself. I was struck by a lack of reference to, or visceral awareness of, the social conditions that birthed earlier feminist performance work. The conversations between the work of older women (those who came of age as artists during the 70s) and younger women (in their 30s, more or less) seems focused on the body personal, as symbol, as site of knowledge—important aspects of the feminist art project to be sure. (Faith Wilding was an exception. Her redo of her own work, Waiting, from the 1972 Womanhouse Project, explored how the original concept

of a woman waiting for something to happen in a predictable and unfulfilling life had changed for her, and now she found herself, for example, "waiting for war to end.") However (and to the point here, of public art), the second and often forgotten part of early feminist performance art had to do with the body in public-, encouraging discourse, engaging audiences, and challenging civic policies and practices. Feminists who specifically embraced activism, like myself and Mierle Laderman Ukeles, have since been categorized as "public" artists, disconnected from our origination in radical feminist performance art. We were propelled into public space by a feminist critique that was also part of the general development of performance art. Political and activist concerns have always been in art, but are stronger today for the force of a large body of public art works, such as those covered by Public Art Review in the past 20 years. Feminist artists provide a specific lens on public issues and power dynamics as well as a tool kit of activist strategies that arose out of early feminist performance, including collectivity, negotiating difference, and so on. An interesting question for feminist performance might be, "Are there particular ways in which women's bodies link them to the vulnerabilities and obligations of critical citizenship?" Or perhaps, "How are public practices feminist?" Sustaining the political/public edge of feminist art means making sure that the breadth of our agendas is not reduced in historical retrospective. SUZANNE LACY is an artist whose work includes installations, video, and large-scale performances on social themes and urban issues.

What Remains The history of

sculpture,

as we know it, consists of remains and

mostly

fragments,

damaged either by man or by natural

phenomena.

- Michael Heizer

EARLY LAST YEAR, a f r i e n d for-

warded me an email with a subject line that read "Spiral Jetty Oil Drilling." When I opened it, it turned out to be a personal entreaty from artist Nancy Holt, the widow of the late Robert Smithson. Smithson's signature work, Spiral Jetty, was under threat, the message said, from wildcat oil drilling operations being proposed near the work's site in the Great Salt Lake, and Holt was asking friends and colleagues to • .... contact the state of Utah to protest. I'd spoken to Nancy a few times over the years and had M i c h a e l H e i z e r , w i t h Isolated Mass/Circumflex 1, at M a s s a c r e L a k e , Vya, N e v a d a , 1 9 6 8 ( n o w d e t e r i o r a t e d ) . H e i z e r recently made an inspirational r e c r e a t e d a v e r s i o n o f t h i s p i e c e at t h e M e n i l C o l l e c t i o n in H o u s t o n ( 1 9 6 8 - 7 2 ) a s a p e r m a n e n t o u t d o o r s c u l p t u r e . pilgrimage to Rozel Point to see the Jetty in person. So without thinking about it too much, I went ahead and sent off an email railway line slated to run through its remote valley. The very decrying the potential impact of the drilling on such a remark- week the Jetty story broke, officials from the Dia Art Foundaable and fragile work of art. tion were in New Mexico negotiating a land easement to protect A few days later, one of my editors at Artforum called, the open desert around Walter De Maria's Lightning Field from asking me if I would write an essay about the controversy. I encroaching development. Even the ground under Holt's own agreed and dug into the research—making phone calls for Sun Tunnels—hours from anywhere in the desolate mountains interviews, reading the environmental impact materials, and of Western Utah—was, much to her surprise, nearly snatched revisiting Smithson's own writings about the site and his up by land speculators in a recent government auction. general approach to making art. I also began looking into the The theme of this issue—sustainability—has an etymostatus of the other great examples of first-generation land art, logical root derived from the Latin tenere, to hold or to keep. and what I learned got me thinking about the fate of these But does the responsibility to "keep" works like Spiral Jetty works 40 years on and the tensions that exist between those for posterity mean preserving their physical integrity even at fates and the conceptual intentions with which the pieces the expense of their conceptual integrity? Can an argument be were originally made. made that the deterioration of these pieces is part and parcel of The situation with Spiral Jetty—a purposefully extra-insti- their identity as nuanced, ambivalent monuments to post-mintutional gesture now reliant on institutional support for its imalist site-specificity? Each case must, and will, be judged preservation; a work executed on a site far from what was the on its own merits. But as they enter their fifth decade, these furthest edge of "civilization," but now too close to it for the extraordinary examples of the artistic potential in real space comfort of some; a project that, in theory, actively courted the are confronting the real issues that reside there. Just like they unpredictable effects of entropy and now was potentially sub- were meant to. ject to its practical whims—was not unique. Michael Heizer's Double Negative, for example, under the stewardship of the JEFFREY KASTNER is a New York-based critic and journalist financially precarious LAMoCA, is facing serious soil erosion and senior editor of Cabinet magazine. He's written on art and cultural issues for a variety of publications. issues, while his City project in rural Nevada is threatened by a

MOST OF US would like to have our own little patch of nature: a backyard, an urban pocket park, or a remote conservation area we may never experience. Seattle artist Vaughn Bell, an artist whose temporary, permanent, and performative works are challenging the role of the individual in relationship to natural systems, offers us just that. Bell creates biospheres that range from large (three feet) to tiny (two inch) clear plastic spheres containing biomass from a specific region like "New England forest floor." With a Pocket Biosphere, you take your mini ecosystem everywhere. Tiny holes in the sphere allow for the transfer of air and water. Pocket Biospheres are available for adoption in a performance created by Bell where participants sign an adoption form stating that they will sustain their biosphere. I adopted my Pocket Biosphere at the opening of Bell's exhibition Self Sufficient at the Cambridge Arts Council Gallery (Mass.). I selected one containing bright fuzzy chartreuse moss, brown twigs, and loamy soil. I filled out an adoption form stating my responsibility to maintain my Pocket Biosphere. With the formality of a treaty-signing ceremony, Bell signed, then I signed. The significance of the Pocket Biosphere adoption represented a personal ethical dimension of global significance beyond the parameters of mere performance art. The Pocket Biosphere was small enough to fit in my pants pocket. It became one of the objects I accounted for in daily

life like a wallet, cell phone, and keys. From work, to home, to errands, the biosphere went with me. My personal and professional life's work has been committed to the stewardship and sustainability of the environment. Maintaining my Pocket Biosphere opened a new dimension of my commitment to sustainability. One day the biosphere did not accompany me to work but stayed home. In a rush, I quickly placed it on a windowsill next to a cactus. The juxtaposition of bioregions, the New England forest floor next to the desert, was performed out of ease and familiarityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;plants are placed in light. Yet my unconscious act was representative of a culture that builds opposing ecosystems side by side. Whether growing green lawns in Arizona or snow-skiing under a sphere in the desert of Dubai, we continue to keep the performance going, building nonsustainable artifices of nature. The Pocket Biosphere began to change. Compositionally, the moss began to brown, the loamy soil turned white. Formally, it was fascinating to observe its transition to a new form. My attempts at resuscitating the micro ecosystem failed. Sadly, I knew the biosphere was dying. I was unable to uphold the contract. The performance had come to an end. LIESEL FENNER is manager of the Public Art Network at Americans for the Arts.

LIESEL FENNER: Pocket Change Vauc take and

(PAN)

â&#x20AC;¢

THE Claes Oldenburg, Placid Cil/ic Monument, 1967, Central Park, N e w York City.

LAY

LAND ART:

Out of the Museum + Onto the Earth JOHN GRANDE

his year m a r k s t h e fortieth a n n i v e r s a r y

of t h e first E a r t h A r t e x h i b i t i o n , h e l d at Cornell

University,

which

literally

and

figuratively " b r o k e g r o u n d " for t h e m o v e m e n t that h a s c o m e t o b e c a l l e d l a n d art. T h a t m a k e s t h i s a fitting m o m e n t t o l o o k b a c k o n s o m e

the

artists, projects, a n d c o n c e p t s t h a t h a v e s h a p e d this d y n a m i c a n d evolving

movement.

The history of land art—a term interchangeable with earth art, but not to be confused with the more recent eco-art or environmental art—is usually interpreted within a quite narrow range: a movement of art dealing with nature on-site that emerged in the United States the 1960s and 1970s. Like a product label or logo, land art has been given legitimacy by the media, m u s e u m shows, and t h e galleries that promote certain artists' works. Some artists are included in the formal history of contemporary and modern art by critics a n d dealers, while others seem to have vanished from the radar altogether, though they too were part of what was actually a broader, intercultural, international history. At the very beginning, land art's actions and installations were generated in rather civilized settings. But on many occasions, there were not actually many witnesses. These events were often enacted far from the madding crowd in remote sites, and traces of the work were simply left for the animals, the wind, and the future to interpret. Pre-1969: The Movement's Influences "The sources of the earth sensibility are extremely diverse," wrote the late Willoughby Sharp in the catalogue produced for the Cornell Earth Art show. "Pollock's drip paintings inspired by the Indian sand painters, Rauschenberg's realization that everything can be used as artistic material. Kaprow's emphasis on the process of materials used in large-scale situations, and Morris's writings focused on the way in w h i c h sculpture is experienced. These have all had a strong impact on the Earth Artists, especially the Americans." 1 But the Europeans also had a strong influence. For its introduction of Dada a n d conceptual intent, early twentiethcentury Europe played a role in building the direction that eventually led to minimalism and earth art. French artist Marcel Duchamp was an artist who reflected all things conceptual in art. Duchamp's artwork 50 cc Air de Paris (1949) is a perfect example of h o w ethereal and poetic an idea could become. A n artist's intention, coupled with the concept, led to the artwork. So it could be said Marcel Duchamp is the father of earth art!

Performance art also played a major role in generating the terms whereby land art came into being. From 1953 to 1955, Quebec-based Armand Vaillancourt w a s on the streets producing his social public performance sculpture The Tree of Durocher St. in Montreal. Herman de Vries recorded songbirds in 1962 with a 100-centimeter parabolic microphone whose recording he referred to as reality music (and Zero work). Like the Canadian environmental composer R. Murray Shafer, w h o conducted soundscape studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in the 1960s, de Vries brought a n e w dimension—sound—into the dialogue of art with nature. 43 Monumental work h a d its influence o n land art, too. Austrian-born Herbert Bayer, w h o exhibited in MOMA's s h o w Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism (1936), moved to Aspen, Colorado, where he worked as - t r a c e s of the w o r k w e r e simply an architect and

left for the animals, the wind, a n d

designer for the t h e f u t u r e to interpret. Aspen Development Corporation. In 1955, Bayer produced Earth Mound a n d Marble Garden, w h i c h presaged t h e post-land art phase of environmental art (artists such as Maya Lin) for their integration of aesthetic within a landscape. Gallery installations focused on nature were also influential. In 1961 Allan Kaprow produced Yard for t h e M a y - J u n e show Environments, Situations, Spaces at Martha Jackson Gallery. In 1962 Robert Morris co-produced Site with Carolee Schneeman—the same year Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published and Hans Haacke exhibited h i s Wafer Box in the Rental Collection at New York's MOMA. By 1964, w h e n the Beatles first toured the United States and Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove h a d just been released, Frederick Kiesler was exhibiting h i s visionary Environmental Sculpture at the Guggenheim. (Kiesler's essay "On Correalism and Bio-Technique: Definition a n d Test of a New Approach to Building Design," published i n t h e Architectural Record i n 1939, describes an interspecies, intercultural, a n d natural resource vision of t h e h u m a n , built and ecological experiment, one that truly includes nature as a part of the paradigm.) Then, in 1966, Barry Flanagan exhibited his Pile of Sand at the Rowan Gallery in London along with Richard Long's Turf Circle, w h i c h both brought nature to the viewer. Claes Oldenburg hired a gravedigger i n 1967 to dig his Placid Civic Monument, a hole in Central Park adjacent to Cleopatra's Needle, w h i c h dates back to 1500 B.C. Was Oldenburg creating a n anti-monument gesture? Oldenburg's action, sited right b e h i n d the Metropolitan M u s e u m , a n d not so far from t h e Whitney, w a s a six-foot-long, three-foot-deep cavityIt was a burial of sorts—of an aesthetic, a disappearing object, and a museology rendered visible.

| S s J T

In 1968, Italian Giuseppe Penone, an Arte Povera artist w h o w o u l d access urban detritus as readily as nature, began carving his Alberi (trees) out of rectangular pieces of wood, revealing the natural shapes of trees. Japan's Nobuo Sekine created Phase—Mother Earth, a 106 3/8" high cylinder of earth set next to the hole in t h e ground it produced w h e n being removed at Suma Rikyu Park in Kobe in 1968. Then, in October 1968, New York's Dwan Gallery held Earthworks—with Carl Andre, Herbert Bayer, Michael Heizer, Stephen Kaltenbach, Sol LeWitt, Walter De Maria, Robert Morris, Claes Oldenburg, Dennis O p p e n h e i m and Robert Smithson. It marked the emergence of a new genre in which nature was part of the idiom. Throughout history, nature had been romanticized, objectified, and idealized in art, as it had been by J. M. W. Turner, John Constable, Caspar David Friedrich, and George Vicat Cole. Now direct actions and assemblages that involved nature within t h e space of an environment or site, as well as event-oriented documents, drawings, and gestures, appeared. Earthworks included photographs of Sol LeWitt digging a hole to bury a cube, a seemingly earth-oriented performative gesture. Stephen Kaltenbach presented a mock blueprint in Earth Mound for a Kidney-Shaped Swimming Pool, while Robert Smithson presented instamatic aerial photos of the Franklin Furnace mines next to a sculpture that incorporated limestone from the mines. In 1969 American earth art progenitor Dennis O p p e n h e i m layered an "X" onto a field in the Netherlands and entitled it Cancelled Crop. The work was conceptual—an extruded minimalist extra-gallery gesture—and so seemed to follow a European tradition. "Land art for me came very systematically out of minimalism," said O p p e n h e i m recently. "Land art came from the gallery. We are outside now. We can deal with complex ecological systems. One was tempted to continue the minimalist dialogue d o w n to the point that the object was dispersed." 2

1969: The Cornell Earth Art Show In 1969, the Earth Art show was held at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. At this event, artists were to create works on-site with materials from nature. Earth Art was curated by Willoughby Sharp, w h o allocated $1,000 to a filmmaker to document the event. Sharp had the foresight to invite Walter De Maria, Jan Dibbets, Hans Haacke, Michael Heizer, Richard Long, David Medalla, Robert Morris, Dennis Oppenheim, Robert Smithson, a n d Giinther Uecker. Together these artists, primarily Americans with a few Europeans, would create a n e w brand of installation art. The Earth Art show w a s s e t u p for New York media. For the opening at the Andrew Dickson White Museum at Cornell, a planeload of editors and critics, including Max Kozloff, Dore Ashton, and David Bourdon, were shipped into the hinterlands of New York State. Even future art dealers Annina Nosei and John Weber were on that plane. Along with the artists they arrived en masse. Was this a setup? If not, Willoughby Sharp was sharp w h e n it came to diffusion. He was certainly media savvy, for this nucleus of writers, editors, dealers, curator, and artists caused public awareness of land art as a movement to spread into the currency of public perception. At the event, under the eyes of the media and a video camera, Robert Smithson did his salt installation in the museum. Outside, Hans Haacke drew u p some rope near a waterfall and the spray built u p an icy aesthetic. Walter de Maria piled a m o u n d of earth, a precursor to his Earth Room, a n d wrote "Good Fuck" on the earth. He later left the show because school kids were forbidden to see the piece due to his writing the "f" word on it. Dennis O p p e n h e i m cut a trench in the ice at Beebe Lake with some students. Here, earth itself became the m e d i u m , with works being produced both inside and outside the Andrew Dickson White Museum of Art. These works represented the cultivated, extravagant reuse of site where nature is mere material to be built on, objectified, or manipulated. Robert Smithson sought to generate an American art form out of land art. In fact, Smithson was not at all in favor of European participation in the 1969 Earth Art show. But Richard Long, one of the Europeans invited to participate in the Cornell event, was there, a n d a young American artist named Gordon Matta-Clark, son of the Chilean surrealist Roberto Matta and American artist Anne Clark, could be found as a helper working with the Dutch artist Jan Dibbets. Richard Long later made it clear that land art, for its interest in space and scale, was very m u c h an American movement. "I never identify myself as a land artist," Long commented. "To me, this was a term coined by American curators or critics to define an American movement which for me, as an English artist in the sixties, I saw as American artists working in their own backyards, using the deserts to make monumental work and only in America." 3

Informed by the landscapes of John Muir a n d Edward Abbey, Western artists like Californians Walter de Maria and Michael Heizer, and Dennis O p p e n h e i m from Washington state, were all brought together under the rubric of this new art form (disavowed by some of them today precisely because of its potential to become a dogma). They moved away from the more pastoral and decorative approach one sees in works like Henry Moore's King and Queen, in which the land is used as a backdrop. Instead the earth itself created the art form. Non-site (the art gallery setting) and site (the land) were the artificial dialectic terms Smithson was to use. He was serious about it. Earth art took art outdoors, literally and materially. Concepts extended out into nature, this playground for art, and outdoor environments became the site. Space played a role, as did site—in nature working with nature. In February 1969, Hans Haacke invited Willoughby Sharp to exhibit the video installations Earthscopes at Cooper Union, the only venue for footage from the Cornell Earth Art show.

I % | | a s | | | 5 1 | | 2 | s | £ 3

The 1970s: After Cornell As a movement, land art or earth art was concept-driven a n d could even involve body performance within the context of land or environment, as with Dennis Oppenheim's Reading Position for Second Degree Burn (1970). On New York's Jones Beach, O p p e n h e i m placed an antique book called Tactics on his torso. When removed after five hours of exposure to bright sunlight, a contrasting cube of u n b u r n e d skin was left on the artist's body. Also in 1970, Charles Simonds was wandering the streets of New York creating clay dwellings for an imaginary people from some u n k n o w n civilization. But the best-known work of that era is Robert Smithson's 1,500-foot-long, 15-foot-wide Spiral Jetty (1970), a maximallyscaled land art form made of black basalt rocks and earth a n d situated at Rozel Point on the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Spiral Jetty continues to wholeheartedly engage its environment a n d the public w h o visit, thus challenging our reading of art as a fetish object, trinket, or object of wealth and patronage. Smithson was known to carry Brian Aldiss's sci-fi novel Earthworks (1965) around with him. T h e novel told the story of a man w h o traversed the planet, moving barges of sand from one place to the next. Wandering the toxic landscapes of places

ABOVE: From Cornell University's 1969 Earth Art exhibition (left to right): Robert Smithson pictured w i t h Mirror Displacement, Curator Willoughby Sharp w i t h f i l m m a k e r Marilyn Kawin; and Hans Haacke pictured w i t h Brass Brows. B E L O W : Dennis Oppenheim, Reading Position tor Second Degree Bum (Stage I a n d Stage II, Exposure t i m e : 5 hours), 1970, Jones Beach, New York.

BEADIWC POSITIOW TOE SECCHP DEGBEE BUBN• t a g * I , Staga I I . Book. a k i n , a o l a r a n a r g y . Expoaura l l a a : & h o u r s . Jonas Baach. 1970.

ABOVE: Robert Smithson, Spiral Jelly, Rozel Point, Great Salt Lake, Utah. Installed in 1970,

ABOVE: Nancy Holt's Sun funnels, 1973-76, Lucin, Utah, w i t h participants f r o m the University

the project w a s later covered by rising w a t e r levels. In 2002, Spiral Jelly r e - e m e r g e d follow-

of New Mexico's field program, Land Arts of the American West, 2008. The pierced holes

ing a season of severe d r o u g h t (pictured above). B E L O W : J a c k i e Winsor, 30 to I Bound Tress,

correspond t o constellations Draco, Perseus, Columba, and Capricorn.

1971-72, installation view, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

BELOW: Graham Metson, Rebirth, 1969, at a sacred site in Colorado.

like Passaic, New Jersey, where he was born in 1938, must have been inspirational for a young pragmatic dreamer like Smithson. In his essay "A Sedimentation of the Mind: Earth Projects" (1968) we sense Smithson's sensitivity to issues of ecology and entropy when he writes: "The strata of the earth is a jumbled museum. Embedded in the sediment is a text that contains limits and boundaries which evade the rational order, and social structures which confine art...to read the rocks we must become conscious of geologic time." 4 Still, it seems that impact was what mattered to those 1960s land artists, not ecology. Bigger was better. Earth material was for using. "At what cost?" one might ask. Smithson's projects could be very controversial when nature's ecology was concerned. His plan to cover an island with tons of broken glass in the Georgia Strait in British Columbia was, luckily, brought to a halt by local opposition. The bird life and gulls are the happier for that. At that time, even Jackie Winsor was making art in nature, and her 30 To 1 Bound Trees in Halifax, Nova Scotia (featured

in the Spring 1972 issue of Avalanche) has the look of an oversized asparagus bundle if ever there was one! While earth art demonstrated an experimental aesthetic, the rationale was usually quite linear, sometimes with a pinch of the ancient and the archaeological thrown into the mix. Michael Heizer, characterized as a Marlboro Man-type cowboy by the media in the 1970s (his father, interestingly, was an anthropologist), made "cuts," and marked the land immeasurably, but his works were a form of drawing on the surface, and following a contour of space. Like Smithson's work, Heizer's has a monumental aspect. So, too, does the work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who would extend environment into art as a phenomenon by creating the orange 1,250-foot-wide, 182-foothigh Valley Curtain (1973) between two desert cliffs at Rifle, Colorado. Nancy Holt's Sun Tunnels (1973-1976) in northwestern Utah also reflected the monumental in art, as does James Turrell's Boden Crater (1977-present) in northern Arizona. In addition to monumental works and intimate, hands-on art, another strand of land art took off in the United States. Per-

Also in the 1970s: Across the Pond formance artists began experimenting with nature in nature. Across t h e Atlantic, Europe responded to Earth Art by Graham Metson's nature actions found him crouched in a fetal producing its o w n show, Sonsbeek '71, with works by Robert position in an ancient sacred site in Colorado in 1969. This Smithson, Robert Morris, a n d others, sited at Sonsbeek performative "event" called Rebirth moved art in the direction Park in A r n h e m and throughout Holland. (Robert Morris's of meaningful ritual, as with Ana Mendieta's early earth works, Observatorium, originally sited in the d u n e s near Velsen in and was featured in Jack Burnham's Great Western Salt Works: 1971, found a n e w h o m e in an area of recently reclaimed land Essays on the Meaning of Post-Formalist Art (1974). known as Flevoland, a place where Richard Serra w a s also In Art Activation Rods, Metson launched seven arrows in commissioned to produce two 200-meter-long concrete walls.) the colors of the rainbow into a stream, introducing a broader While Robert Smithson could smash a mirror with a rock to parameter of nature, environment, a n d exchange/performance. create a piece, Morris created mirror boxes or corner mirror Each arrow followed its particular course, as chance would pieces, a n d t h e perceptual, spatial dimensions challenged the have it, and ended u p at various sites downriver. The destiviewer directly to see the h u m a n exchange nations and the journey they activated Eco-art w a s supplanting with environment as a living art form. were a symbolic experimental art action. British sculptor and artist David George Segal's farm in Far Hills, land art a s a m o v e m e n t . Nash recently reflected on t h e environNew Jersey, became a site (or was it nonArtists had begun to consider mental consciousness of the time: " W h e n site?) for early performances by Allan the ecology of h u m a n a n d I began in the 1970s, the environmental Kaprow, whose action-collage paintings movement was just beginning to manifest exhibited at Hansa Gallery in 1952 prenatural relationships... itself a n d I noticed that urban dwellers saged earth art. Kaprow's 1975 community action, called Echo-Logy, which took place on May 3 and of the environmental sensibility tended to believe that nature gets along better without the h u m a n being.... T h e message is 4 at the farm, was a collective social interaction with nature, as Don't Touch! If you actually live in a rural agricultural area were many of Kaprow's performance actions. (The same can be said for Robert Morris's installations using soft felt, for in- you see people touching the ground all the time. It's part of the livelihood, supporting the people in the urban areas." 6 stance—gallery non-sited but extemporal and idiosyncratic.) Drawing on the wild and crazy atmosphere of the 1960s, In Europe as in the United States, artists began to work Kaprow wanted to blur the boundaries between art and life. with nature in scale with a respect for nature's context. T h e For Echo-Logy, water was carried in buckets u p a stream and work w a s less about m o n u m e n t or scale than touching t h e then poured back into the stream. In a reverse action, a mouth- earth, a n d respecting the context where art w a s made. David ful of water was carried downstream mouth-to-mouth by par- Nash created Split Joined Triangle (1971) a n d Roped Arch ticipants to then be spit into the stream. Other actions included (1972) in the landscape at Cae'n-y-Coed, in Wales. This led to sending a m o u t h e d silent word upstream person by person his living sculpture Ash Dome, w h i c h was conceived in 1976 while saying it aloud to the trees, and propelling a shouted and planted in 1977. word a distance downstream person-by-person, mouthing it to Andy Goldsworthy and Nils-Udo w o u l d likewise work in the sky. As Kaprow described it, "Human breaths are collected nature, with an intimate hands-on approach, less about domiand conducted downstream by hand. Small bits escape. T h e nation than detail in the land. The plantings of Nils-Udo from growing bagful becomes stale and the container is then released the 1970s—such as his birch plantation at Chiemgau in U p p e r to the winds. The movement is simply back and forth." 5 Bavaria—brought art into the forum of nature as living nature, of which we, as humans, are a part. So did the vegetal works Eco-art was supplanting land art as a movement. Artists had begun to consider the ecology of h u m a n and natural rela- by artists like Bob Verschueren from Belgium, w h o s e outdoor sculpture events using wind and pigment are significant. tionships within their practice.

Allan K a p r o w ' s [cho-low, c a r r i e d out by a s m a l l group of persons m o v i n g in the w a t e r of a s t r e a m in Far Hills, N e w J e r s e y in M a y 1975.

Into the 1980s and Beyond: An Ecological Evolution One of Joseph Beuys's aktionen, or "actions," at Rene Block Gallery in New York in 1974 h a d nature in the form of a live coyote as the center of attention. I Like America and America Likes Me w a s a typical Beuys action/performance work. In it, the Wall Street Journal was delivered each day, dutifully placed in stacks and subsequently urinated on by the coyote after they were delivered. Beuys believed the coyote—which Amerindians believe symbolizes spiritual-physical transformation—had a spirit so great h u m a n s seldom understood it. In the social and ecological spirit, Beuys believed America could be a source of hope for the entire world. Another aktion included Beuys challenging the materialist bias of American minimalism, a n d critiquing America's presence in Vietnam during the war. It was videotaped by Willoughby Sharp, w h o had met Beuys in Diisseldorf in 1958 and interviewed h i m for Artforum in 1969, thus introducing Beuys to an American audience. Sharp then featured Beuys on t h e cover of the first issue of Avalanche. Beuys' social a n d ecological aktions, notably the 7000 Oaks project (1982-1987) at Kassel in Germany, brought social ecology to the forefront of the art world and made treeplanting social sculpture. Ecology was in the air, just as the groups Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, a n d so many others catalyzed public participation in eco-events. More recently, under the auspices of the Dia Foundation, Bueys's 7000 Oaks has been continued as an urban renewal gesture along the sidewalks of N e w York's Chelsea neighborhood, featuring a series of standing basalt stones, each with a tree planted next to it. Beuys intended the Kassel project to be the first stage in an ongoing scheme of tree-planting to be extended throughout the world as part of a global mission to effect environmental and social change. In May 1982, Agnes Denes planted Wheatfield, two acres of wheat planted in d o w n t o w n Manhattan, an altogether different kind of art action: urban and agricultural. Sited near

Joseph Bueys, I Like America anil America Likes Me, Rene Block Gallery, New York, 1974. Beuys spent a w e e k living w i t h a coyote caged in the gallery and protected by felt and i cane. Eventually, the coyote and Beuys learned t o co-exist in the same space.

the World Trade Center, a block from Wall Street and facing Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, Wheatfield enabled city people to actually see the foodstuffs they eat growing where they live. T h e wheat was harvested before the site was developed. By the time the Landmarks show of new site proposals by 22 original pioneers of environmental art, curated by Linda Weintraub, was shown at Bard College in 1984, the borders between land art, environmental art, and earth art had blurred. Terms were seemingly interchangeable but the scale had broadened a n d women artists, such as the true visionary pioneer Ana Mendieta, were part of the show. With Mary Miss, Alan Sonfist, Michael Singer, Helen and Newton Harrison, Nancy Holt, Alice Aycock and Carolee Schneeman, n e w depths and layers were entering into earth art. Concept w a s ceding to an endless dialogue with nature. The critic Lawrence Alloway caught the subtleties of this shift in approach, writing, "The work w e face here is intricate, intimate, subtle, a highly developed art which requires an earlier establishing phase for its ideas.... Ana Mendieta—her proposal for an effigy to be dug in the field presents a female presence expanding outward from her center. By chance the rudimentary image of w o m a n as a hole in the ground complements a male simplification in Robert Morris's proposal. This consists of three identical cylinders of steel, bronze, and grey granite, the latter partly buried and horizontal, the second at an angle of 60 degrees, and the first upright." 7 Ana Mendieta, during her graduate years at the University of Iowa, produced a number of works using her body, earth, gunpowder, paint, blood, and drawing materials, as part of German-born Hans Breder's Intermedia program, and learned about Group Zero, which emphasized interactivity. Her ecologically relevant art pioneered a small-scale, performance-oriented art form, and remains significant to the future evolution of art. Today, we have artists who interpret and work with nature on a variety of scales, integrating their visions, documenting their interventions in n e w media or traditional drawing and painting. Alan Sonfist is one such artist. He takes nature back into the city and places it in an historical, social, and cultural context that engages our understanding of the intertwining of h u m a n and natural history. By bringing an awareness of nature through art to the urban context, Sonfist makes us aware that all h u m a n activity engages in a dialogue with, a n d affects the

ABOVE: Agnes Denes, l 1982, aerial v i e w a n d d u r i n g harvesting. B E L O W : Ana Mendieta, Untitled, 1978, Iowa.

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natural order of, ecosystems. Sonfist—who has bequeathed his body to the Museum of Modern Art, its posthumous decay being seen as part of the natural life cycle—has a vision of the earth/land art movement rooted in his urban experience. He comments, "I have a lifelong commitment to rediscovering my ancient childhood forest. Through my dreams, I capture the essence of the ghost forest of the urban past. In my adulthood, I have scientifically researched the composition of the ancient forests throughout the world. I bring the poetry of my dreams to the science of today." 8 Alan Sonfist conceived and created what is one of the world's most significant urban permacultural artworks, Time Landscape (1965-present). It grew out of the same performance and conceptual roots as Smithson's. In an essay published in 1968 titled "Natural Phenomena as Public Monuments," Sonfist emancipated public art from focusing exclusively on human history, stating, "As in war monuments that record the life and death of soldiers, the life and death of natural phenomena such as rivers, springs, and natural outcroppings need to be remembered. Public art can be a reminder that the city was once a forest or a marsh." 9 Alan Sonfist formed a counterweight in the cosmology of land art to Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, land art's mega-scale highly symbolic rural exemplar. Time Landscape now stands as a major living urban monument to the ecological art movement and its integration into the language of art. This past summer with Steven Spears, Mike Albert, Dori Johnson from the Design Workshop, and other volunteers in Snowmass, Colorado, Sonfist produced Trees of Aspen,

[pictured on the cover] the blackened and burned remnant trees from a forest fire resurrected as an installation that commented on global warming. Set up right next to a golf course, they made an almost surreal juxtaposition between leisure activity and real life eco-catastrophe. The great gap between nature and humanity is the result of a process of historicization. As the social ecologist Murray Bookchin has written, "From the sixteenth century onward, Western thought cast the relationship between ego and the external world, notably nature, in oppositional terms. Progress was identified not with spiritual redemption but with the technical capacity of humanity to bend nature to the service of the marketplace. Human destiny was conceived not as the realization of its intellectual and spiritual potentialities, but as the mastery of natural forces and the redemption of society from a demonic natural world. The outlook of organic society towards nature and treasure was completely reversed." 10 Nature is a life-giving force we deny because it defies the production/consumption model that is one historical construct among many. Nature procreates effortlessly and can regenerate, given the chance. In developing a nature-specific art rooted in actual experience in a given place and time—with nature as the essential material and ingredient of the process—artists working with nature have, over time, moved from considering nature real estate to play around on, to considering it part of an active site for life and art, the exchange and context being very important. Land art is an evolving art form. Increasingly ephemeral, it attracts a truly global and intercultural participation. JOHN GRANDE has authored Balance: Art and Nature (Black Rose Books), Art Nature Dialogues: Interviews with Environmental Artists (SUNY Press), and Dialogues in Diversity: Art from Marginal to Mainstream (Pari Publishing). He is curating Earth Art at the Royal Botanical Gardens this summer. NOTES 1

Willoughby Sharp in Earth Art. Andrew Dickson White Museum of Art. Cornell University, 1969.

Dennis Oppenheim in conversation with John Grande. New York City. December 29, 2007.

Richard Long cited in Suzaan Boettger. Earthworks: Art and the Landscape of the Sixties

Allan Kaprow. Happenings (New York: E. P. Dutton. 1966). 44-45,

(Berkeley: University of California Press. 20021, 172. 5

Allan Kaprow. Echo-Logy (New York: d'Arc Press, 1975).

David Nash interviewed by John Grande in Art Nature Dialogues: Interviews with Environmental

Artists (New York: SUNY Press, 2004). 3.

Lawrence Alloway, "Sculpture. Nature, the Environment" in Landmarks: New Site Proposals by 22 original pioneers of environmental art. Edith C. Blum Art Institute. Bard College Center. September 16-October 28. 1984. Alan Sonfist in conversation with John Grande. October 2008. Alan Sonfist, "Natural Phenomena as Public Monuments," 1968. in Theories and

Documents

of Contemporary Art (Berkeley: University of California Press. 19961. 545-546. Murray Bookchin. The Ecology of Freedom (Palo Alto, CA: Cheshire Books. 1982), 161,

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What are the most important things happening in the environmental and social justice movements today?

HAWKEN: I am partnering with Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry, on a company that incubates and commercializes biologically inspired technologies. These are technologies that mimic what is seen in nature, design strategies that have several billion years of evolution behind them. Most of what we do industrially, nature does better. It is more efficient, nonpolluting, and inexpensive. We use heat, pressure, and force to make our materials and chemicals. Nature selfassembles at ambient temperature with simple molecules. In our rush to industrialization, we overlooked a million brilliant techniques in favor of a few hundred largely destructive ones. Our world would not be as polluted, degraded, and toxic had we chosen a different path.

There are over one million organizations in the world that address environment and social justice. There may be as many as two million. It is like the discovery that organisms were made of living cells. Society is made of living organizational cells, and we mostly are aware of businesses, schools, governments, and churches. But in sheer numbers, nonprofit organizations outnumber all but commerce. Each of them addresses something important to their stakeholders. It would be foolish to place them in a hierarchy of value. There is no question that the Internet has greatly amplified the effectiveness of these organizations, and such higher-tech approaches nab the headlines because of their innovative nature. Yet, for people on the ground, decidedly low-tech NGOs such as Wangaari Mathai's Greenbelt Movement in Kenya have been extraordinary.

Why did you write Blessed from writing it?

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In the early 1990s I was giving as many as 100 speeches or talks a year, and after every event people would come up to talk further and give me their card. They were from civil society organizations around the world and I would take them home, read the names of the organizations, and put the cards away. At that time I lived on a houseboat in Sausalito, and kept the cards in a drawer. When the drawer was full, I placed them in a bag in my closet, and when the bag was full, I asked myself a simple question: How many organizations are there in the world working on environmental and social justice issues? I was seeing something that was more difficult to see unless one traveled from place to place: an explosion of nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations that were addressing the salient issues of our time, organizations that were largely unknown. What I sensed was a movement that was becoming humanity's immune response to political corruption, economic disease, and ecological degradation, something unlike anything we have ever seen in terms of scale, breadth, and diversity.

Where do you see opportunities for cross-pollination between public artists and environmental and social change organizations?

For activists, all art is public or it has no value. Arts activism is a form of direct action to bring about change, be it social, political, or environmental, using arts to educate, raise awareness, and promote the aims of the activists. Arts activism can include murals, storytelling, installation art, drama, and music to communicate the message of the activist organization. Environmental and social activists have long relied on art to transform and heighten public awareness of critical issues. Have you ever been a part of creating a public artwork?

Not that I recollect. But one would have to ponder what is art in a world that is coming apart. Climate change threatens the very marrow of civilization. What should we think when we see a monumental sculpture in the atrium of a bank that has been systematically looting the environment and society?

Paul H a w k e n , left, a n d his book " T h e Ecology of C o m m e r c e " f e a t u r i n g a n Andy G o l d s w o r t h y s c u l p t u r e on t h e cover.

B E L O W : One o f t h r e e m o s a i c m u r a l s f r o m M o a ^ s Cafeteria i n San Francisco, b y B e n i a m i n o B u f a n o (circa 1940).

Can you divorce art from its patron? Seemingly, since the Medici family could play as rough as anyone today in business and politics. But given the catastrophic scenarios reluctantly uttered by our best scientists, what constitutes art? Is protest a kind of art? What is the art of change? What is the art of nonfiction? What is the art of the Internet? What is the art of social organizing? Are these arts? Crafts? Skills? Is not art the reimagination of the left-brained world by the right-brained? Simplistic, maybe, but initially, is art not an act of seeingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the bodily and exalted experience when there are no points of separation in the universe or between us and all forms of life, so that any attempt to act on the basis of separation is a kind of desecration to life itself? Do any works of public art stand out in your mind?

I pay attention to Andy Goldsworthy, not only for inventing a new school of art, but for his willingness to embrace ephemerality as a means to amplify our awareness of our personal transiency. It is a signal of how short-lived our own culture has become in its destructive activity with respect to our oceans, forests, air, soil, and creatures. If you live in a destructive era, it doesn't mean art should mirror the times with nihilistic echoes. Art can make us more humane, and part of what makes us human is wonder. That is its gift. Which other artists have created public works that have inspired or informed you?

Beniamino Benvenuto Bufano. When I was a boy, my father would take me to Moar's Cafeteria on Powell Street in San Francisco, and inside was a large mosaic made by Bufano during the Depression [pictured above, center]. After completion, he was given free meals for the rest of his life and we would always look for him when we visited. From seeing his work at an early age, I began to recognize his work everywhere. Bufano worked for the San Francisco Housing Authority in the 1940s placing sculptures throughout the city. These were placed in miserably designed public housing, all of which was finally torn down. The low-to-the-ground animal sculptures were

transferred to ghostly museums after being clambered over by children for decades. The poor deserve art more than the rich, a simple fact that has been lost in recent times. Tagging is the public art of the poor, as is street music. Bufano's dedication to people made a big impression on me and I never fail to remember his integrity and dedication to peace and justice. I was nine years old when I first met him. He was fifty-six and I remember staring at the stubby index finger. Later my father told me what it represented: His trigger finger. He chopped it off and sent it to President Wilson to protest the outbreak of World War I. Public art. What, in your opinion, is the role of public art in creating a sustainable world?

I grew up with a photographer father, whose friends were artists. They included Peter Voulkos, Ansel Adams, Minor White, Imogen Cunningham, Theodore Bikel, Pete Seeger, and many more. In my childhood I thought artists were the majority of the world, because they comprised the adult world around me. I was shocked when we moved to Modesto, California. There were none. It was like I was a fish tossed onto dry land. We are in a world transition so enormous that it cannot be taken in. Human beings will need to completely reimagine everything we make, take, and do, as well as our relationships with all living beings including each other. We are overwhelmed in the daily news about the failure of imagination, the absence of an ethos that is life-giving and nurturing. But underneath all this is this crazy wondrous ability of human beings to imagine. Is this art? If public art can be transient, as in Goldsworthy, then can remaking the world be a form of public art? As the novelist David James Duncan wrote, "...small things, lovingly done, are always within our reach." This is art. KAREN OLSON is a writer, editor, and aspiring permaculturist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is the former editor of Utne Reader.

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l u c e n t , w h i t e p l a s t i c s q u a r e s t h a t m o v e in t h e w i n d , g i v i n g t h e i m p r e s s i o n t h a t t h e b u i l d i n g is e n v e l o p e d b y a d i g i t i z e d c l o u d . T h e o p t i c a l q u a l i t i e s of t h e p i e c e c h a n g e d r a m a t i c a l l y w i t h t h e w e a t h e r a n d t h e t i m e of day. T h e a r t i c u l a t e d skin, s u p p o r t e d b y a n a l u m i n u m f r a m e , a p p e a r s t o float in f r o n t of t h e b u i l d i n g . T h e d e s i g n e v o l v e d t h r o u g h a c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i t h t h e a r c h i t e c t u r a l f i r m K o n i n g / E i z e n b e r g . To s e e v i d e o s o f t h i s p r o j e c t a n d o t h e r k i n e t i c w o r k s b y t h e artist, visit www.nedkahn.com.

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m a g i n e traveling t h e globe t o see a n d learn f r o m w o r k s of c o n t e m p o r a r y e n v i r o n m e n t a l a r t . To explore t h e d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n natural a n d artificial w a y s of life, you could visit A n k e Mellin's 1 9 9 6 project Up and Down in G e r m a n y . To see h o w J e a n - P a u l G a n e m

t r a n s f o r m e d a d u m p i n g g r o u n d filled w i t h h u m a n w a s t e into a colorful, life-filled a g r i c u l t u r a l c o m p o s i t i o n in 2000, you c o u l d go t o M o n t r e a l to see Jardins des capteurs. Or t o learn h o w Shai Zakai called a t t e n t i o n t o t h e e f f e c t s of c o n c r e t e d u m p i n g w i t h Concrete Creek in 2 0 0 1 , you could g o t o Israel. Such travel is not possible, you say? But it is, and you don't need a plane, train or time machine to do it. An eightyear-old museum has brought all of these works, and many others, together for you to visit. This museum requires no TerraPass for carbon offsets, and there's no admission fee. It's called greenmuseum.org and its street address is on the Internet. There, environmental art is available at your fingertips. The site's founder and executive director, Sam Bower, left Meadowsweet Dairy, a San Francisco Bay area eco-art collective, to launch the website in 2001. "At the time, the traditional arts infrastructure was not set up to support large-scale, site-specific ecological or ephemeral works, except through documentation," he says. By its nature, Bower adds, "a lot of environmental art isn't designed to be sold in a gallery or moved for exhibition in a museum." So greenmuseum.org digitally continues the tradition of the museum by inviting the curious to see art in a certain way, a way of relating ideas and objects. In its lobby, a.k.a. main webpage, Yutaka Kobayashi, Daniel McCormick, and over 100 other practicing environmental artists are prominently listed along with critical writings and a calendar of events taking place around the world. And you don't have to wait in line to visit their online exhibitions. "We're a museum turned inside out. We've created a place for everyone," says Bower. The website welcomes 3,000 to 3,500 international visitors daily from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, Japan, Canada, and more. For artists, park rangers, educators, and civic and art administrators, there is a "Toolbox" section, which offers a complete set of resources for people interested in making art to serve our communities and ecosystems. The site explores the history of environmental art, and what is driving artists today. Conscious of their choice of materials' origins and impact on the earth, they are no longer interested in questioning the function of the art system; instead their art balances aesthetics and function with proactive healing of our shared ecosystem. They're interested in creating dialogue with audiences in and outside of the art world. Bower expands on environmental art's circles of dialogue of influence and connection, "When we talk about sustainability, we ought to think about what the earth will notice and appreciate. What would a watershed, worms, and robins think of an artwork? What about the materials that went into something and its carbon footprint and the potential long-term impacts (positive and negative) on people and the environment? Considering the nonhuman audience for art opens up the idea that everything we do is deeply interconnected and can affect the world around us."

Artists involved with greenmuseum.org share this perspective and are proactive with their environmental stewardship through their art practices. They operate as catalysts within communities to help meet responsibility for our ecosystems. Here, we travel to see some of the artists whose works in the United States are available for viewing at greenmuseum.org. HARNESSING THE ELEMENTS

"People present me a problem or an opportunity and I respond. I'm interested in what's happening in the site in the present," says Ned Kahn, a MacArthur Award-winning San Francisco Bay-based artist who creates public art that enables audiences to experience the elemental forces of fog, wind, water, fire, light, and sand. So when the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh asked him to participate in designing an addition to link two existing buildings in 2004, Kahn created Articulated Cloud, a skin for the fagade of the addition that is also a shimmering sculpture. Forty-three thousand individual square panels are hinged to a steel screen, moving in the wind and reflecting light and shadows. Because Articulated Cloud diffuses direct light and bounces indirect light through the building's windows, it reduces the amount of artificial light required inside and the amount of heat generated by artificial light, so it lowers the cost of cooling and heating systems. The building also incorporates sustainable practices such as water conservation, indoor air quality, and energy management. Due to these features, it earned LEED points, which helped the museum to be awarded Silver LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. And this meets Kahn's goals. "There is a conundrum for public art. It's proverbially linked to development," Kahn says. "You're right in there with the developers, but you want the development project to gently touch the earth." REFRESHING THE WATER

Jackie Brookner, a New York City-based artist, is invited to create storm water remediation public artworks around the world. She recently completed Laughing Brook (2001-2008), a wetland park and storm water filtration project in Salway Park in Cincinnati. It is part of the Mill Creek Restoration Project's greenway system. Laughing Brook is comprised of over 100 biosculpturesâ&#x201E;˘ that here take the form of human hands evolving into six species of fish that once flourished in Mill Creek. Storm water runoff from adjoining parking lots, sidewalks, and ball fields is stored in an underground cistern and recirculated through Laughing Brook. Brookner says, "Biosculpturesâ&#x201E;˘ are vegetated sculptures that utilize the capacity of mosses, wetland plants and microorganisms to filter water. Essentially they are sculpted

wetlands." The biosculpturesโ ข, the wetland plants, and the rock bed filter out contaminants such as car oil, antifreeze, and animal droppings. In essence, this ecovention cleans water before it enters the Mill Creek's eco-system, to help the long recovery that will enable these fish to thrive again. There is a map kiosk with solar panels on its roof that power the irrigation system for Laughing Brook. The kiosk itself is made of recycled plastic, which equates to 4,000 plastic milk jugs being saved from local landfills. Brookner comments, "Laughing Brook, with its reverse evolution, provokes questions: Who are we? What is the being of human?" RESTORING THE MANGROVES

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In 2006 Xavier Cortada, a Miami-based artist, created a participatory ecovention called The Reclamation Project in response to the destruction of mangrove forests due to the widening of the 18-mile stretch of road to the Florida Keys. "I launched The Reclamation Project with an installation of 252 mangrove seedlings at the Bass Museum of Art on Earth Day 2006, recruiting volunteers to create installations all over South Beach in the fall of 2007," says Cortada. As of March 2009, over 5,000 red mangrove progagules (seedlings) have been scavenged by local citizens of four separate communities across the state of Florida. "Some of the installations are temporary (i.e., Bass Museum, retail stores in South Beach), others are up year-round (Florida Botanical Gardens, Miami Science Museum)," says Cortada. "I call this latter group repermanent installations, since every year volunteers will add new mangrove propagules to these vertical nurseries, when the existing batch of mangrove seedlings are removed to be planted on the coastal wetlands." In 2007 this project expanded to include urban reforestation by nurturing indigenous trees within the residential areas of metropolitan Miami. Residents who participate display green Native Flags that state, "I hereby reclaim this land for nature."

ABOVE: A s e g m e n t of Jackie Brookner"s Laughing Brook in Salway Park, Cincinnati, c o m p l e t e d in 2008. B E L O W : Xavier Cortada's The Reclamation Project, 2008, at Tampa Preparatory School, one of many sites nurturing mangrove saplings in Southern Florida,

"ECOVENTION" T h e t e r m e c o v e n t i o n ( e c o l o g y + invention) w a s c o i n e d in 1 9 9 9 by S u e S p a i d a n d A m y L i p t o n . It d e s c r i b e s an artist-initiated p r o j e c t that e m p l o y s an inventive strategy t o physically t r a n s f o r m a local e c o l o g y . Its a e s t h e t i c c o m p o n e n t s may b e b o t h visible a n d invisible, w i t h a primary e m p h a s i s o n regional site-specific p r o j e c t s that c o n c e r n restoration, reclamation, renewal, a n d rejuv e n a t i o n of p o l l u t e d a n d d a m a g e d w a s t e l a n d s .

ABOVE LEFT: Animation still f r o m Tiffany Holmes's 7000 oaks md counting, 2 0 0 6 - 0 8 ,

"Native trees are more resistant to hurricanes, they can evolve over time, they need much less water than exotic trees that drain our water resources, which means it creates a more sustainable environment," Cortada has written. "Annually, the installations do more than engage viewers in public spaces, they actually grow mangrove forests and create new ecosystems above and below the waterline." MONITORING ENERGY CONSUMPTION

In 2006 the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in Urbana commissioned Chicago-based artist Tiffany Holmes to create 7000 oaks and counting, an interactive public artwork that visualizes realtime energy usage in the building as an animation. The project is an example of eco-visualization, a term Holmes coined that refers to the combination of art and technology to create readable images that translate ecological significant data. Holmes's recent work is about using eco-visualization to draw attention to one's everyday habits—and the resulting action can be as simple as turning off lights and a computer when not in a room. Due to privacy and security issues, 7000 oaks and counting is not available for everyone to see in action. It's only visible for the 300 employees working in the building, whose energy consumption is tabulated and made visible in the piece. "There are no carbon credits for sale. This is key," Holmes says. "The piece is all about no-cost actions and gestures that people can enact at work (or coming and going to work) to lower their carbon footprint." Holmes also created www.worldoffset.org, an interactive website for people to count and share their personal carbon loads. As of March 26, 2009, the amount of carbon saved by 252 good people tallied 497,817.33 pounds. There are seven categories on this website in which visitors are asked to make promises to offset their personal carbon footprint: Eat, Drink, Go, Live, Mail, Trash, and Work. The suggested conservation choices are presented to facilitate changes such as eating at least one meal per week with locally-produced food, changing car air filters once a month, and turning off and unplugging home computers when not in use for an entire year.

displayed on a t o u c h screen kiosk at the National Center for S u p e r c o m p u t i n g Applications, University of Illinois in Urbana. ABOVE RIGHT and B E L O W : EcoArtTech, [mrironmental Risk Assessment Rover-AT (IRAR-AT), 2008. This solar-powered, all-terrain mobile station collects real-time risk data relative t o its local coordinates. Pictured during a p e r f o r m a n c e in M a r c h 2 0 0 8 in Purchase, N e w York.

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and GPS-powered networked video installation. "If the rover is located in New York City, it will pull data on both global and local risks: car accidents, air pollutant levels, subway accidents, murders and assaults, ground water toxicity, global warming probabilities, and proximity (or number of) superfund sites, among other factors," the duo explain. "After accumulating this data, ERAR-AT responds to its environment. As it is pulled down, say, 14th Street, it produces a unique 14-tiered threat level that is embedded live within videos of natural and human-made environments and projected onto local natural and architectural surfaces." This tactical approach to presentation combines technology and nature. "We think science is important but that is limited, too, in its ability to fix ecological problems when it, in many ways, caused many of the crises we face today," claims EcoArtTech. "Art and literature and the work of the imagination need to supplement scientific endeavors."

ASSESSING ENVIRONMENTAL RISK

EcoArtTech, a New York-based collaboration between Cary Peppermint and Christine Nadir, creates provocative eco-art with new-tech critique for mass consumption. In 2008 EcoArtTech literally took the road with Environmental Risk Assessment Rover-AT (ERAR-AT], an all-terrain mobile solar

ALLISON L. COMPTON is a writer/artist based in New York. Her work explores environmental practices and art in the realm of public engagement. She also writes for Sculpture magazine and has upcoming exhibitions in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Richmond, Virginia.

Treading Lightly:

The Behavioral Art of Marcus Young M A S O N RIDDLE

o w m a n y public a r t events attracting 1,800 attendees in a

single day generate a measly five pounds of trash? F e w - v e r y

f e w , i n d e e d . B u t s o i t w a s w i t h t h e f i r s t a n n u a l Wishes Sky (Wishes)

for the

in t h e spring of 2007, a " n a t u r e - i n s p i r e d public a r t

project of w i s h i n g a n d p r o m i s i n g " conceived b y Twin Cities artist Marcus Young. "Even I w a s surprised," c o m m e n t e d Young. " T h e 56

w a s t e w e i g h e d less t h a n m o s t laptop computers." Young's carbon footprint, if there is one at all, is feather light, just the way he likes it. Born in Hong Kong to Chinese parents and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, Young moved to Minnesota in 1987 to attend Carleton College, from which he graduated with a B.A. in music. Subsequently, he graduated from the University of Minnesota with an M.F.A. in theater arts, with a specialization in directing. Young's projectsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;part public art, part performance, and part homage to nature and the inner selfâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;comprehensively reflect his Chinese heritage

and philosophy, his academic training, and his perspicacity as a twenty-first-century artist with an eye to the environment. Since 2007, Young has been the artist-in-residence for the city of St. Paul. Although Young has conceived and performed several individual, time-based projects, such as his slow-walking and smiling project called Pacific Avenue, many of Young's projects are collaborative, community-based events. Wishes is no different. Supported initially by the city's Parks and Recreation Department, Public Art Saint Paul, Forecast Public Art, and Eureka Recycling, Wishes has evolved into a signature Earth Day event. Held each year on the Sunday before Earth Day, the 2009 (third annual) Wishes event was held Sunday, April 19. The six-hour outdoor gathering took place at St. Paul's Harriet Island Regional Park, a beautiful setting in the migratory flyway zone of the Mississippi River valley.

LEFT: A child writes a w i s h on a kite as part of Marcus Young's Wishes lor the Sky. RIGHT: W i n d chimes in House to Touch the Wirti can be heard throughout Harriet Island in St. Paul during the six-hour Wishes tor the Sky event.

Wishes comprises four main artistic events open for participation by all. House to Touch the Wind is a temporary bamboo structure built around and "in harmony with" a towering, century-old cottonvvood tree. In it are hung hundreds of wind chimes. As people pass through the house to hang or touch the chimes, the melodic sound created wafts over Harriet Island's Great Lawn, making the structure a 'musical instrument-house." For the day, the Island's historic Wigington Pavilion is transformed into the Wishing Pavilion. Within are 24 elegant scrolls that have been inscribed with a newly created calligraphy in thi! form of poems that honor the earth. One begins with the respectful greeting "Old One, Heart of the earth, Parent of waters..." And it is here community elders (those 110 years or older) hand out kites to whoever wants to make a wish to the sky. Wishes are written directly on the kites, which are in the shape of birds to symbolize the llvway and in varying shades of blue so as "not to disturb the sky." Conceptually, this activity becomes a cyclical and spiritual event in that each kite flyer can read the wishes written on the kite from previ-

ous years, creating an ongoing anil encompassing gesture by many to the earth. Another activity takes place outside. Here, participants can add their own voices to Promises to the Earth, an ongoing sound installation collage. Collectively, their pledges to h e better earth citizens express the community's desire to change its earth-affecting behavior. The most dramatic component of Wishes is the ongoing launching of the bird kites throughout the daylong event. The first two wishes, those for the first newborn in St. Paul that day (Young visits the hospitals) and for the oldest person in Minnesota, are sent to the sky. soon followed by a phalanx of wishhearing kites numbering in the hundreds. Over the course of the day. the kites rise and fall with wind currents, creating a visually stunning, community-enriching public artwork that is visibly in harmony with the earth. The unconventional spectacle is strikingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;even breathtaking. From a distance the ringing chimes can be heard perfuming the air with their ethereal sound, and the kites can he seen from as far away as the river bluff heights of the St. Paul Cathedral to the west. Inspired by

Two details f r o m Marcus Young's imyiay Poem lot City Sidewalk, 2008, St. Paul, Minnesota. ABOVE: Poem by Carlee Tressel. B E L O W : Poem by Georgia Greeley.

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a , .! S t f l K j • -• • i ;.- I ^ ^ ^ H H H H H B H B H H H H H i the ancient Asian tradition of flying wishes on kites, Young's Wishes, at its zenith, generates an aesthetic, cross-cultural, environmental, spiritual, and community tribute to Earth Day and the coming of spring. In a similar collaborative fashion, Young initiated Everyday Poems for City Sidewalk (Poems). The City of St. Paul replaces over one mile of sidewalks each year, and Young questioned why the sections were always left blank. Supported by St. Paul Public Works' sidewalk maintenance program and sponsored by Public Art Saint Paul as an artist-in-residence, Young convinced the city to install poetry-inscribed sections of concrete instead of blank ones where city sidewalks are being replaced. "We know we live in a city, but we also metaphorically live in a book," comments Young. "Each sidewalk section can be thought of as a page in that book that needs to be read." Young's strategy was to solicit poems from city residents, make stamps of the poems selected, and then have the poem

stamped into a newly poured section of concrete—recalling the contractor stamp often found in the corner of a sidewalk. Initially, Young wondered if enough poems would be written to make the project a success. Not to worry. More than 2,000 poems—addressing the seasons, life in the city, and love and loss, among innumerable other themes—were submitted and the selection panel read each one. Through an anonymous judging process 20 poems were selected with an additional 14 noted as honorable mentions. By early fall 2008, the 20 winning poems were stamped into a total of 99 sidewalk sections across the city. Just as there is no signature of the individual workers who lay sidewalks, the poems are anonymous, reflecting an idea of equality important to Young. However, the authors, and the locations of the 20 stamped poems, are identified in a 60-page book that features all 34 poems, Everyday Poems for City Sidewalk (Public Art Saint Paul, 2008). "Those who fix up the sidewalks are now the caretakers of the city's poetry collection," explains Young. "There's the nuts and bolts and engineering of a city and then there is the more metaphorical part of life. To dream and hope and wish and write is just as much a part of city life and living as working, driving, eating, and shitting." Significantly, costs associated with Poems were minimal, consisting primarily of the design and fabrication of the stamps; a modest price given the wonderment of a pedestrian discovering a city sidewalk poem—or a poet knowing his or her work has found a place in the fabric of the city. No other materials beyond what was already required to replace conventional sidewalk sections were used. Nor did the project require a higher grade of concrete or additional expertise. Moreover, the stamps, like the kites, are reusable. Like Wishes for the Sky, Poems reflects the essence of Young's artistic practice: behavioral, inclusive, democratic, public, eco-friendly, and a way of giving back to others and the environment. Over the past decade Young has created numerous ephemeral performance-based projects. Pacific Avenue is a lifelong project of walking slowly and smiling on streets, including Beijing's commercial street Wangfujing, Minneapolis' Nicollet Mall, New York's Wall Street, and others in Manchester, Bristol, and Liverpool. He has also drawn very long lines—like his twomile-long line from the Mississippi River to a Minneapolis gallery—and written fortunes for cookies handed out by seven Twin Cities restaurants. A recent ephemeral project is the ongoing apolitical Don't you feel it too? (Don't), premiered at the September 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC) in St. Paul. The work, to be fully realized, is dependent upon the public realm, even when practiced. At its core, Don't is about dancing one's internal life in public, an action that Young described as "a generous and courageous act of self-embarrassment and joy performed with the accompaniment of your MP3 player." After many weeks of practice and mutual support, a troupe of 16 people danced in and around the RNC area over the course of four days to the music of their choice. Commencing each day at different geographic points in the city, the performers would slowly gravitate to the centrally located Rice Park where they would dance collectively. Initially, the response of security, police, politicians, and onlookers was negative or cautionary at best. Some people made rude comments or were angry; others thought Young and his dancers were a live ad for iPods. Others thought they were crazy. But when people began to recognize the dancers and realize that nothing subversive was occurring, they became increasingly curious and receptive. People began to ask the

performers what they were doing and why they were so happy. The rehearsed response: "Don't you feel it too?" On the final day of the convention, an expressionless mounted policeman in Rice Park, who had been watching Young's unconventional troupe for four days, held up a sheet of paper marked "8.5." as if judging "Dancing with the Stars." Sometimes the best of intentions do work. Neither an overt spectacle nor a bipartisan protest, Don't was a nondivisive act, a show of goodwill and nonthreatening behavior at a very volatile time. Although harmless, Don't was not without an edge; a tension was created by the dancersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and felt by the onlookersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;inserting nonstandard behavior into a very regimented environment. The essence of Young's artistic practice is respect. His conceptual, performance-based work is lodged in human behavior and the inner spirit and what is good about these things. The hybrid work is not a social critique rooted in theory, but rather a positive, tangible social action that reveals the poetic potential in human behavior. In part, Young's projects are as much emotional studies as performance. Like the Happenings of the 1960s, Young critically reinforces the power of ideas rather than things. He has come to identify his practice as behavioral art, a term that is a retranslation into English of a Chinese term f o r performance

art.

While Young calls upon his own "internal life" for a work's foundation, each work is meant to produce a joyous response in both the participants and viewers. For example, Wishes encourages all participants to actively show respect for the earth and experience a collective satisfaction, not to mention joy in seeing the sheer beauty of 1,000 blue kites in the shape of birds floating in the sky. Poems allows poets to actively become part of the physical fabric of the city while contributing to its cultural vitality. In hindsight, Don't was perhaps the only nonthreatening activity in a very threatening RNC political environment. Leaving virtually no physical trace upon completion, Young's work uses minimal resources and energy and produces little waste. While these can be thought of as eco-friendly strategies, he is not motivated by the politics of being able to produce a zero-waste event. Instead his commitment is to his idea and then how to execute it with minimum impact. "Life is an enchanted thing," says Young. "I try to bring a re-enchantment to everyday life." The most remarkable aspect of Young's practice is

that it comes from simple, uncomplicated, fundamental ideas that reflect the artist's conceptual acuity: injecting the ebullience of dance into a rancorous environment; devising a communal tribute to the earth through only a kite, chimes, and the elements; or leaving a beautiful poem for anyone to read. None of these projects were conceived for blind ambition or to leave a monument for the ages. Seemingly effortless activities, Young's projects evaporate as quietly as they materialize. And, critically, unlike most contemporary art, there is little if any irony in Young's work. His practice is refreshingly provocative, a highly pacifist genre of art with a clear, textured, activist voice. Young treads lightly. Yes, we feel it too. MASON RIDDLE, a St. Paul-based critic, writes on the visual arts of architecture and design. She was the director of the Minnesota Percent for Art in Public Places program from 1998 to 2003 and is the current president of the Visual Arts Critics Union of Minnesota (VACUM).

M a r c u s Young (top, center) and others, p e r f o r m i n g Don't you feel it too? in d o w n t o w n St. Paul during the Republican National Convention, S e p t e m b e r 1 - 4 , 2 0 0 8 .

B O U N D is a collaborative project that i n c l u d e s a c o n c r e t e poetry series t i t l e d Poetic License, s t a m p e d on a l u m i n u m license plates at t h e Walla Walla Penitentiary. B O U N D equates incarceration of people w i t h that of habitat and specifically addresses a Walla Walla urban creek c h a n n e l e d in c o n c r e t e on three and o f t e n four sides, t h u s presenting a barrier to endangered s p a w n i n g salmon.

When habitat is eventually restored along the urban c h a n n e l , it is envisioned that t h e license plates w i l l be incorporated into t h e r e c o n s t r u c t e d concrete f o r m w o r k , to leave cast concrete impressions. As a transformative visual expression of t h e process of i n t e r v e n t i o n evolving into integration, Poetic License q u i t e literally becomes concrete poetry. B O U N D in concrete, B O U N D on a journey. Lead Artist: Buster S i m p s o n / Word Concept: Hillela S i m p s o n / Photo: Laura Sindell / www.bustersimpson.net

PUBLIC where the <

C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s t o Public Art Review o n 2 0 y e a r s o f a d v a n c i n g p u b l i c art. CULTURAL AFFAIRS

To r e c e i v e calls f o r artists, j o i n o u r e - m a i l list at w w w . s e a t t l e . g o v / a r t s / p u b l i c a r t .

T o p : J a c q u e l i n e M e t z a n d N a n c y C h e w ; bamboo,

luminous ( d e t a i l ) ; p h o t o b y S p i k e M a f f o r d . B o t t o m l e f t : Paul S o r e y , Tree Bench ( d e t a i l ) , p h o t o b y Paul S o r e y .

M i d d l e : J e n n i f e r D i x o n ; W i t n e s s Trees, Immigrant

Tree ( d e t a i l ) ; p h o t o b y J i m T i l l m a n . R i g h t : L o r n a J o r d a n , Dragonfly Garden and Pavilion ( d e t a i l ) , p h o t o b y A m y H e r n d o n .

Digital Stone Project

Offering a facility with today's most advanced stone-cutting equipment and expert consultation 7S-A S c u l p t o r ' s W a y M e r c e r v i l l e , NJ 0 8 6 1 9 p h o n e 8 0 9 - 5 8 7 - 6 6 9 9

www.tlitjitalstoneproject.orginFo@digitalstoneproject.org

Light rail comes to Seattle Summer 2009 42 commissioned artists and counting...

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Art for the Environment: Seattle's Public Art Embraces Nature in the City S U Z A N N E BEAL

Washington may have received statehood in 1889, yet in 1893, at the time of the World's Columbian Exposition—a major venue for national and international art and architecture—the Northwest was largely perceived as a land of agricultural, not artistic, opportunity. A published letter from Washington State legislator Edmond S. Meany described the Washington Building at the Chicago Exposition in detail, ignoring the art that lined its walls (primarily landscapes), to focus on the state's resources in agriculture, horticulture, fishing, mining, and forestry. Headlines were made when a gargantuan chunk of coal hauled by 16 horses was exhibited just outside the building. The state's presence at the Exposition furthered notions of an undeveloped land in which artists did little more than pay homage to their environment. We've come a long way since those days. More than a century later, Northwest artists have proven their mettle, and Seattle, arguably the state's artistic capital, is known widely for its thriving arts scene, and its growing public art collection.

In 1973, Seattle's public art program embraced a percent-for-art municipal ordinance—one of the first cities to do so. Under the ordinance, one percent of eligible city capital improvement project funds are set aside for the commission, purchase, and installation of artworks throughout the city. Public programs like King County's 4Culture program and Sound Transit's STart Program extend support for public art beyond the municipal limits. An early outcome of the city's percent-for-art program was Ted Jonsson's Chimera, created in 1975 for the Seattle Public Utilities Operation's Control Center: Two stainless steel pipes face off, standing upright in a shallow pool. The water rushing out of them completes a simultaneous liquid and solid figure eight—a symbol of the connectedness between a burgeoning city and its fertile landscape. From its early emphasis on individual art works, the city's public art program has shifted to a more integrative approach under current director Ruri Yampolsky and her predecessor,

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Seattle's m o s t w i d e l y r e c o g n i z e d l a n d m a r k s , created by o n e of the city's best k n o w n a r t i s t s , N o g u c h i ' s 1 2 - t o n s p h e r e o f c a r v e d b l a c k B r a z i l i a n g r a n i t e is located o n the eastern e d g e of V o l u n t e e r Park, b e t w e e n the Seattle Asian Art M u s e u m a n d the Park's m a n m a d e reservoir. O f f e r i n g views of the P u g e t S o u n d , t h e p a r k is a l s o a v i g o r o u s r e m i n d e r o f n a t u r a l a n d

artificial

w a t e r w a y s . N o g u c h i ' s d o n u t - s h a p e d sun evokes m o n u m e n t a l aspects of t h e c i t y a n d its s u r r o u n d i n g s a n d p r o v i d e s a p e r f e c t f r a m i n g d e v i c e

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Barbara Goldstein. Yampolsky has encouraged a design team approach involving artists right from the start in site-integrated commissioned works and capital construction projects. Observations and research conducted by artists during immersions within various public departments have resulted in transmitting the accomplishments of the city to the citizens they serve. Acclaimed Seattle-based environmental artist Buster Simpson, to cite one example, was artist in residence at Seattle Public Utilities in 1998—an appointment that influenced his later works. In 2002 Simpson created original work for "Growing Vine Street," a tongue-in-cheek title of a revitalization project that succinctly sums up the community's commitment to utilizing the natural resources within the inner-city infrastructure of Belltown. Beckoning Cistern (2003), a steel and aluminum structure resembling an outstretched hand, redirects storm water runoff from an urban rooftop towards native plantings [pictured on page 7], Under the program, the neighborhood has literally blossomed.

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Black

Toobs no. 3 ( 2 0 0 8 ) .

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polypropylene

( c o m m o n l y u s e d in t h e construction of g a r b a g e bags)

swaying

in t h e b r e e z e . A m b i e n t w i n d s a n d t h e h e a t o f t h e s u n a c t i v a t e d R o b b ' s Toobs a n d h e l p e d h o l d t h e m a l o f t w h e r e , r i s i n g t o t h e i r full h e i g h t , t h e y t o w e r e d 5 0 feet a b o v e viewers. S u p p o r t

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a 4Culture grant allowed Robb to present her living sculptures t h r o u g h o u t Seattle, t h e U n i t e d States, a n d E u r o p e . In M a y

2009,

Robb's Toobs will travel to H o u s t o n w h e r e they'll be exhibited at D i s c o v e r y G r e e n P a r k . Photo courtesy the artist.

Public projects currently under way range from SuttonBeresCuller's Mini Mart City Park—a living sculpture surrounding the former Perovich Bros. Gas Station—to Climate Action Now's Short Film Series, which uses the work of six Northwest artists to raise awareness of the Seattle Public Utilities' role as an environmental steward. Today Seattle plays host to a number of artists and sites that, working with the wealth of organic means at hand, have made their mark. One might even say that, over the course of the past century, it's become second nature. SUZANNE BEAL is a critic, arts writer, and curator in Seattle. Her writings on visual art have appeared in Art in America, Art on Paper, art ltd., Sculpture, Fiberarts, and American Craft.

FEATURED STATE SEATTLE SELECTIONS

B r a d R u d e , Together

as One

Beliz Brother, Bridge

(1998). City of Seattle Collection.

R u d e c r e a t e d h i s c a s t b r o n z e Together

as One

in c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h

t w o other sculptures f o l l o w i n g a W o o d l a n d Park residency.

Located

n e a r the Raptor C e n t e r at t h e W o o d l a n d Park Z o o , Rude's 1 9 9 8

has long linked and Asian

American

energies.

Extending this cultural

b r o n z e sculpture s h o w s a n i m a l s a n d e l e m e n t s of the ecosystem

i n h e r i t a n c e , Beliz B r o t h e r ' s

(owls, frogs, logs, fish, a n d acorns), precariously perched o n a

monumental

scale. Viewers are e n c o u r a g e d to actively e n g a g e with the w o r k

sculpture

b r i d g e utilizes stacked,

by shifting the scale's w e i g h t towards, or a w a y from, a point marked "balanced biological

(2008).

T h e Pacific R i m city of Seattle

overlapping titanium

habitat."

to evoke the poetry

Photo by Spike Mafford, courtesy City of Seattle, Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

panels and

properties of w a t e r in the tradition of a Japanese dry streambed.

Connecting

the old and new of Harborview

campus

Medical

Center, the 75-foot

titanium

sculpture attached to the underside of the

bridge/

building flows f r o m the east, like rushing water,

spanning

w e s t w a r d across the street, to cascade into a

"waterfall"

of 3 0 - f o o t stainless steel tubes. According to Brother, t h e b r i d g e b u i l d i n g is located o n a ridge; half the rain runs into Puget Sound, the other

half

into Lake Union. C o m m i s s i o n e d by 4Culture, Bridge

segues between the Medical

a n d its s t r e e t s c a p e , e v o k i n g w h a t

M a r k Dion, Neukom

Vivarium

Center

Brother

describes as "the d r a m a t i c transitions that

(2006).

Seattle Art M u s e u m Collection. Situated in the O l y m p i c Sculpture Park,

occur in a hospital, w h e r e birth a n d

a nine-acre open-air sculpture m u s e u m on waterfront

a n d healing take place." Using light to

property—and

a t t h e c r o s s r o a d s b e t w e e n a r t a n d s c i e n c e — N e u k o m Vivarium

consists

animate the pedestrian

death

experience—meta-

of a 6 0 - f o o t n u r s e - l o g e n c a s e d in a c u s t o m g r e e n h o u s e . Blue a n d

phorically a n d literally—the Seattle artist

w h i t e illustrated tiles act as a field g u i d e t o t h e f l o r a a n d f a u n a

r e s p o n d e d to a city m a n d a t e t h a t

within.

M i c r o s c o p e s a n d m a g n i f y i n g glasses situated in a case d e s i g n e d t h e artist a l l o w the public to d o c u m e n t t h e r e g u l a r cycle of d e c a y r e g e n e r a t i o n . D i o n ' s w o r k k e e p s c o m p a n y at t h e Park w i t h C a l d e r ' s Eagle

( 1 9 7 1 ) , R o x y P a i n e ' s s t a i n l e s s s t e e l t r e e , Split,

a n d T e r e s i t a F e r n a n d e z ' s g l a s s b r i d g e t i t l e d Seattle

Cloud

by and

Alexander (2003),

Cover

(2006).

new

buildings avoid d a r k e n i n g existing streets c a p e s . Bridge

reflects d o w n u p o n

passers-by

f r o m a b o v e , r e a l i z i n g its c r e s c e n d o t h r o u g h a s e v e n - s t o r y s c r i m o f f r i t t e d g l a s s , lit w i t h

blue

LED lights, r e a c h i n g u p w a r d , to i m b u e the

Photo © Mark Dioo, by Maul Macapim. Gift of Sally and William Neukom, American Express Company, Seattle Garden

entire w o r k in l u m i n o u s

Club, Mark Torrance Foondation and Committee 33, in hooor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museom.

Photo courtesy the artist.

serenity.

FEATURED STATE

John T. Young, The Fin Project:

From

Swords

into Plowshares

( 1 9 9 8 ) . Gift to the City of Seattle

Y o u n g used 2 2 diving p l a n e fins of high-tensile steel t a k e n f r o m d e c o m m i s s i o n e d U n i t e d States

attack

submarines f r o m the 1960s to transform national w e a p o n s into natural wonder. Located o n the N o r t h Trail o f W a r r e n G . M a g n u s o n P a r k (a f o r m e r U n i t e d S t a t e s N a v a l B a s e ) , a n d p l a c e d a t v a r i o u s a n g l e s

Loop and

heights, the tallest b e i n g 12 feet, Y o u n g ' s Fins create w h a t a p p e a r to be a 41 0f e e t - l o n g b y 9 0 - f e e t - w i d e p o d o f O r c a w h a l e s . Photo by Art on File.

Claude Zervas, Diatomoton

7, 8, 9 ( 2 0 0 8 ) .

Seattle City Light O n e Percent for Art Collection. Zervas w a s o n e of seven artists c o m m i s s i o n e d by Seattle City Light to create

Clark W i e g m a n , Soundings

portable artworks for the elevator

S o u n d Transit for the Tukwila light-rail station in Seattle, these plaza

lobbies

within the Seattle Municipal Tower.

Transit

(2008). C o m m i s s i o n e d by

play sonic duets w i t h field r e c o r d i n g s of w i n d , water, bird calls, a n d

Inspired

sculptures heavy

industry, captured by W i e g m a n d u r i n g k a y a k trips a l o n g the D u w a m i s h

by m o v e m e n t s that invoke living things, Zervas d r a w s with the m e d i u m of light

for Sound

In t h e n a t i v e l a n g u a g e of D u w a m i s h , t h e w o r d t u k w i l a m e a n s " l a n d

and

River.

where

electronics. D i a t o m s are algae. Using w h a t

t h e h a z e l n u t s g r o w , " a n d it is t h e h a z e l n u t s h a p e t h a t i n s p i r e d t h e f o r m o f t h e

calls m o t o n s , 1 - 1 / 4 i n c h circuit b o a r d s w i t h

s c u l p t u r e o n t h e left. W i e g m a n t h e n split t h e f o r m " m u c h like c r a c k i n g a

f e w LEDs attached, Zervas marries life to robotics. E x h i b i t e d o n t h e

underwater

twenty-ninth

floor and trapped behind three framed

light

boxes, b i o m o r p h i c i m a g e s a p p e a r as they m i g h t u n d e r a m a g n i f y i n g glass, a n d s h u d d e r i n g as

quivering

custom-programmed

nut,

w h i c h o p e n e d the f o r m to sculptural a n d sonic reinterpretation," h e says. T h e m u s i c a l i n s t r u m e n t - s h a p e d s c u l p t u r e is b a s e d o n a n o u d (a M i d d l e

Eastern

counterpart to a guitar). The LED "light river" that runs d o w n the fret b o a r d the o u d - s h a p e d sculpture traces the original f o r m of the D u w a m i s h River it w a s r e c o n s t r u c t e d b y t h e A r m y C o r p s o f E n g i n e e r s t o s e r v e a s a

before

conduit

for i n d u s t r y (the a r e a h a s since b e e n d e c l a r e d a S u p e r f u n d site, m a k i n g

the

e l e c t r o n i c s g u i d e t h e i r e v e r y m o v e . Photo by Spike

historic r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o n t h e sculpture all t h e m o r e tragically nostalgic).

Maftord, courtesy City of Seattle, Office of Arts & Coltural Affairs.

W i e g m a n , " I t ' s a n o d e t o a n e a r l i e r , m o r e e a r t h - h a r m o n i o u s t i m e . " Photo by the artist.

Says

FEATURED STATE

Washington's Hope for the Environmental Future JUDY W A G O N F E L D

Natural beauty abounds in Washington State. But, contrary to Manifest Destiny doctrine, the supply is not limitless. Nature, industry, and human neglect have taken a toll that calls for altered attitudes and repair. Art, as a reflection of current time, can assist as an agent of change. Until now, although Washington State has a rich legacy of preserving wilderness (Mt. Rainier became the fifth national park in 1899) and outdoor activity (home of Recreational Equipment, Inc., or REI), art has stood apart. When the state's Art Commission started in 1961, projects related to the environment. But a new mood is emerging—one that views art as civic engagement and places emphasis on interaction and collaboration. The artists featured here get it. They've mothballed walk-by art, substituting be-in art. They nurture relationships by promoting gathering, community, and responsibility. They resurrect history, instilling a fresh sense of place by weaving in nature, culture, science, and anthropology. One might call this holistic art: an art imbued with the premise of environmental caretaking. Is this expecting too much of an artist? Maybe. But creative artists in the public realm do think big and broad. They step aside from conventional venues, recycle materials, and promote community. They face and repair our mistakes, nourishing our world. They believe: Make green art. Make art that invites, that does not

STATEWIDE SELECTIONS Luke Blackstone, Tacoma Moment(um)

Preservatory

Fluid

( 2 0 0 1 ) - Tacoma.

This kinetic sculpture of recycled m a t e r i a l s h o u s e d in t w o glass a n d steel c o m p a r t m e n t s receives p r i m e visibility at t h e intersection of t h e r e g i o n a l b u s a n d light rail stations. T h i s q u i r k y , i n g e n i o u s i n s t a l l a t i o n is p o w e r e d rainwater seeping down from rooftop L a n d i n g in c a n n i n g jars to the spokes of a wheel, the water's

mounted

water weight

s p i n s t h e w h e e l (except in d r y w e a t h e r ; b u t a l a s , t h i s is t h e Pacific N o r t h w e s t ) .

The

m e c h a n i s m drives the

second

compartment's copper

plate,

which periodically allowing

lowers,

electromagnets

to pick u p steel filings. Mysteriously the filings a n u m b e r that

the time of day. Tough grasp but

form

approximates to

mesmerizing—and

environmentally

sound.

Photos courtesy Sound Transit.

funnels.

require an advanced degree to enjoy. Make public space appealing, accessible, and comfortable—a spot you long to visit. Dialogue with non-art folk. Boost spirits. Several projects described here bear elements of such social intervention along with habitat restoration. They bring generations together to walk and play, to experience nature and geography. They fashion novel, intimate, and enduring environments out of battered, disused land, renovating the ugly and forlorn into functional and pristine beauty spots where people flock, anxious to wander, exercise, and even marry. Johnpaul Jones, an artist of Choctaw and Welsh descent and a principal of Jones & Jones Architects and Landscape Architects in Seattle, designs to link humans with nature and culture. Maya Lin, who was selected by regional tribes and citizen groups to design the seven-site Lewis & Clark Confluence Project along the Columbia River, found Jones a perfect fit for the Vancouver Land Bridge section. Like all his work, the bridge grows from the four tenets at the core of Native American life: the natural, animal, spirit, and human worlds. Well assimilated in the bridge, they echo the past and, Jones hopes, guide us to the future. Drawing children into art with whimsy challenges them to decipher puzzling ideas. Otto Youngers, when installing a sculpted bicycle being ridden by a carrot, drew kids like the

FEATURED STATE

Pied Piper. Questions proliferated. Similarly, Trudes Tango's project to "release" clay birds into the community questions rather than answers. She invited participants to discover underlying concepts of freedom, of letting go, and of exploring the ephemeral nature of life. Gaining an unexpected benefit, Tango found she now feels more connected to the community because the pieces she let go now live "out there" with a fellow, but unknown, citizen. Occurring each August during prime weather and the peak of local organic produce offered at the town's Farmers Market, Olympia's temporary art program flourishes. Sponsored by the City of Olympia, it seems a brilliant way to bring everyone to the table.

A n n Watness, Barns Barns

Illuminated,

Illuminated

( 2 0 0 8 ) - San Juan Islands.

for w h i c h a r t i s t A n n W a t n e s s u s e d

within, w a s a site-specific art installation a n d

from

community-arts

event o n the San Juan Islands. "By lighting the b a r n I h o p e d t a k e it o u t o f t h e e v e r y d a y c o n t e x t a s ' o b s o l e t e '

architectural

s t r u c t u r e a n d h i g h l i g h t its s c u l p t u r a l q u a l i t i e s , " s a y s W a t n e s s . The project also brought local residents together to talk the past, present, a n d future uses for old agricultural w h i c h is i n c r e a s i n g l y s u b j e c t t o t h e s l o w c h o k e o f

JUDY WAGONFELD is a freelance writer covering the arts for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and other publications for close to a decade. She also writes about travel, food, health, and the outdoors and is author of Short Bike Rides: Western Washington.

high-

w a t t a g e lights to illuminate a dilapidated poultry b a r n

about

landâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;

suburbia.

The o n e - n i g h t event w a s d o c u m e n t e d by other artists a n d p h o t o g r a p h e r s , a n d W a t n e s s is c u r r e n t l y w o r k i n g o n

grant

p r o p o s a l s f o r a d d i t i o n a l b a r n projects in K i n g C o u n t y .

Now

living in Seattle, W a t n e s s b e c a m e fascinated w i t h b a r n s she w a s a student at W e s t e r n W a s h i n g t o n University

when

and

c o m m u t e d daily to Bellingham f r o m

the

farming town of Everson, a route lined with b a r n s . Photo courtesy the artist.

Debbie Young, Confluence

( 2 0 0 7 ) - Sammamish.

A s if a b e a c o n , t h i s l i g h t i n f u s e d s m o k e s t a c k - s h a p e d s c u l p t u r e c a l l s p e o p l e t o S a m m a m i s h C o m m o n s , a hilly 5 0 - a c r e public space. As t h e t o w n ' s first p u b l i c art, this $ 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 b r o n z e a n d bifurcated textured g r e e n glass reflects t h e

surrounding

Cascade foothills environment a n d confluence of cultures (25 percent foreign

born).

At the center of c o m p l e x that includes a LEED-certified City Hall/Police Station, a n event/farmers market plaza, public restrooms, a n d a skateboard arena a n d j o g g i n g trails, the sculpture's concrete-step b a s e provides seating for

walking/

conversation

o r c o n t e m p l a t i o n . A l t h o u g h n o t p a r t i c i p a t o r y o r e n v i r o n m e n t a l , it q u i e t l y h i g h l i g h t s a c o m m u n i t y ' s i n n o v a t i v e g a t h e r i n g p l a c e . Photos by the artist.

FEATURED STATE

Jeanne McMenemy, Windows

on the

Past

(2004-2008) - Walla Walla. For locals c o n c e r n e d with history a n d increasing

tourism

to this w i n e area, preserving tidbits of W a l l a Walla's past justified the $ 2 7 0 , 0 0 0 cost of relocating the 1 9 0 2

Odd

F e l l o w s H a l l s a n d s t o n e f a c a d e a n d f i l l i n g its 1 8 w i n d o w s w i t h art. P l a c e d in t h e d o w n t o w n ' s H e r i t a g e S q u a r e Park, it s a t a d o z e n y e a r s b e f o r e t h e A r t W a l l a o r g a n i z a t i o n

took

over a n d settled on a history motif. They hired

McMenemy,

w h o , with W h i t m a n College interns a n d Walla

Walla

University, f o u n d a n d digitally m e r g e d p h o t o g r a p h s h a d t h e m reproduced on lightfast panels. The

and

resulting

m o s a i c relates tales of the 1 8 ethnic g r o u p s w h o resided in the area between 1 8 5 0 a n d 1 9 5 0 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; t h e years

sandwiching

t h e f a c a d e ' s o r i g i n a l c o n s t r u c t i o n . Photo courtesy the artist.

Johnpaul Jones, Vancouver

Land

Bridge

( 2 0 0 8 ) - Vancouver.

D o u b t a b o u t t h e $ 1 2 . 5 million expense e v a p o r a t e d w i t h this s u m m e r ' s o p e n i n g of t h e first p e d e s t r i a n link f r o m t h e city of V a n c o u v e r t o t h e C o l u m b i a River. C i t i z e n s n o w stroll a c r o s s t h e s e c o n d p h a s e o f M a y a L i n ' s L e w i s a n d Clark

Confluence

Project

bridges a host of physical, mental, a n d historical barriers.

that

Beginning

at historic Fort Vancouver, the 7 0 0 - f o o t - l o n g semicircle path

wends

t h r o u g h l a n d u s u r p e d f r o m i n d i g e n o u s people. Rising to a 4 0 - f o o t w i d e w a l l e d a n d n a t i v e - g a r d e n e d w a l k w a y , it c r o s s e s a n

unseen

(but heard) freeway. Two g a z e b o s at t h e s u m m i t , g r a c e d by Lillian Pitt's n a t i v e - m o t i f s e a t i n g circles, o f f e r v i e w s of prairie, river, a n d M t . H o o d . D e s c e n d i n g p a s t historic p h o t o s a n d Pitt's c a n o e - p a d d l e gate, visitors cross under

railroad

tracks to arrive at a

spectacular

riverfront

park

a n d exercise

path.

Kudos to Jones for turning a tricky p r o b l e m into a peaceful

and

invigorating

place.

Photo by Judy Wagonteld.

Lorna Jordan, Waterworks

Garden

( 1 9 9 0 - 1 9 9 6 ) - Kent.

W h e n a place so intrigues p e o p l e that they choose to

marry

t h e r e , it's clearly a success. This spot, a fairy-tale g r o t t o nestled a m i d Kent's e i g h t - a c r e w a s t e w a t e r r e c l a m a t i o n site, feels m a g i c a l . Paths m e a n d e r t h r o u g h restored w e t l a n d s , past a heron rookery, into mosaic-paved " r o o m s " a n d

onto

knolls o v e r l o o k i n g settling ponds, e n j o y e d at l u n c h t i m e

w o r k e r s f r o m n e a r b y office parks a n d at all times by t h e public. Water streams below metal grate walkways.

Partially

carpeted by ribbons of pebble-infused concrete, their s u r f a c e m i m i c s a r o c k y r i v e r b e d . By c r e a t i v e l y t r a n s f o r m i n g a p o l l u t e d e c o s y s t e m i n t o a n e l e g a n t series o f g a r d e n s a n d p o n d s t h a t n a t u r a l l y p u r i f y w a t e r , J o r d a n h a s n u r t u r e d t h e e a r t h a n d i t s i n h a b i t a n t s . Photos courtesy the artist.

FEATURED STATE STATEWIDE SELECTIONS

Trudes Tango, A Bird in the Hand:

Lessons

in Letting

( 2 0 0 8 ) - O l y m p i a . In 2 0 0 7 , O l y m p i c l a u n c h e d H e r e Today, a clever t e m p o r a r y A u g u s t art project in w h i c h eight artists

aimed

to e n g a g e public participation. In 2 0 0 8 artist/attorney T a n g o c r e a t e d 1 0 0 clay to "let g o " in t o w n a n d invited t h e c o m m u n i t y to m a k e birds at t h e F a r m e r s O v e r 1 0 0 p e o p l e d i d so. Even c h i l d r e n , T a n g o said, u n d e r s t o o d t h e y c o u l d n ' t t h e m h o m e . Every day, T a n g o released birds. Always, they d i s a p p e a r e d .

take

Emails

c a m e in, relating stories a b o u t f i n d i n g t h e birds. A g r a n d m o t h e r w r o t e , that she a n d her grandchild did not find one. For Tango the project

birds

Market.

saddened

symbolized

f r e e d o m a n d n a t u r e as t e m p o r a r y a r t â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a s " w h e n birds l a n d o n o u r porch a n d fly a w a y . " T h e p r o g r a m ' s success led t h e city to a p p r o v e H e r e T o d a y f o r

then

2009.

Photos courtesy the artist.

Dewey

Otto Youngers, Decimal's

Delegation

(2008) - Spokane. Youngers's wood

along a

Sister Paula Turnbull, Goat

(1974) -

recycled

sculptures 60-foot

h a l l w a y in

Spokane's

Ridgeview

Elementary

Spokane. Years a h e a d of litter

School titillates

consciousness, Sister Turnbull

imaginations,

plunked

d o w n ecological art for Spokane's

t h e m to the

Expo

kids' leads

library,

'74. Rather t h a n lecturing visitors

a n d gets t h e m

caring for the environment, Goat

instills

Rough-hewn

reading.

the m e s s a g e noisily by m u n c h i n g

like articulated

cartoonfigures

include a

cornucopia

this s c u l p t u r e d r a w s in (via s u c t i o n

of wacky

dragons,

m e c h a n i s m ) o b j e c t s h e l d t o its m o u t h ,

veggies, animals,

grinds them up, and deposits the

planets, a

litter. D e l i g h t i n g c h i l d r e n a n d

o u t its b a c k s i d e i n t o a t r a s h

adults,

garbage

bicycles, a n d

compactor

tucked behind rock formations. on, dairy farmers bristled at the

Dangling from walls

concept

ceilings, these

quickly told t h e m this w a s a "Billy

Goat."

creatures

T h i r t y - f o u r y e a r s l a t e r , it r e m a i n s

beloved

a plethora of art linked by a

displays walking/

c y c l i n g p a t h . Photo courtesy City of Spokane.

Mother

N a t u r e â&#x20AC;&#x201D; t o n a m e a few.

Early

of a goat eating g a r b a g e , but Turnbull

in Riverfront Park, w h i c h n o w

books,

spaceship,

excite

curiosity, captivate a n d teach lessons for varying ages: f r o m laughter at c o m i c a l stories to

kids,

recognizing

e n v i r o n m e n t a l c o n c e r n s a n d political satire. A n d all this w i t h o u t electronics. $ 2 5 , 0 0 0 t h i s i s m a n n a f r o m h e a v e n . Photo courtesy the artist.

and

whimsical

For

PUBLIC

ART ^CULTURE

ARTIST

BUILDING

OUR O N L I N E

REGISTRY

VOLUME

RESOURCES

N e w Artists. A c c e s s o u r n a t i o n a l l y r e c o g n i z e d r o s t e r o f a r t i s t s pre-qualified t o realize public and private commissions

LISTEN

(i'4'i) CULTURE

206.296.4848 N e w Sound. E x p l o r e o u r c e l l p h o n e a u d i o p r o g r a m w i t h p u b l i c a r t p r o j e c t s as w e l l as H e r i t a g e 4 C u l t u r e Agriculture, Industry and Maritime tours

<iT

—••— •

»• w • •j

. ww

t h e m e s , a n d t h e r e m a r k a b l e artists w e w o r k w i t h through audio, video and interactive media

1 0 1 Prefontaine Place South Seattle, W A 9 8 1 0 4

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Photos © Robert Horner 2009, Harborview Hospital, Ninth & Jefferson Building

r We Seattle-based artists honor Public Art Review on the occasion of its 20th anniversary issue.

DAN CORSON Empyrean Passage, 2008 City of West Hollywood CA West Hollywood, CA www.corsonart.com

LORNAJORDAN Terraced Cascade, 2 0 0 7 Chaparral Park Scottsdale, AZ Scottsdale Public Art P r o g r a m www.lomajordan.com

JACK MACKIE Unser E s c a r p m e n t Crossing, 2007 Albuquerque, N M A l b u q u e r q u e Public Art P r o g r a m & Engineering Department j-m@qwestoffice.net

BUSTER SIMPSON Seattle George M o n u m e n t . 1989 Washington State Convention Center Washington State Arts C o m m i s s i o n www.bustersimpson.net

NORIE SATO Cactus Mirage, 2007 McDowell Mountain Ranch Aquatic Center Scottsdale, AZ Scottsdale Public Art P r o g r a m satoservice@seanet.com

BELIZ BROTHER Illumine, 2005 Seattle City Hall Seattle, WA Mayor's Office of Arts a n d Cultural Affairs www.belizbrother.coni

ON LOCATION c H R I S T I N A

LANZL

Reinventing Public Space: C o n t e m p o r a r y P l a c e m a k i n g P r a c t i c e s in B e r l i n

If the definition of placemaking is, as one firm puts it, to "infuse identity into a three-dimensional space," then the practice characterizes a holistic approach to a site. As such, placemaking necessarily transcends the traditional disciplines of urban planning, architecture, landscape architecture, public art, and so on. Rather, placemaking requires sensitivity to the existing and/or historic environment and an interdisciplinary dialogue of all design professionsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and stakeholders!â&#x20AC;&#x201D;to arrive at an integrated public realm. In urban centers, success is often measured by how busy a place is with people, both local and from elsewhere, and whether a sense of place can be discerned. The city of Berlin has been a hotbed of placemaking because of its unique recent history. With its founding dating back to the twelfth century, the city was 90 percent destroyed during World War II, followed by over 45 years of separation into east and west sectors during the Cold War. Since 1989, after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of East and West Germany, Berlin has been hailed for its proactive and expert redevelopment on a grand scale following reestablishment of the city as the capital. Recent events set in motion a unique coalescence of official urban redevelopment combined with herculean private and grassroots initiatives at all levels of society, commerce, and culture. Successful placemaking is rooted in quality of the space, scale, and programming. The secret to the success of Berlin's urban spaces is a commitment to creating truly public spaces that serve as living rooms for all. The driving factor of all well-designed placemaking initiatives is a focus on improving quality of life. Thus, the process focuses on employing the right tools that will activate public space in order to create public outdoor living rooms. There are vast differences between experiencing the grand public spaces at Potsdamer Platz as opposed to visiting smaller-scale sites in neighborhoods, such as Berlin Mitte, Kreuzberg, Spandau, and Prenzlauer Berg with its more intimately scaled public spaces including sidewalks, public plazas, landmarks, and parks. Outstanding places at all scales can be found throughout Berlin. Several unique urban design typologies make Berlin so very special, in particular its sidewalk culture, courtyards, plazas, and landmarks.

Sidewalks Berlin's sidewalks offer a healthy mix of sidewalk cafes and retail shops. Street performers appear in all public spaces throughout the city, including sidewalks. Bike lanes and an extensive public transportation system lead to an intensive use of these spaces. Historic Berlin's 1862 zoning and fire regulations required the height of buildings not to exceed the width of streets, typically five-story constructions. 1 This resulted in wide, airy sidewalks, where an ideal street life can naturally unfold. A typical Berlin sidewalk in the Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood, for instance, features a healthy mix of temporary offerings for the pedestrian and passerby: sidewalk cafes, retail shops, plantings, and street performers, among other amenities. Residents will plant unsightly sidewalk edges with flowers. Cafes often feature unusual furniture, such as straw

ABOVE: Street performers at a public plaza in Berlin. BELOW: Straw bale seating at a sidewalk cafe. RIGHT: Sculpture outside the LEGOLANO Discovery Centre in Potsdamer Platz.

bales turned cozy seating or lovingly hand-painted benches that invite the customer to sit and repose in comfort. On many of Berlin's popular neighborhood sidewalks, it is often the private initiative that creates a comfort zone appreciated by all, amounting to what's been termed German gemutlichkeit. What's good for the eye turns into good business as well.

Courtyards Courtyards are a typical feature of Berlin's architecture. They usually offer an intimate scale and the advantage of quiet, protected zones off the street, where one can enjoy a sense of privacy and comfort in a car-free zone. A prominent example are the sensitively renovated historic Hackesche Hofe with its web of eight mixed-use interconnected courtyards lined by small retail boutiques and eateries, narrow passages, and public art features that enhance the experience throughout the complex. Of particular renown is Hof 1 with its

in B e r l i n

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Klinker—glazed facings of commercially produced tiles, beautifully arranged by local craftsmen in geometric patterns. Also of note is the Rosenhof passage and cafe, created by architect Hinrich Bailer. Tacheles, near Alexanderplatz, was a 1980s hot spot for squatters protesting developers who boarded up habitable buildings. Tacheles is the only former squatter site that remains and is now a state-sponsored studio building and center for the arts. The funky courtyard features a sculptors' metal shop gallery, as well as an array of graffiti, underground sculptures, and hip seating. Its charm lies in its welcoming, low-key atmosphere. Plazas Many of the larger cultural attractions are fronted by or feature public plazas, where visitors and tourists mix with the locals. They provide an ideal playground for street performers and other public spectacles. Potsdamer Platz, 2 and the SONY Center in particular, features numerous attractive plazas—essentially hard-scape pocket parks—that provide access to this large-scale new private development with its mixed-use arrangement of office, retail, restaurants, and cultural attractions. Noteworthy is the Berlin Wall memorial site, a popular tourist and street performer spot. Attractions for children and families include a LEGOLAND Discovery Centre with a giant LEGO giraffe on the fronting plaza, and a playground that doubles as a grouping of public sculptures. Ten million people annually visit the 36,000-square-foot Forum, whose central covered plaza is spanned by a 200-foot high, 920-ton tentlike roof. The Forum provides public space 365 days a year at all hours of the day. A mixture of free openspace options combined with retail serve to bring life to the square. SONY "sells" its corporate image by offering high-tech entertainment, such as large-scale plasma screens to showcase

Berlin, events, and movies. A movie theater complex draws large crowds that add to the life in the square. Public seating conveniently surrounds the large, round, central water feature. In addition to eateries and retail, SONY's Forum offers ample free public seating opportunities. Berlin's public spaces at Potsdamer Platz are major examples indicative of the siting of many American artists/architects in prominent public spaces. The Daimler public art collection demonstrates an international outlook, corporate prestige, and serves as draw and highlight for international cultural tourism. Notably, Daimler's outdoor collection is exclusively comprised of American blue-chip artists, including Keith Haring, Jeff Koons (Balloon Flower), Robert Rauschenberg, and Mark di Suvero (Galileo). Throughout the Daimler development, public plazas tend to be vast and void of pedestrians, indicating a failure of Renzo Piano's master plan to design spaces that attract the visiting public. Throughout the city, public and private investments on all scales have created a vibrant cosmopolitan center that attracts visitors and new residents from Germany and all over the world to Berlin. Particularly among artists, Berlin ranks high as a potential place of residence. Thanks to continued low-rent opportunities, artists and cultural outlets continue to move there. This factor alone significantly contributes to Berlin's cultural vibrancy. Berlin's creative/cultural economy is thriving. In addition to Berlin's official cultural agenda that serves the capital of Germany, cultural life is complemented by a booming subculture, comprised of alternative, nonprofit, and commercial spaces, and a highly popular indoor and outdoor cafe and pub culture; a healthy presence of street performers add to the mix. Free access and use of public space combined with public art features further enhance the quality of life. The dominating presence of the pedestrian and bicyclist throughout the city and its streetscape is aided by Berlin's latest innovation to improve air quality; rerouting through-traffic on tangential roads and an extension of zones with parking fees for cars that do not adhere to the highest environmental standards. Thus, environmental policy and public health go hand in hand with revitalized and more attractive neighborhoods. conducted research during several trips to Berlin between 2001 and 2008. Lanzl is a visual artist and project manager at the Urban Arts Institute at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She chairs the Placemaking Network at the Boston Society of Architects/'ALA. CHRISTINA LANZL

NOTES 1

The plan was named after general building inspector James Hobrecht (1825-1902) and remained in effect until 1919. "Hobrechtplan fur Berlin und seine Umgebung im Auftrag des Polizeiprasidiums Berlins 1859-1862." http://www.hobrechtstrasse.de/hobrecht/ hobrechtplan.htm, accessed March 26, 2008.

- After World War II the former Potsdamer Platz neighborhood with its major train station and transportation hub was reduced to a rubble field that became part of the wall strip. Its location and gigantic proportions prevented redevelopment. Today, the SONY Center and the neighboring Daimler complex offer a mix of shops, restaurants, a conference center, hotel rooms, luxurious rented suites and condominiums, offices, art and film museums, movie theaters, and an IMAX theater.

ON LOCATION

D. ERIC

B O O K H A R D T

Public Art in Post-Katrina New Orleans

Often compared to Berlin in the 1990s after the Wall came down, New Orleans these days has the feel of an urban frontier where anything can happen. It has always been a place of unusually fertile creativity, but ever since Hurricane Katrina's tidal surge breached the flood walls and the Bush administration's neglect breached the public's trust, it has also been a place where artists and volunteers have poured in from all over the country to answer destruction with acts of creative compassion. At this point, it is clearly a public art hot spot in any number of conventional and unconventional ways. Prior to the flooding caused by the collapse of the federally built levees, public art in New Orleans had been fairly predictable, encountered mostly as strategically placed sculpture by accomplished local artists such as John Scott, Lin Emery, Arthur Silverman and Steve Kline. Monumental work by well-known artists ranging from Brancusi, George Segal, and Kenneth Snelson to Siah Armajani, Sandro Chia, and Alison Saar was the province mostly of the New Orleans Museum of Art and its ethereal five-acre Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, all part of the sprawling City Park designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. When Katrina's storm surge inundated City Park on August 30, 2005, swamping the sculpture garden but sparing the museum, no one could have guessed it would be the catalyst for a vastly larger public art presence in this nearly three-century-old city. But when people were finally able to return after a month of National Guardenforced exile, art galleries were among the first businesses to reopen, in what was perhaps a sign of things to come. It was in January 2006, during a panel discussion on the future of the city and its artists, that a portentous proposal was put forth. Noted curator and frequent visitor Dan Cameron said he thought the best way to help the city's recovery would be with an international art biennial. Thus was born Prospect.1, a vast, rambling exhibition of works by 84 artists in 24 venues that opened on November 1, 2008. By the time it closed on January 18, it had attracted some 70,000 visitors and mostly glowing reviews, but it also pioneered a new paradigm for the use of public art in reclaiming and humanizing urban spaces ravaged by natural or manmade disasters. With locations ranging from bucolic nineteenth-century neighborhoods that Katrina spared, to the hard-bitten barrens of the Lower Ninth Ward, where flooding sheared many homes from their foundations, Prospect.1 set a new standard for site specificity and community involvement. For instance, Los Angeles artist Mark Bradford erected a house-size ark on a vacant lot, then donated $175,000 from the sale of a painting to the L9 Art Center, a neighborhood gallery struggling to rebuild. In her New York Times review, critic Roberta Smith wrote, "It proves that biennials can be just as effective when pulled off without bells, whistles or big bucks. Maybe even more effective, especially if the local cultural soil is spectacularly fertile. Under these conditions something magical can happen: a merging of art and city into a shifting, healing kaleidoscope." But Prospect.1 was only one of several unusually ambitious undertakings to be launched in those first months after the storm. Conceptual-environmental artist Mel Chin visited after learning that a local community activist group,

Projects included in the Prospect.1 biennial in New Orleans: ABOVE: Leandro Erlich, Window and Ladder-Too Late lor Help, Lower Ninth Ward. BELOW: Nari Ward, Diamond Gym: Action Network, Battleground Baptist Church.

Common Ground, was using sunflowers to remove toxins from the soil in a way that echoed his 1990s Revival Field projects in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Germany. He soon learned that the city's biggest soil pollution problem was the lead accumulated from decades of automobile exhaust emissions and old paint, for which sunflowers were ineffective. With Howard Mielke, a scientist at New Orleans' Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, Chin devised a massive $300 million remediation program to clean up the most affected soil where 30 percent of the city's inner-city youth are at risk. Thus was born Operation Paydirt, in which schoolchildren across America draw their own $100 bills on downloadable templates from his Fundred.org website. When they total three

= I % f I 1 2 f Â° | ^ 1

in New Orleans

LOUISIANA million, the Fundred dollar bills will be taken by armored car to the halls of Congress in Washington, D.C., to demand a fair exchange in the form of funding for the cleanup. In scope and cost, Operation Paydirt is an extraordinarily ambitious community art project. [See Chin's essay on page 37.] But the first post-Katrina public art effort to draw widespread national attention was Paul Chan's production of Waiting for Godot, in collaboration with the New York public art group Creative Time and the Classical Theater of Harlem. After a process of extensive engagement with local residents, it opened in the Lower Ninth Ward in November of 2007, attracting large crowds as well as publicizing the challenges faced by residents rebuilding their lives in devastated neighborhoods. Other post-Katrina public art groups include Transforma Projects, which commissions work "at the intersection of art, social justice, and recovery." With support from major foundations and advisors such as well-known public art avatars Rick Lowe and Jessica Cusick, Transforma played a seminal role in Mel Chin's Operation Paydirt and a host of other community art initiatives. Related in purpose if more freewheeling in approach is AORTA Projects, which "employs the creative process as a tool for social change and healing" using public art to "participate in the physical and spiritual re/ animation of the post-disaster landscape." In like manner, the New Orleans Arts Council's Art in Public Places program has, in partnership with the Joan Mitchell Foundation, commissioned over 20 public art installations over the past two years. And Studio at Colton, an initiative of the Creative Alliance of New Orleans, transformed a vacant 100,000-square-foot school near the French Quarter into free studio space for over 100 artists who, for their part, create new works in collaboration with area

public school students. Similar in purpose, but far glitzier, is the new Louisiana ArtWorks, a $30 million 90,000-square-foot facility with artist studios, production facilities, and exhibition spaces, including an atrium large enough for monumental sculpture. First developed by the New Orleans Arts Council, the now independent Louisiana ArtWorks is directed by Brooklyn's Dumbo Art Center founder, Joy Glidden. A very different approach is taken by Sculpture for New Orleans, a nonprofit entity created by artists Michael Manjarris and Peter Lundberg to "reinvigorate and heal" through the deployment of monumental works by sculptors such as Mark di Suvero, James Surls, Louise Bourgeois, Deborah Masters, and John Clement among others, across a wide swath of the city. Thus far, 21 of the program's proposed 100 works, all on loan, have been installed, complementing the city's existing public sculpture, including the over 50 works at the newly restored New Orleans Museum of Art Sculpture Garden. These initiatives are only some of the more visible among many, and since most are fairly new, it is too early to fully quantify their long-term effects on the city and its residents. What is clear, however, is that public art is playing a highly visible role in the city's recovery efforts. In that sense, New Orleans since Katrina has emerged as a kind of public art laboratory for the nation, one that bears watching in the times to come. D . E R I C B O O K H A R D T is a longtime regional editor of Art Papers and art critic for Gambit Weekly Newspaper in New Orleans.

Mel Chin at the door of his Salehoose. The house serves as the repository for Chin's national project, Operation Paydirt: Fundred Hollar Bill Project (vmw.fundred.org).

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C O E B E L

SITE-Specific and Sustainable in Santa Fe

Santa Fe, New Mexico's Railyard is more than a park. It's a 50-acre redevelopment project that encourages sustainability on multiple levelsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;culturally, historically, environmentally, and creatively. Countless public and private donors have given the project an estimated $125 million (the largest capital campaign in Santa Fe history) according to the Trust for Public Land (TPL), creating what is hoped will be a treasured and active part of the community. The most eagerly anticipated feature of the redevelopment project, the Railyard Park and Plaza, hosted a grand opening in September 2008, 20 years after the idea of revitalizing the area was first tossed around. "It's a story of our community. One hundred years from now they'll know what we're aboutâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;public spaces, local producers, communityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;this is what our values are," said Jenny Parks, New Mexico director of the TPL. Parks, who was named state director in 2005, has overseen the majority of the fundraising for the park and plaza areas, coordinating the final design and construction phases for the 12-acre park, the largest built by the TPL. The plaza is the first built in Santa Fe in over 400 years. She is more than satisfied with the results because not only is the area well designed, it captures and fulfills a community vision. "This project was a community effort over a decade to retain and sustain an idea and spirit about what Santa Fe is," said Faith Okuma, who worked with Design Workshop to help the city develop the master plan for the Railyard. What the residents said they wanted was locally owned businesses, creative industry, and adaptive reuse of the existing structures. They wanted the depot and the tracks to remain. They wanted a gathering place, a plaza, and a park. They wanted environmentally responsible design, water harvesting, renewable energy, native plants, and xeriscaping. They wanted to honor the history and culture of the area. "The park is a work of art," Jenny Parks added. Design of the park was chosen through an international design competition, juried by a committee of citizen volunteers. Fifty-six submissions were narrowed to four finalists, which were put on view for 10 days for community comment. The committee selected the collaborative design proposed by landscape architect Ken Smith, architect Fred Schwartz, and sculptor Mary Miss. "I think that it was really important that the people involved in the Master Plan had values embedded in it," Miss said, "and that this was a truly collaborative process." The finished park features a 110,000-gallon underground water storage system that collects rainwater and snowmelt from 98,000 square feet of roof area and uses that water to irrigate the plants and grass. The park honors the Acequia Madre, an ancient irrigation ditch, which runs along the edge of the park. An Acequio Nino draws water from the ditch for the community gardens and then returns the water to the Acequia Madre. The lines of the park follow some of the old railroad sidings, and the park itself features numerous large and small spaces. Most of the surface of the park is permeable. There is only a small amount of grass in key areas like the performance venue. The park planted 400 trees and 6,000 native and xeriscape plants. A circular Ramada features front porch swing

From Lucky Number Seven in Santa Fe: (above) Marti Anson, MM and the Flour Factory, 2008; (below) Nadine Robinson, Tri-Chrislus, 2008, at the entrance of SITE Santa Fe.

seating that will eventually be shaded under silver lace vine. Crushed blue and green glass replaces what in many cities might be water. A 40,000-gallon water tower in the plaza near the farmer's market replicates an old railroad water tank, but holds vital water and features a shallow, slow-drip fountain. It was the railroad that first encouraged the open market sales of local goods and Indian art at the train depot. The plaza and farmers' market return the area to a place to find locally grown and sustainable food and goods. And its proximity to the world-class contemporary art museum SITE Santa Fe, the Hispanic El Museo Cultural, and the new tenants, mostly galleries and creative industry, give the area a less traditional, more offbeat and innovative identity. A youth center, Warehouse 21, provides a little energy and chaos. The playgrounds and trails make it home to families and those just passing through. And the new Rail Runner, a project of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to provide mass transit between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, delivers travelers to the depot. The ArtYard provides LEED-certified live and work spaces, keeping the area a community of residents and not just a destination for shopping and tourists.

in Santa Fe

NEW MEXICO

Views of Railyard Park in Santa Fe, 2009.

"A park is a living laboratory," Miss said. "The issues of sustainability will appear over time. I look forward to seeing how artists will collaborate to implement temporary, conceptual projects to help people encounter things on an ongoing basis." In fact, TPL and the Santa Fe Railyard Community Corporation (SFRCC), the nonprofit formed to implement, oversee, and help sustain the redevelopment process, are working on their own public art policies for the Railyard, separate from the City of Santa Fe's Art in Public Places program. Details of the program have not been released, but will likely explore continued development of more ephemeral projects, like those seen at the biennials hosted by SITE Santa Fe. During the most recent biennial, Lucky Number Seven, artists were asked to create work that would then be recycled back to its original material format and used for some other purpose at the end of the exhibit. Artists frequently utilize the exterior of the SITE building for projects, like Nadine Robinson's Tri-Christus, three large, brightly lit steel Greek cross sculptures commenting on religion and culture; or Michal Budny and Zbigniew Rogalski's Slideshow, a reverse projection of abstract "slides," visible only during the day, painted on the exterior of the build-

ing; and Eliza Naranjo Morse, Nora Naranjo Morse and Rose B. Simpson's Story Line, clay coils that literally snaked through the city and into the building. The story line of the Railyard redevelopment is more indelible. In 1988, the City of Santa Fe began talking about what to do with the "blighted" railyard district. By 1992, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company had created the Catellus Group to explore the redevelopment possibilities of railroad-owned properties in cities around the country. Their first proposal included a plan to redevelop the area by removing the tracks and demolishing all existing structures, replacing them with multistoried hotels, parking garages, and a shopping mall. More than 2,000 residents came out in opposition to the plan and it was rejected by City Council. Soon after this, the city purchased the 50 acres of land with bridge financing provided by the TPL on the condition that 10 acres be reserved for a park. During this same time, a neighborhood coalition led by architect Steve Robinson and other community members began public discussions about what they envisioned happening with the site, and in 1996 the city began public meetings and charrettes to develop a community plan. "The residents are the experts in a community," Robinson said. "Government and private sector have a role to play, but without the residents' perspective, any development is missing its soul." By 1997 the city had developed a soulful community plan for the railyard district that had very widespread buy-in from the citizens. The plan included the footprints of where original warehouse buildings had once stood. Another important element, according to Okuma, was a desire of the citizens to have an egalitarian gathering place that many felt they lost during the 1980s. "There was a consolidation of properties on the historic plaza in the late 1970s and early 1980s to focus on tourism," Okuma, a resident during that time, said. "By the mid-1980s we no longer went downtown to shop; we only went when we had company in town." Santa Fe's Railyard district has a soul. It is more than just a redevelopment project. It is a community vision guided by citizens to create a vibrant and dynamic city center for all. emphasizing the social, cultural, and historical components. It's a testament to the fortitude and vision of countless public and private donors, volunteers, public officials, governmental agencies, and nonprofit organizations who came together and didn't give up, through years of struggle to find a common solution to a problem. The project has injected energy and enthusiasm into the city. The opening of the park and plaza are only the beginning. The infant has been born, and now it is up to the citizens to curate the project into adulthood. Plans are already under way for such stewardship. The Railyard is and will continue to become a world-class project for a world-class city. L E A N N E C O E B E L is an arts critic and journalist, and the recipient of a 2008 Creative Capital - Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. She is a frequent visitor to Santa Fe.

ON LOCATION a,

GARTEN

A watershed

A Watershed Moment f o r P u b l i c A r t in C a l g a r y

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One of the most pressing ecological, social, and political issues in the Great West of the United States and Canada is water allocation and resources. The issues surrounding water infrastructure and water rights and responsibilities will be some of the more litigated, economically trying, ecologically stressful, and contentious issues of the first half of the twentyfirst century. As the climate warms and snowfall and snowpack diminish, so does the supply of runoff that can replenish the reservoirs that feed large urban areas, some of which are separated by vast distances in desert environments. In the city of Calgary, Alberta, where the Bow River is fed by the Bow Glacier, it is not just an issue of lessening snowpack; the Bow Glacier is receding at a rapid rate, casting an uncertain future on the Bow River and the city's water supply. The great engineered system for water which has made urban life possible in the arid West has also left us with a monolithic approach to infrastructure which is relentless in form and bereft of meaning. While our prosperity, indeed our survival, is based upon the mercurial resource of water, we continue to separate the water infrastructure from the public. Efficiency is a one-sided view of function, answering our physical need without answering our desire for the understanding, sensation, ecology, or celebration of water. A system that feeds our bodies but not our souls leaves the visual possibility of infrastructure undeveloped. How could infrastructure be built in a way that identifies water's origins rather than separates us from our water? What would infrastructure look like if its visual impact were placed in critical terms as tough as the scientific terms of efficient engineering? How could sculptural thinking influence the interdisciplinary development of public infrastructure? We do not commonly think of infrastructure as beautiful, yet there is an untapped expressive potential latent in all of its forms. The Public Art Plan for the Expressive Potential of Utility Infrastructure, prepared for the Utilities and Environmental Protection Department (UEP) in Calgary, provides a framework for artists to begin asking these questions about water infrastructure. The plan sees the artist's role as one of civic and environmentally minded provocateur. It engages engineering, ecology, and public education in dialogue with water infra-

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structure, art, artists, and the engineers, city government, and communities that guide it. In 2005 officials in Calgary's Public Art Program, in conjunction with UEP, determined that due to the complex and often hidden nature of UEP infrastructure projects, a comprehensive public art plan was necessary. Proposals were solicited and the team of Via Partnership, Cliff Garten Studio, and Mark Crisp of CH2M Hill were awarded the contract. When Emily Blumenfeld and Meridith McKinley of Via Partnership asked me to work with them to propose a planning process to create a public art plan for the UEP in Calgary, I had an immediate intuition that the plan should be based on the watershed of the Bow River which flows through the center of Calgary and is the city's water supply. This intuition sprang from my intimate knowledge of the river from floating and fishing many miles of it and the idea that the watershed would be a powerful way to conceptually organize the plan. Calgary is unique among North American cities in its relationship to the Bow River and its watershed. The river traverses Calgary from the northwest to the southeast and organizes its urban form, running its course from the mountains and over the high plains of Calgary. The health of the watershed's ecosystem is unprecedented for a river system running through a city of a million people. The conceptual armature for the public art plan became the idea of a watershed composed of two parts: the geomorphology and hydrology of the landscape, and the built infrastructure which mediates the water from that landscape. The UEP is in charge of handling fresh water, water effluents, and solid waste within Calgary's city limits. The utilities of UEP's expansive, engineered systemâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;including pump

OPPOSITE PAGE: Calgary's distinctive topography, surrounded by mountains and rivers. BELOW: Thomas Sayre with landscape architect Doug Carlyle, Stuart (and detail), 2008, featuring earth cast vessels, planters, and seating at the Water Centre Garden, Calgary.

in Calgary

CANADA

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stations, dams, reservoirs, treatment plants, runoff catchments, and culverts—exist within the natural watershed of the Bow River. As the subjects of the public art plan, these natural and urban forces in the landscape are inextricably bound into a web of engineering and social desire, as well as the hydrology and geology of the watershed(s) and communities situated there. The simple logic of gravity and the flow of water provided the idea of the plan as a series of linked public art projects along the course of the river. The sequential order of the projects is suited to the UEP, whose influence ranges over the entire city and its water infrastructure. To develop this big view of the landscape, we invited Mark Crisp from CH2M Hill to help us employ Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping in the planning process. Mark Crisp's extensive knowledge of Calgary and GIS resources at CH2M Hill allowed the team to map the UEP utilities in the landscape and the urban patterns of the city against the patterns of the watershed. This effort resulted in a compelling vision of the intersection of the natural watershed with the man-made watershed. This mapping began with a picture of the Bow Glacier and the Bow River running through Calgary, but included the more global downstream concept of that same water running through Saskatchewan and into the Hudson Bay. These maps accurately depicted the hydrologic patterns of the watershed and the location of its infrastructure, but more importantly they were a way of presenting the big idea of a public art plan that used the watershed as its imaginative and conceptual armature. Do not underestimate the power of bringing these 40- by 60-inch maps into a city or community meeting. They fixed the literal notion of where people lived to the imaginative scale of the landscape. GIS mapping was our surgical tool in the public art planning process, and the cognitive tool in the poetic part of the plan. The maps provided a way for city managers and community groups to renegotiate and to celebrate the jewel of their city with the poetic promises of the public art plan. The UEP proved to be an enlightened client, because through their stewardship and resources they had already laid the foundation for the plan. The plan would not have been possible without the openness of Paul Fesko, manager of strategic services for the city of Calgary, and the entire UEP organization, along with the leadership of Heather Saunders from the Calgary Public Art Program. The planning process valued community participation at all levels, from layperson to professional. Long days of meetings and interviews, as well as a large-scale community workshop, allowed the team to use the maps as a way to leverage hinds and hone in on the most important sites for public art along the Bow River. The mapping

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and the big idea of watershed was the sounding board for the community's imagination. We wanted this collective imagination as the key ingredient of the planning process. By pushing interdisciplinary thinking and artists' engagement of the geology, hydrology, and ecology of the riparian zone, we also placed science and engineering in the realm of imagination. The goal of the art projects will be to shape public places, advocate for change, and engage the community around water rights and responsibilities. Projects led by artists have now begun to form. The Visual Language Project is the cornerstone of UEP's public art plan in that it could provide a cohesive and elegant visual system for UEP infrastructure. The artist-led team Sans fagon will be asked to create a visual strategy that encourages UEP staff and citizens to think of their relationship to water resources in an expanded manner. Through the creative use of literal and cognitive mapping, Sans fagon and the project team will create a unified, iconographic or symbolic language that will identify and map infrastructure and educate users to the larger context of the natural watershed and the systems managed by the UEP. This sculptural (three-dimensional) and graphic (two-dimensional) language will become part of the everyday vernacular for water utilities and promote user recognition of UEP infrastructure. This presents an unprecedented opportunity for artists to influence a major infrastructure system by engaging in everything from the graphic design for the department to writing code for future infrastructure projects. At this time several projects have been completed at the UEP's new Water Centre. Artist Thomas Sayre and landscape architect Doug Carlyle have completed Steward, at the Water Centre Prairie Garden, which collects water in above-ground swales and cast earthen vessels and transfers it to underground cisterns. Artist Linda Covit has completed Water Garden inside the Water Centre. Artist Lorna Jordan has been engaged to work as a member of the design team and lead the development of design for agreed-upon public art elements within the site of the Harvie Passage (weir) reconstruction project. Artist Beverly Pepper is in conceptual design of the Shepard Wetlands Legacy Park, which is situated within the larger Wetlands Stormwater Diversion Project. Artist Brian Tolle is in project scope development for Memorial Drive: Landscape of Memory. Watermarks, a temporary public art festival, is planned for summer 2010. New site projects are on the horizon as well as a Water Centre artist residency and a public symposium on water and environmental art. Further information on the UEP public art plan can be found at www.calgary.ca/publicart. operates Cliff Garten Studio in Venice, Calif, which uses sculpture to connect the gap between function and aesthetics in the public realm, embracing infrastructure as the next level of development in public art. More at www. cliffgartenstudio.com. CLIFF GARTEN

ON LOCATION

D.ANEM

Inalienable Rights: Speaking of Home in M i n n e a p o l i s

For three months in the late summer of 2008, a public art project addressing ethnic demographics and the built environment occupied a 150-foot-long Minneapolis skyway, which spans Nicollet Mall between Seventh and Eighth Streets. This elevated walking path links the Macy's (formerly Dayton's) department store and the IDS tower, Minneapolis's tallest skyscraper and home of businesses, retail shops, and the Crystal Court, one of the first open public spaces in such a building in the country. Masterminded by artist and visual anthropologist Nancy Ann Coyne, and co-presented by Forecast Public Art, Family Housing Fund, and the Institute for Advanced Study, the installation consisted of large-scale photographs and text panels printed on diaphanous scrim placed directly in the almost floor-to-ceiling-window walls of the passageway. From traditional bust portraits to reprinted family photographs and handwritten text, the wall-size panels represented individual identities, histories, and thoughts about the meaning of home. The artist identifies her intervention's goals as the illumination of the diversity of the Minneapolis/St. Paul population and the reimagining of the now decades-old, once futuristic skyway system as a space for more than mere passage. In Coyne's view, the seven miles of enclosed pedestrian pathways linking the components of Minneapolis's financial, business, and retail districts might become a place for civic contemplation, dialogue, and even action. Looking at the project in the artistic contexts of photography, portraiture, and architecture and the sociopolitical contexts of citizenship, human migration, and shelter helps tease out the dense metaphorical and experiential markers and makers of meaning in the work. Looking closely, one can say that these frames of reference overlap on the points of place and situationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;two very key and salient aspects of the very idea of home. The 23 multimedia "portraits" in Speaking of Home presented citizens of Minnesota's Twin Cities metropolitan area. Most of the subjects are new to the cities and all of them consider themselves to be tied in one way or another to a different home. Each citizen who participated shared items such as family photos or written documents from their country of origin, as well as their personal definition of home. This information was displayed with the word for "home" in each subject's native language and one of their images, selected by the artist. It is a diverse group: a French sailor looking to start again, Somali refugees, Ethiopian sisters, an Ojibwe man w h o moved from a Wisconsin reservation as a part of the 1954 Relocation Act, to name a few. They watch the busy workers and shoppers buzz by. These skyway travelers can choose to ignore the installation, but the sheer scale of the images compels at least a glance. When directing one's gaze toward these portraits, yet another series of transformations begins: The viewers can see their own reflections and look through the subjects and text onto the cityscape below. That scene below, one can assume, is gazing backâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;seeing in that case the passersby through the monumental portraits: an image from outside-in and inside-out of persistent motion, slowed only by the faces and stories of those who have traveled far and, in so doing, transformed themselves to sit in this place.

Interior and exterior views of Nancy Ann Coyne's Speaking olHome project in Minneapolis.

In Guests and Aliens, sociologist Saskia Sassen observes that border crossings can be mapped across centuries of human history. A leading expert on globalism, cities, and human migration, Sassen's study focuses particularly on the past two centuries of movement throughout Europe. It is during this time that the concept of the refugee emerges. Spurred by recent talk of the "crisis" of immigration, Sassen's intent in this work is to construct a more historically accurate and nuanced concept of what immigration is. She contends that while different from the American experience, recent European migrations can offer valuable lessons for contemporary Americans. Her research shows a reoccurring dichotomous reception of immigrants. Over the years, immigrants have been variously received as either guests or aliens. Sassen maintains that when seen as a whole, these designations say more about the host than about the particular circumstances of those moving. These tags, she theorizes, do not speak to an overarching working definition of the immigrant. In fact such a definition is, she asserts, elusive.

in M i n n e a p o l i s

MINNESOTA

Outside and inside the IDS-Macy's skyway over Nicollet Mall.

Sassen's careful research of popular press reportage, government documents, and primary social theory shows that there is but one aspect of immigrant identity that persists across instances—including both those where immigrants are understood as guests or aliens. That persistent characteristic is not skin color, religion, or even phenotype, but rather, quite simply, the newcomer's status as a newcomer. As is made clear in the cliche of so many cities and towns from Maine to Minnesota and New York to California—"You're not from around here, are you?"—the identification of the other defines not so much the immigrant, but in fact the normative or rightful citizen. In clearly marking members of the community by their originary or non-originary status, both those understood as guests and as aliens are separated out from those understood as from the extant community, leading to and supporting distinct and unequal rights and responsibilities. Coyne's work is based in the rich tradition of photography in the United States. The medium was immediately popular in nineteenth-century America, where one of its first and most common uses was in making portraits of the "born equal" citizens of the new democracy. Walt Whitman, the great poet and

philosopher of American democracy, was enthralled with the camera's democratic potential. Unlike painting, photography allowed one's image to be made and possessed without pretense or particular position. The photographic portrait made all into fellow citizens, on the same page, in the same poem, literally enacting the bard's claim that the greatest poem was in fact "these United States of America." Coyne's images reverberate with this idea of equality, as new and old citizens walk in their midst, disappearing and reappearing through the scrim, becoming both a viewer and a part of the images, depending on the many points of view— other skyway walkers, people on the street, people in offices and store windows, or those dining in restaurants. The ordinary citizens who scuttle through the skyways attending to their quotidian tasks of working, shopping, and going to the doctor, are offered a vision of the diversity of their city, of how interconnected we are as fellow Twin Citians and Minnesotans. and how similar our backgrounds are—all the children of newcomers at one point. Photography, of course, also played a key role in the picturing and defining of the twentieth-century American immigrants and immigrant experience. Some of our most revered photographers—Lewis Hine, Jacob Riis, and Dorothea Lange— documented both migrants from other countries and internal migrants. The strategy of documentary photography is distinct from Coyne's project in that traditional documentary posited that exposing images of the downtrodden to a more privileged class could spur action on behalf of the less fortunate. Even so, the impulse to visually interrogate the status of newcomers and migrant workers seems to have offered Coyne inspiration and firm bedrock on which to innovate for our own time. By using actual space (the architectural element of the skyway), Coyne transformed the passive experience of the traditional viewer—one of looking at others—into the interactive. Her viewers mingled with and, at best, confused the self with the subject. Other contemporary artists such as Doris Salcedo have used installation art to speak about identity and home to great effect, and Coyne's work should also be considered in this context. In activating the skyway system as it did, Coyne's project allowed us to reconsider not only our local ethnic demographics and our urban environment but also the way we present ourselves. Beyond the simple photographic portrait a la August Sander and Edward Curtis—the ultimate constructor of phenotype identification—Speaking of Home deftly integrated other self-identifiers, including the subjects' own voices and attitudes and perspectives, and the bodies and minds of viewers who, in this scheme, become participants in the project. In the end, the people we meet in the skyway move beyond being guests or aliens. They become what they truly are: fellow citizens. Speaking of Home succeeded by transforming the anonymous and overlooked space of the skyway into an arena where the Twin Cities could be introduced to itself. D I A N E M U L L I N is an associate curator at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her curatorial work focuses on modern and contemporary art.

S I N C E T H E I N C E P T I O N of the Fulton County Public Ait Program in 1993, forty-six Georgia artists have b e e n awarded c o m m i s s i o n s to create artwork for thirty- six Fulton County facilities i n c l u d i n g arts c e n t e r s , court buildings, libraries, and s e n i o r centers. The selected artists have created u n i q u e pieces of art that e n h a n c e these public spaces, m a k i n g g o v e r n m e n t buildings b e t t e r places to conduct b u s i n e s s a n d serving to p r o m o t e c o m m u n i t y pride. Additionally, the Public Art P r o g r a m has b e e n dedicated to b r i n g i n g nationally renowned artists and arts a d m i n i s t r a t o r s to s h a r e the greater public art experience, o f f e r i n g professional development o p p o r t u n i t i e s and e n h a n c i n g c o m m u n i t y engagement through t e m p o r a r y projects.

FULTON COUNTY P U B L I C ART

PROGRAM

E N H A N C I N G THE QUALITY OF LIFE T H R O U G H S U P P O R T OF THE ARTS WWW.FULTONARTS.ORG

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\ 4 Louis Delsarte, New Hope Visions, 2 0 0 8 , Acrylic o n panel, S o u t h w e s t Arts Center Performance Theater Lobby Funding for the Fulton County Public Art Program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners through a

one percent allocation f r o m the Fulton County Capital Improvement Program. The Fulton County Public Art Program is -/

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administered by the Fulton County Arts Council which is supported in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriation of the Georgia General Assembly. The Council is a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

FULTON COUNTY

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CONFERENCE REPORT

RONIT

EISENBACH

Public A r t M a s t e r P l a n n i n g : D e v e l o p i n g a Plan for Your C o m m u n i t y Reston and Arlington, Virginia â&#x20AC;˘ D e c e m b e r 5 - 6 , 2 0 0 8

Maurice Cox, National Endowment for the Arts' director In his keynote address, William Morrish provided a useof design, opened Planning for Public Art, the first public art ful framework for the discussions. Morrish, an urban design"knowledge exchange," with Target's "Design for All" motto er, co-authored the groundbreaking 1988 Public Art Plan for on the screen and the query, "What if broad and popular ac- Phoenix: Ideas and Visions. This plan established a vision and cess to quality design were understood as a basic democratic identified "opportunities to strengthen the design of the city right, instead of an invitation to consume?" This democratic through public art associated with the design/construction of ideal pervaded the conferbuildings, outdoor urban ence that followed. Prespaces, and more extensive sented by Americans for outdoor networks and inthe Arts in partnership with frastructure," according to Arlington Cultural Affairs Ed Lebow, director of the Division, Arts Council of Phoenix public art program. Fairfax County, Initiative for Importantly, this plan was Public Art Reston, and the supported in 1988 by PhoeReston Community Center, nix voters who approved "a the knowledge exchange nearly $1 billion bond proprovided arts professiongram that included money als, planners, designers, and to fund public art" and who developers with a series of continue to approve subsepublic art master planning quent bond requests. case studies and an in-depth Twenty years later, after look at the public art master updating the initial plan, plans of Reston and ArlingMorrish is examining how ton, Virginia. this integration of public art, The premise of this public space, and infrastructwo-day symposium, acture like roads and bridges, OUT OF SIGHT cording to its co-organizer and water and sewer lines, (with Meridith McKinley), Infrastructure in the backyard might add up to a cultural public arts master planner ecological network. By redeTodd Bressi, was to "create fining sustainability as the an opportunity for peer-toproduct of ecology, econpeer consultation and disomy, and equity, Morrish cussion." Sixty public art argues that planning can inWilliam Morrish's infrastructure diagram, illustrating a "cultural ecological network." professionals came together tegrate what he calls "place in one-to-one conversations enhancements" that put the to teach one another in nonpublic and cultural life back traditional presentations and smaller facilitated group discus- into public works, "connections" that strengthen access points sions. Public art administrators, artists, architects, urban plan- and connective lines of community collaborative networks, ners, arts council representatives, community development and "ecological enrichment" that maintains the resources of corporation community organizers, and art and health care the community's cultural and natural households. workers all attended. Participants had the unique opportunity to see these The variety of sessions and the different kinds of knowl- principles in action by visiting and learning about two Virginia edge held by the participants allowed for a shifting of leader communities in Washington, D.C.'s metropolitan area that have and learner roles over the course of the exchange. Liesel Fenner, been engaged in the integration of public art and place making: manager of public art at Americans for the Arts, offered that Arlington and Reston. In Arlington, artist Cliff Garten unveiled "this role shifting and the valuing of knowledge of a range of Corridor of Light, an ambitious multiyear, multifunded work people fits with the underlying community input process in- whose luminescent street furniture and towers people hope herent in public art." The conference facilitated this exchange will transform North Lynn Street, a critical artery in Rosslyn, by providing a range of fluid and interactive encounters, such Arlington's bustling business district, that leads to the Key as dinners led by participants structured around specific ques- Bridge and on to Washington, D.C. This new work is in the tions, round-robin pinups by public art administrators from same spirit as Arlington's first major public art commission, around the country, "unscheduled" time for conversation, Nancy Holt's Dark Star Park, an urban earthwork sited at open sessions structured around topics suggested by partici- Rosslyn's other gateway. One of the many things that sets Dark pants, and an interview of "experts" by Roger Lewis, fellow of Star Park apart, according to curator Kristen Hileman, was that the American Institute of Architects and professor emeritus at Holt "not only conceived of the design...she was consulted on the University of Maryland. According to Bressi, "This was the plans for a building adjacent to the site." first time that a couple of days were devoted to helping people Using these two works as examples in a discussion of with challenges with their programs in this way." public art planning, Angela A. Adams, Arlington's public art

CONFERENCE REPORT

administrator, underscored that the critical integration of art into the civic realm and the active engagement in shaping it is only made possible by nurturing relationships and curating conversations with a whole host of organizations. "If a plan is done well, it primarily sets out a series of relationships that you need in order to do public art, and these must be maintained like a collection," she explained. "In Arlington we have found that by convening interdisciplinary, interdepartmental, public/private conversations we can host a civic design conversation." Corridor of Light, she added, emerged out of years of these types of meetings. Another theme that participants returned to was the importance of successfully integrating the public art plan into a city's overall vision. Todd Bressi and Meridith McKinley reinforced this theme with their presentation along with members of the Initiative for Public Art Reston, a newly formed nonprofit entity charged with implementation of Reston's newly approved master plan. Reston, a nonincorporated entity, is a planned community whose integration of art from its founding in the 1960s aimed to establish a "new generation of public artworks that build on Reston's traditions of design, community, and environment." As the group toured Lake Anne, Reston's founder, Robert Simon, shared this history with the group. Other conversations focused on both the nuts and bolts of master planning as well as the reasons why this effort is criticalâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;why a community should have a public art plan, who should be involved, what components should be included, and when a plan should be created. The second day began with an overview of the highlights of Arlington's master plan with county board member Chris Zimmerman as part of a panel discussion on what worked and what didn't. The round-robin pinup that followed offered participants an informal opportunity to learn about planning efforts in Phoenix, Arizona; Rochester, New York; Durham, North Carolina; Aurora, Colorado; and Calgary, Canada. [See report on Calgary's plan on page 82.] Leaders in both Reston and Arlington emphasized that the successful public arts master plan will link realistically to urban planning and development, put proper funding mechanisms in place, underscore the importance of educating stakeholders so that they have a comprehensive understanding of what is needed and what it takes, build strong liaisons with community and institutional partners, and establish processes for meaningful community engagement and understanding in order to cultivate a long-term audience and a sense of ownership. A "hands-on" examination of best practices and innovative approaches to planning for artworks in public facilities, civic infrastructure, and private development was shared. Participants learned, as the conference promoters put it, "how to take a seat at the planning table and imagine new, bold possibilities for public art as communities forge new agendas for infrastructure, livable places, and the creative economy." Attendees seemed energized by the informal exchange. Fenner noted the impressive "big-picture thinking" that the participants brought to the freewheeling discussion. One group, led by Jackie Samuel from the South Chicago New Communities Program, came to the conference with the dual

ABOVE: Participants posing with Robert Simon, founder and developer of the City of Reston, next to his own likeness, by artist Zachary Oxman, in Lake Anne Plaza. BELOW: Todd Bressi presenting "The ABC's of Public Art Planning" at the Reston Community Center.

goal of "using the conference to effect change" and learning how they could build a gateway public artwork. "They left stating they wanted to think bigger," Fenner said, "not just a gateway, but to plan public art throughout their community and create a comprehensive plan." With the practical tips and theoretical framework of this knowledge exchange as a starting point, this group, like many at the conference, should be well on their way. R O N I T E I S E N B A C H is an artist, architect and author. Her new book, Installations by Architects: Explorations in Building and Design, co-authored with Sarah Bonnemaison and published by Princeton Architectural Press, will be released July 2009.

CONFERENCE REPORT

I UILEE

DECKER

C o l l e g e A r t A s s o c i a t i o n 97th A n n u a l C o n f e r e n c e Los Angeles, California • February 2 5 - 2 8 , 2 0 0 9

The College Art Association conference is the world's largest venue for the exchange of ideas among artists, art historians, administrators, critics, curators, and publishers. Attendees descend upon a city to take in panels dedicated to studio art and art history topics, tours, and the ever-rich book and trade fair. A number of opportunities were on tap this year for public art enthusiasts. Five sessions addressed art in the public sphere as a locus of activity, an entrepreneurial endeavor, a space of critical exchange, and a site for discourse stemming from individual and collective points of view. The sessions seemed to share an interest in critiquing public art as an idea and critically experiencing it rather than defending or codifying it. Cameron Cartiere discussed The Manifesto of Possibilities: Commissioning Public Art in the Urban Environment, a postersized document resulting from the presenter's frustration at not having a road map for in-process discussions during the public art process. A useful document for every public art constituency, the Manifesto serves less as a step-by-step instruction guide than as a reference point for discussion and an empowering tool. It serves broader audiences as a statement of "beliefs, concerns, and recommendations" about the commissioning of public art in the urban environment. In its third printing since 2007, the Manifesto has been used as a model to draft national public art policies in Taiwan and Japan, will be used as a starting point for discussions in Ireland in March 2009, and will be used in New Zealand to train 21 curators in the field. "Stealth Public Art," chaired by Patricia Phillips, considered installations, interventions, and performances—initiatives that might fly under the radar of traditional, sanctioned models of public art. Sarah Kanouse discussed radio as an avenue of discourse that activates a public in ways that are strategically distinct from electronic and new media artists. John Hawke explored urban intervention known as Orange Work, which derives its name from the color of the fluorescent safety tape, cones, and netting. Orange Work has been aimed at rupturing spatial relations, primarily in Brooklyn, through the creation of an altered public space that lasted from as little as four hours to as long as 107 days. Hawke pointed out the significance of bringing the audience into these public spaces as an attempt at blurring the boundaries between art and activism while also challenging the viewer's response to a work that, on the surface, does not appear to be art. "Land Use in Contemporary Art," chaired by Kirsten Swenson, offered two sessions that approached questions of place-centering, as opposed to place-anchoring, and sought to blur categories of creative practice regarding representation, focus, inception, and utilization of the land. Emily Scott discussed Invisible-5, a self-guided audio tour that serves as a critique of the act of driving in the face of natural, social, and economics histories and offers "a multisensory fieldbased operation" with 23 tracks commenting on specific sites between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Monty Paret, a self-described interloper to issues of land art, discussed the eTeam's International Airport Montello as an embodiment of the "aesthetics of delay" while noting that the potential of a place, in this case, was denser than its actuality. These and the other eight papers in Swenson's sessions discussed diverse

projects while acknowledging and even championing the landscape as a discursive, temporal space that differs from a Robert Smithson-like take on a place. Erika Doss and Nancy Scott co-chaired the "Public Art Dialogue" panel, where Suzanne Lacy discussed visual, performance, conceptual, and public art that was created through the activity—and activism—of artists. She also highlighted Otis College of Art's new graduate program in public practice as one avenue of such pedagogy. Julian Bonder discussed memorials as sites that could encourage new political contexts as much as they serve as markers. Much of Bonder's discussion centered on his collaboration with Krzysztof Wodiczko for the Abolition of Slavery Memorial in Nantes, France, noting that memorials can, and often do, bear witness to an event and its incomprehensibility. Beyond the conference panels, several special events encouraged further discussion and engagement. An ARTspace session addressed the question of narrative in public art. On Thursday evening, Suzanne Lacy [pictured below with Harriet Senie on the left] was given the Public Art Dialogue's Award for Achievement in the Field of Public Art. Immediately following

the award announcement, Lacy addressed her own recent work and opened the floor for discussion of critical issues in and concerns of public art. An exhibitor session brought mural painting into focus through the lens of materials and the environments for art. Jerri Allyn and Debra Padilla offered a public art bus tour of performance and community-based projects the day after the conference close. In sum, the 97th Annual College Art Association Conference was a fantastic opportunity to engage with public art on many levels and offered a forum for diverse points of view from producers, admirers, theorists, and skeptics. is former conservation program manager for the Sculpture Center (Cleveland) and currently chairs the art department at Georgetown College. She also serves as Membership Chair of Public Art Dialogue. JUILEE DECKER

D O N N A

ISAAC

CONFERENCE REPORT

S c u l p t u r e in P u b l i c : P a r t 2, P u b l i c A r t G r a n d Rapids, M i c h i g a n â&#x20AC;˘ O c t o b e r ! - 4 , 2 0 0 8

While then-candidate Barack Obama was holding a rally at the Calder Plaza in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the International Sculpture Center (ISC) was hosting its 21st annual conference at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park just outside the city. The title and theme were Sculpture in Public: Part 2, Public Art. A roster of international presenters that included public artists, administrators, artists, curators, and collectors participated over a two-and-a-half-day period to discuss sculpture and the place of public art in civic life. The setting in the Meijer Gardens could not have been lovelier in the early fall surroundings. It also offered a chance for encounters with some of the 400 attendees. The Gardens was not only the site for a permanent installation of Jaume Plensa's, I, you, she or he..., but was also hosting an exhibition of his work, which opened during the conference. As the keynote speaker, Plensa [pictured at right] addressed communication through both text and visual elements in his work. Grand Rapids's new art museum, the first in the country to be LEED Gold certified, looks over Maya Lin's Ecliptic at Rosa Parks Circle. The space is both beautiful and meditative in its simplicity and offers a perfect counterpoint not only to the new museum but to the many examples of nineteenthcentury architecture that the city has preserved. Part 1, Sculpture Parks and Gardens, was held in 2007 in Seattle. While there was a strong focus on the history of the new Olympia Park in Seattle and the highly successful Millennium Park in Chicago, the sessions gave examples of sculpture parks and programming of varying sizes. Indeed, in contrast to the vast challenges of creating such venues, opportunities for gardens of all sizes to host temporary, smaller, communitybased projects proved to be appealing. A year later, it is Grand Rapids, where the conferees took up the themes of public art and sculpture in public spaces, offering a dramatically different content and synergy as a point of departure. Public art was the emphasis in several lively panels that actually worked as panels with audience interaction and good moderators keeping everyone on track. The opening session for the conference focused, naturally, on the local setting. "Making Sculpture City: The Place of Public Art in Civic Life" followed the history of Grand Rapids in commissioning Alexander Calder's La Grande Vitesse. The panel, moderated by Jennifer Geigel Mikulay, included Mary Ann Keeler, Nancy Mulnix Tweddale, Milt Rohwer, and Paul Wittenbraker. They gave a history of fundraising, philanthropy, and public advocacy for this now well-beloved work of art and a history of new venues for public art and emerging artists. The idea, I believe, goes beyond this particular discussion centering on innovating, modeling, and questioning paradigms of public art. But this discussion set the more critical stage for the next sessions on public art and design and the shared responsibility inherent to art within the public realm. Taken as a whole, the sessions laid out a critical framework for public art that included collaboration, intent, naming issues, and costs associated with pieces. More importantly, it was pointed out, public art brings visitors to cities, thus providing an economic impact that must not be underestimated. The discussion of both design and maintenance processes is one that several panels addressed. Processes must be adapted

to reflect changes of community and context and to reflect changes in maintenance and contractual agreements. Panelists Jack Mackie, Kofi Boone, and Susan Harrison, with moderator Janet Kagan, offered an important discussion on artists and design teams that needs to be a regular part of public art conversations. As more artists join design teams, the results are not always successful collaborations; in effect, the "teams" are often forced "marriages" by city agencies and public art programs. The panel on sharing responsibility for maintenance became a very lively discussion that ranged from who takes on maintenance to addressing risk hazards and contractual liability for artists. Moderated by Shelley Smith, the panel included Michele Cohen, Tin Ly, and Barry Tinsley, all representing very different perspectives. Interaction with the audience resulted in one of the best sessions of the conference. Meanwhile. Tom Moran moderated global efforts in public art that presented a range of perspectives from Herve Bechy and Larry Kirkland's experiences as artists in Asia to Rosina Santina Castellon's discussion about the memory of a place and communities suffering trauma, as at Vieques, Puerto Rico. Hers was perhaps the most compelling presentation. At the end of the conference, I came away with a strong sense of direction and purpose as public art moves further into the twenty-first century. Public art as a discipline continues to reflect the changing times and changing economies, which is both exciting and challenging. ISC fills a pivotal role in the public art arena. This is evidenced by the panel on public art dialogue, pushing the discussion of pedagogy and public art towards a critical education of the next generation of administrators and artists. ISC also provides an ideal platform for these discussions. These conferences continue to move us to discuss key issues regarding the role of public art and the often complex interrelationships that help produce art that is intrinsic to our civic life. D O N N A I S A A C is senior project manager with Scottsdale Art in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Public

CONFERENCE REPORT

PALLAS C.

LOM

I o w a / N e b r a s k a Public Art N e t w o r k i n g Conference Council Bluffs, Iowa / O m a h a , Nebraska â&#x20AC;˘ September 2 3 - 2 4 , 2 0 0 8

This first collaborative public art conference, sponsored by the Iowa West Foundation (IWF) and the Nebraska Arts Council, in partnership with the Iowa Arts Council, showcased the latest public art in the two cities on the Missouri River and brought together students, artists, and administrators from 13 states for networking and information sharing. The dominant program, the Iowa West Public Art Program (IWPP), was the conference draw, given their huge public art budget being spent on established public artists. (Reported in the spring/summer 2008 issue of Public Art Review, "Iowa West Public Art: Bringing New Life to a River City.") The conference was notable for the prominent presence of IWPP public artists, including Brower Hatcher, who delivered the keynote, Jonathan Borofsky, Jun Kaneko, and Deborah Masuoka. Panels held at one IWPP site, the Mid-America Center, provided access to Kaneko's exterior half-acre public art site, William King's Sunrise, and two of his other sculptures. The group interacted with Jonathan Borofsky during his installation of another Molecule Man, half the size of the 100-foot Molecule Man in Berlin, Germany, yet a recognizable addition to his previous Molecule series. Jun Kaneko participated in a panel presentation and hosted everyone at three of his Omaha venues: his 90,000square-foot warehouse; his studio, which features a walk-in kiln; and KANEKO, an "open space for creativity" that, when completed, will serve as an institution dedicated to creativity and collaboration in the arts, sciences, and philosophy. At the warehouse, the group mingled with Kaneko's 28 nine- and 13foot Dangos and 10-foot Heads similar to those temporarily installed along New York City's Park Avenue. Kaneko mentioned that all the art was available for acquisition and profits will be dedicated to the nonprofit KANEKO. The first day concluded with a panel and tour of the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, yet another Kaneko community gift. Clearly, Kaneko has done for Omaha what Donald Judd did for Marfa, Texas. His contributions to Omaha's culture, and that of the United States, are simply beyond impressive and rare. Nebraska Arts Council's Suzanne Wise, an enthusiastic and tireless guide, took the group to see a work in progress, Meg Saligman's 328-foot by 70-foot Fertile Ground, touted to become the third largest mural in the United States. It is a representational response by the artist based on her research, interviews, and personal impressions about Omaha. (The project is administered by the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, sited on the Energy Systems Building, and funded by the Peter Kiewit Foundation.) Wise shared a successful relocation story about Alice Aycock's 1993 Waterworks from one University of Nebraska at Omaha location to another, where the artwork's water feature no longer presented a problem to pedestrians. Another Omaha project visited during the tour is First National Bank of Omaha's Spirit of Nebraska's Wilderness, a comprehensive sculpture program that will eventually include more than 100 realistic bronze artworks, spanning six city blocks in the downtown. Well-landscaped green spaces already feature larger-than-life bronzes of pioneers, covered wagons, oxen, horses, and 58 eight-foot-tall Canadian geese. What my Public Art Network colleague and I found most interesting and curious during the conference was the revealed

Jun Kaneko (center) guiding participants through a tour of his studio in Omaha, surrounded by Kaneko's ceramic Osngos and kids, similar to those installed in New York City.

differences between the two state public art programs and the hybrid created for the Iowa West Foundation. The states of Iowa and Nebraska have standard percent-for-art programs. (The city of Omaha does not, but Omaha does have a Public Art Commission that reviews private donations to a growing, publicly accessible art collection.) Different funding sources (including public percent-for-art funds from both states and IWF's gaming and investment revenue) infuse art into these two cities. Clearly, the art professionals enlisted to date to select IWPP artists have willingly followed a master plan designed to result in large-scale sculpture by recognized artists, placed in well-designed landscapes. This $85,000 master plan identifies 44 additional art sites to be done by 2015. Initially, $9 million is being spent on the first six projects. The program's ambitious goal is "to make Council Bluffs a prosperous urban area known for its cultural enlightenment and public art collection that draws visitors from across the country and around the world." IWF's director J. Todd Graham describes Brower Hatcher's Bayliss Park collaboration and creation of Wellspring and Oculus as "setting the bar high." This conference preview of public art in two specific cities revealed that the Iowa West Public Art Program could indeed make Council Bluffs, Iowa, a public art destination. However, it will be less likely if a single formula is used to select known artists with the goal of a guaranteed, known result. Too many monumental sculptures would be reminiscent of "plop art," or art envisioned for a plaza or sculpture garden but no longer expanding the definition of public art. P A L L A S C . L O M B A R D I is on the Americans for the Arts's Public Art Network Council and has managed the Charlotte Area Transit System's Art in Transit Program since 2003. Prior to locating in Charlotte, North Carolina, she directed the Cambridge Art Council and its public art program.

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BECKER

CONFERENCE REPORT

F o r u m on Public Art and D e m o c r a c y Minneapolis, Minnesota • September 2 6 - 2 7 , 2 0 0 8

is a form of audience development, offering a sort of remedial On September 26, just a few hours before then-candidates education to people questioning the definition of—and uses Obama and McCain took the stage in their first televised debate, for—public space. Or, as dancer Eiko Otake, of the Center for the topic of democracy and public art was on the minds of folks Creative Research, expressed later on: "Space is never empty." in Minneapolis. Prior to a daylong forum offering multifaceted As for my own panel, we held a free-range discussion about perspectives at the University of Minnesota, a modest-sized the perceived boundaries that limit what artists can and can't crowd gathered to hear Los Angeles-based artist Suzanne Lacy do in public. What happens when artists push the boundaries talk about "Democracy as a Habit of Mind." Like many of her public art projects, her talk ranged from the personal to the po- of creative expression in the public realm? The legal limits are known only when someone attempts to cross the line (usulitical, while stressing the importance of "allowing the process ally with religious messages, pornography, or political speech). of citizenship to occur." She chronicled several of her socially Artists, I noted, can manipulate the media to increase exposure engaged projects from the past three decades, including Roof on Fire, Code 33, and the Crystal Quilt, performed in Minne- of ideas and concerns that otherwise go unnoticed. Yet how apolis in 1992. The intention, she states, comes down to "rela- do artists control the message, and how do they know if their work is making any difference? Is public art a means to an end, tionship, negotiation, and resolution." No actions necessarily or an end in itself? Or rather, as dancer-choreographer Ananya result from her engagements, but the dialogue that is generated Chatterjea declared, "public art is a means and an end." gives meaning to the work. Unfortunately there wasn't much The "Photography in Public" panel was one of the hightime for dialogue following her talk, as everyone hurried off to lights, with Coyne discussing the use of enlarged photographs watch the debates. The following day, the Public Art and Democracy confer- to give voice to narratives in public, photographer Wing Young Huie relaying humorous anecdotes from his ambitious streetence continued, hosted by the Institute for Advanced Study side exhibitions in the Twin Cities, and historian and curator at the University of Minnesota (IAS), and co-presented with George Slade illustrating major challenges that faced photogForecast Public Art, which was in the midst of celebrating its rapher Suzanne Opton in the development of her compelling thirtieth anniversary. The conference was also occasioned by Soldier Billboard Project, situated in four major cities around Minnesota's Sesquicentennial and artist Nancy Ann Coyne's recently installed Speaking of Home skyway project in down- the country during the election season. In an effort to wrap up the day, Tom Fisher, architectural town Minneapolis (see Diane Mullin's review on page 84). The conference brought together political scientists, artists, archi- critic and dean of the University's College of Design, and Gail Dubrow, public historian and dean of the University's Graduate tects, designers, activists, and arts administrators to discuss School, engaged in a conversation with each other and the ausuch questions as: What makes a public space public? How can dience that built on some of the issues raised, and the multiple public art help bring about civic discourse? How can artists and designers working within constraints create more mean- themes of public, art, and democracy. "Public art," said Fisher, "is a critical component of democracy. The field of public art ingful public spaces? The wide-ranging panel presentations included "Privatiz- provides an accessible and participatory way of challenging our assumptions, opening our eyes, and stimulating new ideas, ing Public Space: Skyways, Mall and Plazas" (with Jennifer all of which are crucial to a well-functioning democracy and Yoos, Vincent James, and Kristine Miller); "Social Space: an informed citizenry." To see video clips of the entire proDesigning for Civic Dialogue" (with Margaret Kohn, Dara gram, visit http://www.ias.umn.edu/media/PublicArt.php. Strolovitch, and Sonja Kuftinec); "Public Art as Activism and the Limits of Free Expression" (with Lacy, Eiko Otake, Ananya Chatterjea, and myself); and "Photography in Public" J A C K B E C K E R is executive director of Forecast Public Art, publisher o/Public Art Review. (with Coyne, George Slade, and Wing Young Huie). Marlina Gonzalez, from Intermedia Arts, also provided a wrap-up of local public art responses to the Republican National Convention, held earlier in the month in St. Paul. Kristine Miller, author of Designs on the Public: The Private Lives of New York's Public Spaces, focused on the core questions of defining public space, challenging us to define which "publics" we mean when we say the word, examining new hybrid spaces that are quasi-public but privately owned, and raising the notion that there actually aren't truly public spaces anymore. These days, she observed, with multiple publics, the notion of an "accountable entity" is complicated. Yet public space can provide, as panelist Margaret Kohn pointed out, "a sense of social solidarity." Kohn teaches political science at the University of Toronto and is the author of Brave New Neighborhoods: The Privatization of Public Space. Artists and designers, she suggested, are given liberties Suzanne Opton's Soldier Billboard Project, on display in St. Paul during the 2008 RNC. to interrupt, disrupt, and interfere with the public realm, as well as public process. In this context public art, on one level.

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FROM THE HOME FRONT

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As M i n n e s o t a m a d e its w a y t h r o u g h a u t u m n into o n e o f t h e darker, harder w i n t e r s in recent m e m o r y , public art did its part t o keep t h i n g s bright. W e m a d e art on ice, lit esthetic-ritual fires, and w e l c o m e d a giant m o l e c u l e to our giant university c a m p u s . In short, i n g e n i o u s ways w e r e f o u n d to celebrate fall and w i n t e r — w e ' r e used to d o i n g t h a t up here.

If you wanted to devise the Minnesota equivalent of Burning Man, you'd go cold instead of hot, right? That's what the Art Shanty Projects have been doing for the past six years. Instead of pyrotechnics in the desert heat, artist-designed shacks appeared on frozen Medicine Lake near Plymouth, Minnesota, inspired by the ice-fishing houses that pop up on the region's lakes every winter. Inside the shanties, you have all manner of offbeat activities, from parody retail to genuine science, performance art to games to broadcasting. The 2009 outing, on three weekends from January 17 to February 14, was the most diverse yet, with more than 20 icehouses on hand, including a minuscule black-box theater, microradio station K-ICE ("mission: stir chaos with randomness"), a Word Shanty devoted to literary activities, and a Biology Shanty where visitors could learn about the lake. The dICEHOUSES were five shanties painted as giant dice and stocked with playing cards and board games. You could post anonymous admissions on the fagade of the churchlike Confession Shanty, knit in the Knitting Shanty, and sing karaoke Korean-style in the Norae Bang Shanty. A genuine Norwegian pagan priestess was on hand to offer an invocation on opening day, and an artcar taxi service offered offbeat rides out onto the ice. With so much to see and do, you could almost forget the occassional minus thirty windchill! A project that would have been right at home at Burning Man lit up the night in tiny Stockholm, Wisconsin, on September 27 of last year. The second annual Art+Fire Project saw sculptor Stanton Sears, a professor of art at Saint Paul's Macalester College, and partner Andrea Myklebust create a castle, complete with dragon, out of donated waste wood, and then set the whole thing spectacularly afire. The benign inferno was a reprise of a 2007 event in which British artists Diane Gorvin and Phil Bews torched their fanciful Viking

View of the Art Shanty Projects on Medicine Lake from inside the Mat M Shinty. More photos from this and past year's projects at www.artshantyprojects.org.

ship sculpture. Local volunteers created paper lanterns that provided pre-conflagration illumination. Individuals and groups celebrated the January inauguration of Barack Obama in a host of different ways. Photographer and artist Barry Kleider helped users of a neighborhood clinic in inner-city Minneapolis to (literally) mark the occasion with their thumb prints. The "We the People" Flag project brought more than 300 staff members, clients, and neighbors of The Clinic at NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center together to place their prints on a flag designed by Kleider. The idea was to pay homage to voters in fledgling Third World democracies (many of whom vote with their thumb prints) while celebrating what Kleider called "a moment to feel proud and excited to say 'I am an American.'" The "digitally printed" flag then went on display at the clinic. The 2008 general election brought another decision widely cheered in the arts community hereabouts: the passage of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota constitution, which boosts the state sales and use taxes by an eighth of a percent and dedicates the new revenue to preservation of natural resources—and the cultivation of the cultural patrimony too. Twenty percent of the takings will be set aside for, in the bill's wording, "arts, arts education, arts access, and to preserve Minnesota's history and cultural heritage." Official estimates suggest the amount raised for art might be about 20 percent of the $230 million projected for 2010—or about $46.5 million. Legislators, arts groups, and arts educators are currently weighing in—vocally—on where the cash should go

FROM THE HOME FRONT

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Stanton Sears and Andrea Myklebust, Art+Fire Project, 2008, Stockholm, W l ; Stuart Keeler, Sky Pencil, 2009, St. Cloud Public Library, St. Cloud, MN; Andrea Stanislav, Harden ollron Mirrors, 2008, University of MN Education Sciences building; Amy Toscani, Molecule, 2008, University of MN Molecular and Cellular Biology building.

once the measure takes effect next year. Passage of the Amendment in and of itself makes Minnesota the only state in the union to even mention "art" in its Constitution. The University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus, already chockablock with distinguished public artworks, added two new ones in the fall, one fanciful, the other meditative. Minneapolis artist Amy Toscani's Molecule is a colorful and gigantic (30-foot, 10,000-pound) model of a cluster of atoms, sitting, as if dropped from some gigantic physics professor's desk, over the walkway into the Molecular and Cellular Biology Building. Toscani initially planned to represent a real molecule—and boned up by reading Molecular and Cellular Biology for Dummies—but ultimately decided to let her fancy, and her design sense, dictate the shape of the sculpture. U of M art professor Andrea Stanislav, on the other hand, began with natural objects—seven boulders—in creating Garden of Iron Mirrors for a site next to the university's Education Sciences building. Stanislav embedded polished steel in some of the big rocks, mirror surfaces that make them practically dematerialize in favor of the surrounding earth and sky. Another active Twin Cities-based artist, Randy Walker, created a very Twin Cities-themed work for Minneapolis's Mill City Museum. The museum, which commemorates the grain-milling industry that used to dominate the economy of our towns, is a renovation of, and an addition to, a defunct flour mill and grain elevator. A dark and narrow grain chute rises above its entry vestibule. Into this oft-unnoticed empty

well, Walker introduced a golden cascade of nylon fiber, more than eight miles of it, dropping sixty feet, and illuminated from above. Grain Fall is intended to evoke both the cascades of wheat that once poured into the mill and the powerful prairie sunlight that helped to grow it. The prairie sunlight of Saint Cloud, Minnesota, now shines through Sky Pencil, a glass curtain over the floor-to-ceiling windows at the entrance of the city's public library. The work, by Atlanta-based artist Stuart Keeler, depicts a land-, water-, and skyscape with snowflakes falling and dandelions gone to seed—an evocation of a journey through the imagination, according to Keeler. (The blown dandelions, he told a local reporter, suggest new ideas loosed into the world.) The $70,000 work was installed in January as the capstone of an ambitious public art commissioning process at the library, initiated in January 2007, that has also borne fruit in Lucy Slivinski's intricate and playful outdoor screen, Natural Rhythm [see PAR issue 39, page 69]; Barbara Benson Keith's mosaic windows for the children's room; and Ries Niemi's alphabet-themed bike racks and outdoor and indoor furniture. Keeler's dandelions, adding a touch of spring to our coldest month, were just one more proof of our belief, in these latitudes, that although life is short, art is long, and the snow does melt, eventually.

JON SPAYDE

is a contributing

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L A N D S C A P E S F O R ART: C o n t e m p o r a r y S c u l p t u r e Parks

E L M G R E E N & D R A C S E T : T h i s is t h e First D a y o f M y Life

Glenn Harper and Twylene Moyer, editors Washington, D.C.: International Sculpture Center Press, 2008 223 pages, $24.95 (paperback)

Tony Benn, Massimiliano Gioni, Amelia Saul Ostfilden, Germany: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2008 317 pages, $70 (hardcover)

The sculpture park is an ambitious undertaking, an attempt to combine art, nature, place—three rather large words. Add in the need for big chunks of space and time, and the prospect of creating a sculpture park seems daunting. And yet such parks have been proliferating and expanding, around the world, in recent decades. Artists, administrators, landscape architects, collectors, visitors too—all share a growing fascination with sculpture parks. Landscapes for Art provides a timely introduction to some of the world's best contemporary sculpture parks. The book is a selective survey, not a catalog, with entries describing about 50 parks, most in North America and Europe, a few in Asia and Australia. The entries are short, four or five pages, and include one or two photographs of specific sculptures. The book also includes a few brief and rather elementary essays on the sculpture park as an evolving art form. A half-dozen short interviews appear as well. The slim volume can be read cover to cover, as an account of sculpture park practice and shape. Entries focus on the history of a park, on park design, on types of sculpture (created off-site or onsite, ephemeral), or on specific sculptures—or, most commonly, a combination of these topics. One could also read selectively, say for parks in a particular region. Some of the park descriptions read like website copy; other entries are reviews reprinted from Sculpture magazine. Due to the brief length, few offer significant analysis, but most provide engaging introductions. The interviews are maybe the most interesting pieces in the book, especially those with collector Steven Oliver and artist Alfio Bonanno. The book may be most effective as inspiration for travel: After reading the entries and gazing at the photographs, one can't help but want to set off for Storm King in New York, Hakone in Japan, La Marrana in Italy, TICKON in Denmark... to see the far-flung works of Magdalena Abakanowicz, Ann Hamilton, Andy Goldsworthy, and many others. By the end it's likely a reader will be thinking: Road trip—let's go.

Better known in Europe than in the United States, Berlinbased Michael Elmgren and Ingar Dragset have collaborated since 1995, creating installations and performance pieces that examine public spaces and power, often through an explicitly gay male lens. This Is the First Day of My Life presents color and black and white photos of their work, from a faux subway stop built in the basement of the Bohen Foundation headquarters in New York to a "cruising pavilion," complete with glory holes and peepholes, erected in a Danish park "notorious for its nocturnal homosexual activity." Elmgreen and Dragset's vision, manifest in their works, includes an "animatronic dying sparrow," mysterious doors, a vastly oversized theater chair, a theater safety curtain on which is painted a huge eye peering out through a hole, and a high-end shoe store set on a lonely stretch of Texas highway. In a series of works titled The Welfare Show (2005-2006), Elmgreen and Dragset presented such settings as a stark hospital corridor, a baggage claim carousel with a single piece of luggage, and a lifelike wax infant left beneath a cash machine. Arguably the most powerful work in this series was a red brick Toronto tower on which the words "The Power Plant" were repainted to read "The Powerless." (Another Elmgreen and Dragset series of works is titled Powerless Structures.) The book itself is a bit problematic. Four short accompanying texts do little to explain the artists' work, its motivation and creation, and public response, much less document it. A 26-page "List of Works" at the end answers questions about where and when installations and pieces appeared, and from what materials they were made, but many of its thumbnail photos don't match the larger photos in the rest of the book. Perhaps this is appropriate: The sense of being somewhat thwarted echoes much of Elmgreen and Dragset's work. Part of the great tradition of artists without formal art education, Elmgreen and Dragset's star seems yet ascendant. (They will curate both the Danish and Nordic Pavilion for the Venice Biennale 2009.) This volume is a fair introduction to their quirky work.

CAPPER N I C H O L S

teaches at the University of

Minnesota.

S e n d R E C E N T P U B L I C A T I O N S a n n o u n c e m e n t s t o us at: info@ForecastPublicArt.org

a former columnist for Artpaper and Utne Reader, is a freelance editor and indexer based in rural Montana. CHRIS DODCE,

JOSIE

R A W S O N

D A N

W A H L

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ART A N D U P H E A V A L : Artists on t h e World's Frontlines

T H E A R T O F P A R T I C I P A T I O N : 1 9 5 0 to N o w

William Cleveland Oakland, CA: New Village Press, 2008 334 pages, $20.01 (paperback)

Rudolf Frieling, Boris Groys, Robert Atkins, Lev Manovich New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co., 2008 224 pages, $39.95 (hardcover)

The world's political hotspots—ripped open by war, riot, dislocation, and poverty—seem unlikely terrain for public art. Food is what's needed, and medicine, and treaties. The theaters, galleries, and schools have been strafed to rubble. And yet it's happened: In Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World's Frontlines, William Cleveland (who directs the Center for the Study of Art & Community) documents six art communities that took form out of siege and ashes. A survey that spans from Southeast Asia to Africa, Europe and aboriginal Australia to L.A. Watts, the book serves as a collection of case studies into the hazards and hard-won successes of politically responsive art. Take for instance the staging of The Wedding Play in Belfast during the Troubles—with a mixed cast of Catholic and Protestant actors performing, for a similarly estranged audience, a script that marries their children while the bombings and fraught negotiations go on. Or the Artist Proof print studio in Johannesburg, with its bold purpose of bringing together black artists and white artists in workshops, exhibitions, and collaborative portfolios even as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was bringing to light (and offering amnesty to the perpetrators of) the indelible depravities of apartheid rule. These public-art uprisings have been, without exception, conducted by the most unassuming people—not by their own estimation especially heroic or exceptional, but working artists and organizers who danced, painted, performed, and wrote in the most inhospitable circumstances. In so doing, they exposed themselves and their audiences to real physical harm and, as is the fate of many frontline activists, abiding stigmatization. Cleveland gets down to gritty detail by documenting the censorship, government-sponsored arson, and institutional apathy that have threatened these outposts, as well as the specific historic moments that sparked them. All told, these are success stories against the odds. Art and Upheaval makes clear that where "monetary compensations, legal wrangling, formal apologies, condolences, and all other cultural frameworks often surrounding disasters and tragedies" stand little chance of repairing the spirit in the wake of killing unrest, public art just might.

People need community. Art is moving to fill this need via participatory art, a non-style that focuses on human interaction rather than art stars and their commodities. The Art of Participation takes a comprehensive look at the development of this movement through profiles of artists and their (our) creations. Much more than a San Francisco Museum of Modern Art exhibit catalogue, the book opens with essays that lay out the basics: How, physically and theoretically, did participatory art evolve, and what are its potentials? It changes like a chemical reaction, conceptually flaring around the traditional art apparatus. The book discusses how participatory art got its spark in the early twentieth century from the futurists and Dadaists, who questioned art itself, not the colors and shapes of it. Possibilities exploded in the 1960s, with performance art, happenings, and other modes that asked for deeper audience involvement. Now, the do-it-yourself play/ work of the Fluxus folk comes more naturally, as audiences increasingly become the center of the artworks. What's next is hard to say, in the face of a web space where users are becoming the producers of Internet content. The focus of this work, however, is not on our growing Internet connection, but on a historic coverage of the form, illuminated with colorful artist profiles that exemplify concepts and results. The actual works of such art are necessarily nonexistent. For example, a "blank" score for John Cage's 4 '33" shows the sense of emptiness but can't reveal how the environment of an audience composed the piece. Photos of Yoko Ono's suit being snipped away in Cut Piece can't reveal the emotionally active involvement of the participants. Representative photos show the act, not the concept, of the artist's transformation into audience and vice versa, as in Tom Marioni's The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends Is the Highest Form of Art. Participatory art embraces us. If you're ready to reciprocate, this collection is for you. At the least, it's an exceptional coffee-table book—table for you, table for two, table for the whole community. What that community will become is as evolutionary—and revolutionary—as the art of participation.

is the author of the poetry collections Quarry (University of Pittsburgh Press) and Unrest (Graywolf Press). JOSIE R A W S O N

D A N W A H L is a teacher and mentor. He leads a workshop entitled "Block Melting: Releasing Your Creative Energy," modeled after participatory public art experiences he has created.

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f o l l y D O C K E X P O : 16 follies in H e i j p l a a t / R o t t e r d a m

O P E N 14: A R T AS A P U B L I C I S S U E : H o w Art a n d its I n s t i t u t i o n s

Lowieke Duran, editor Rotterdam: Veenman Publishers/Gijs Stork, 2008 94 pages, $43 (paperback)

Are Rediscovering T h e i r Public D i m e n s i o n

At first glance, the follyDOCK EXPO staged in Heijplaat, a former company village on Rotterdam's huge shipping port, is just another public art revitalization scheme: 16 site-specific sculptures constructed in a zone designated for public investment and private development. Delightful and worthy as this scheme may be, where, one wonders, are the follies? A folly, after all, is a specific medium—a building constructed not for any utilitarian purpose, but as a whimsical, architectural ornament. The best of the projects documented in this catalogue, however, aim to reinvent not only Heijplaat, but the very notion of a folly. Take Wind Factory, for example. Designed by Dutch architect/designers Ed Euser and Tirza Verrips and built of scrap metal, this "machine" uses wind power to generate the screeching sound of metal on metal. Other projects (a shipping container folded into origami; a mysterious "control tower" built from found industrial drawings) take a similar approach. Like the carefully constructed "ruins" that we usually associate with follies, these structures toy with viewers' expectations— and then go further to question the very notion of utility. The follies are indeed part of a revitalization scheme. A brief essay by journalist Agnes Verweij explains that Heijplaat was established in the 1900s in the shadow of Rotterdam's industrial port as a company town for the workers and management of the now defunct Rotterdam Dry Dock Company. Now home to former workers, new immigrants, and low-income families, the town (after surviving a demolition plan) is slated for major redevelopment. Like similar projects, follyDOCK brought artists, residents, politicos, corporate/industrial sponsors, and tourists together in a three-year process culminating in a follyDOCK festival during the summer of 2007. As a catalogue, follyDOCK EXPO is exemplary. Its text and design are clear, and ample space is devoted to evocative color photographs. Not all of the projects realize the potential of the reinvented folly. Some, like the living structure made from willow trees and loam, or the cubist-style house constructed out of building-like forms, while interesting, don't really qualify as follies. As a whole, however follyDOCK EXPO is a testament to the notion that public art happenings can break artistic ground.

This biannual Dutch publication offers an in-depth look at art in the public sphere, with writings that span a variety of opinions and approaches. Consisting primarily of European authors writing on their continent's art, this periodical examines an issue at the forefront of how art is regarded today: What is public space, and how is art expected to function there? Some of the more dense academic pieces explore, as the well-regarded Belgian political theorist Chantal Mouffe writes, how "artists can play an important role in subverting the dominant hegemony," while artists' projects offer tangible evidence of the same. As the artistic leader of SKOR (the Netherlandsbased Foundation for Art and Public Space), Tom van Gestel sees it, "You are adding stories to what already goes around." In addition, several book reviews provide elucidating background on featured artists and academics alike. Reviewing Jeroen Boomgaard's text Highrise—Common Ground: Art and the Amsterdam Zuidas Area, Use van Rijn interprets Mouffe's thinking this way: "Any work of art in the public space that does not openly call the conditions under which it is made into question endorses those very conditions." New York-based artists initiative 16 Beaver provides one of the most engaging contributions, "Down by Numbers," while poking fun at its neighboring footnote-heavy articles. Raising questions regarding audience, funding, and art used for branding, the essay concludes with a plea that art (and its institutions) might need to exist outside of, or in conflict with, such market forces. A caveat: The headier pieces that begin this periodical are thick with jargon, which makes for slow reading, though they do offer good preparation for more approachable texts, which illustrate by example. Also, there are a few sloppy proofreading mistakes, an occasional word missing, or a gaff in translation. That said, this collection offers a fantastic overview of current thinking on this live topic. "For a growing group of artists," explains BAVO, architect/philosophers Gideon Booie and Matthies Pauwels, "art has long ceased to be about what it says, represents or reflects, but is about what the work 'does,' effects or generates in the social context in which it operates."

is a freelance Public Art Review. JOSEPH H A R T

writer and the associate editor of

Brugge, Belgium: NAi Publishers, Volume 7 (2008), no. 14 176 pages, $40 (paperback) English and Dutch.

A D R I A N A C R A N T is a freelance art writer. Her work appears in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle Weekly, and City Arts magazine.

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RECENT PUBLICATIONS S P I R A L JETTA: A Road Trip t h r o u g h t h e L a n d

R O A D S W O R T H : Crossing the Line

Art o f the American West

Alan Kohl

Erin H o g a n

Montreal: Loaded Pictures & National Film

C h i c a g o : T h e University o f C h i c a g o Press, 2 0 0 8

Board of Canada, 2 0 0 8

190 pages, $ 2 0

D V D , 72 m i n u t e s

(hardcover)

A c h r o n i c l e o f l a p s e d art h i s t o r i a n a n d d e v o t e d u r b a n i t e Erin H o g a n ' s road trip t h r o u g h Utah, N e v a d a , N e w M e x i c o , A r i z o n a , a n d Texas, in search of firsthand experience of the m o n u mental earthworks o f the 1970s and

1980s—

i n c l u d i n g R o b e r t S m i t h s o n ' s Spiral Jetty,

Nancy

H o l t ' s Sun Tunnels, a n d W a l t e r D e M a r i a ' s Lightning

Field. H e r e n c o u n t e r s a n d p e r s o n a l

observations offer a view o f twentieth-century O N L O C A T I O N : Siting Robert Smithson and

A m e r i c a n art at a critical m o m e n t , as w e l l as a

His Contemporaries

view of the landscape of the American West.

R o a d s w o r t h ' s c l a n d e s t i n e street art, a l o n g w i t h coverage o f his arrest a n d p r o s e c u t i o n by t h e city o f M o n t r e a l (he f a c e d 85 c o u n t s o f p u b l i c m i s c h i e f , fines o f u p t o $ 2 5 0 , 0 0 0 a n d a c r i m i n a l r e c o r d ) . T h e film r e f l e c t s R o a d s w o r t h ' s personal struggle to defend his work, define h i m s e l f as an artist, a n d a d d r e s s d i f f i c u l t q u e s t i o n s a b o u t art a n d f r e e d o m o f expression. NEXT: A Primer on Urban Painting

S i m o n Dell, editor

Pablo Aravena

L o n d o n : Black D o g P u b l i s h i n g

N e w York: Arts Alliance A m e r i c a , 2 0 0 8

188 p a g e s , $55 ( s o f t c o v e r )

D V D , 95 m i n u t e s , $ 2 9 . 9 5

A timely exploration of the relationship

T h i s f e a t u r e - l e n g t h d o c u m e n t a r y film is a n

b e t w e e n t h e art object, t h e site, a n d t h e

exploration o f graffiti-based urban painting that

exhibition space, presenting a robust

has e v o l v e d t o a c u r r e n t level o f s o p h i s t i c a t i o n

c o n t r i b u t i o n t o w h a t is c u r r e n t l y a n i m p o r -

w h i l e retaining a vital c o n n e c t i o n to the streets.

t a n t d e b a t e in c o n t e m p o r a r y art: t h e t r a n s ition f r o m m o d e r n i s m to

T h e film f o l l o w s a n u m b e r o f e s t a b l i s h e d a n d

postmodernism

e m e r g i n g a r t i s t s s u c h as Lee Q u i n o n e s ,

( a n d t h e shift f r o m t h e a u t o n o m o u s art object

O s G e m e o s , S w o o n , Kami, Sasu, a n d m o r e .

debates by e x p l o r i n g t h e relationship b e t w e e n the site a n d t h e gallery space evident in the w o r k o f Robert S m i t h s o n a n d his peers.

Doze

Green, H e a v y w e i g h t , Delta, Banksy,

to site-specific work). This title revives such

104

Record o f the d e v e l o p m e n t o f stencil artist

PROTEST GRAFFITI MEXICO: Oaxaca GRAFFITI ARGENTINA

L o u i s E.V. N e v a e r

M a x i m i l i a n o Ruiz

N e w York: M a r k Batty Publisher, 2 0 0 9

N e w York: T h a m e s & H u d s o n , 2 0 0 9

160 pages, $27.95 (hardcover)

Richard Long

152 p a g e s , $ 2 4 . 9 5 ( p a p e r b a c k )

Analysis and pictorial d o c u m e n t a t i o n of the

Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland,

A n exciting visual story o f Argentina's vibrant

graffiti in r e s p o n s e t o t h e O a x a c a s h o o t i n g s in

2 0 0 7 / 108 pages, $25 (paperback)

graffiti a n d street scene, c o m p l e m e n t e d by

2006, w h e n M e x i c a n police killed three people

Catalogue focusing primarily on the works

a r t i s t i n t e r v i e w s o n t h e first a p p e a r a n c e o f

a s t h e y o p e n e d fire o n a c r o w d o f p r o t e s t o r s .

that land art p i o n e e r Richard L o n g has m a d e

graffiti in t h e late 1990s; t h e m o v e m e n t in

A l m o s t immediately, graffiti calling the region's

over the past decade. Includes sections on

recent years; t h e u n d e r g r o u n d use o f political

governor a murderer was sprayed throughout

p h o t o g r a p h i c and text works, m u d and china

images; and the sketches and designs that

t h e city, d e m o n s t r a t i n g g r a f f i t i art as a m e t h o d

clay d r a w i n g s , a n d w o r k s m a d e o n d r i f t w o o d

have c o m e f r o m the street to influence the

o f achieving social justice t h r o u g h c o m m u n i t y

a n d f o u n d o b j e c t s , as w e l l as d o c u m e n t a t i o n

visual culture of the country.

organization. T h e p h o t o g r a p h s in this b o o k

RICHARD LONG: Walking and Marking

depict oppression, e m p o w e r m e n t , and the

o f his recent m a j o r projects.

messages o f struggle and revolt.

LITTLE PEOPLE I N T H E CITY: THE H U M A N

ARGUMENT:

T h e Street Art o f Slinkachu

The Writings of Agnes Denes

S l i n k a c h u w i t h a f o r e w o r d by W i l l S e l f

ART A N D T H E CITY: Civic Imagination a n d

Klaus O t t m a n n , editor

L o n d o n : Boxtree, 2 0 0 8

Cultural A u t h o r i t y in Los Angeles

P u t n a m , CT: S p r i n g P u b l i c a t i o n s , 2 0 0 8

128 pages, S14.95 ( h a r d c o v e r )

Sarah Schrank

320 pages, $25 (paperback)

A collection o f photographs of Slinkachu's

Philadelphia: University o f Pennsylvania Press

T h e first c o m p l e t e collection o f the writings

m i n i a t u r e street art scenes, w h i c h m i x s h a r p

256 pages, $39.95 (hardcover)

o f A m e r i c a n artist Agnes Denes, a pioneer o f

h u m o r with an edge of melancholy, involving

Challenging historical accounts that situate

the e n v i r o n m e n t a l art m o v e m e n t , w h o s e art

placing tiny hand-painted people o n corners,

t h e origins o f Los A n g e l e s as an art center in the 1960s, this title argues that artists a n d

involves ecological, cultural, a n d social issues

park benches, and the L o n d o n

a n d is o f t e n m o n u m e n t a l i n s c a l e . I n t h i s v o l -

and leaving t h e m to fend for themselves.

u m e , she investigates the physical and social

M u c h like B a n k s y ' s early graffiti w o r k ,

s i t e a s e a r l y a s t h e 1 9 1 0 s . It a l s o u n c o v e r s t h e

sciences, philosophy, mathematics, linguistics,

Slinkachu's creations mix the bustle, humor,

city's historic struggles for cultural expression

a n d m e l a n c h o l y o f city life a n d lie q u i e t l y in t h e

a n d creative space that are h i d d e n b e h i n d the

darker corners o f L o n d o n ' s streets w a i t i n g to

booster m y t h o l o g y o f Los Angeles.

psychology, art history, poetry, a n d m u s i c . THE LIGHTNING

Underground

civic leaders alike m a d e art a charged political

be discovered.

FIELD

Kenneth Baker

WALLS OF

EMPOWERMENT:

N e w H a v e n , CT: Yale U n i v e r s i t y Press, 2 0 0 9

SWOON

Chicana/o Indigenist Murals o f California

159 p a g e s , $35 ( h a r d c o v e r )

Swoon

Guisela Latorre

A t i m e l y essay, i n f o r m e d by art critic

N e w York: Deitch Projects, 2 0 0 8

A u s t i n : U n i v e r s i t y o f Texas Press, 2 0 0 8

Kenneth Baker's n u m e r o u s visits t o artist

6 4 pages, $25 (paperback)

324 pages, $27.95 (paperback)

W a l t e r D e M a r i a ' s i c o n i c Lightning

A m o n o g r a p h d o c u m e n t i n g street artist

Exploring three m a j o r hubs o f muralist activity

in s o u t h w e s t e r n N e w M e x i c o over t h e c o u r s e

Swoon's exhibitions f r o m 2005 to 2007,

i n C a l i f o r n i a w h e r e i n d i g e n o u s i m a g e r y is

o f t h e past 30 years. I n s p i r e d a n d c h a l l e n g e d

chronicling her fluid transition f r o m the

p r e v a l e n t , t h i s t i t l e is a c o m p r e h e n s i v e s t u d y

by the artwork, Baker speculates o n the h u m a n

s t r e e t s o f N e w Y o r k — w h e r e s h e is k n o w n

that celebrates an aesthetic seeking to

c o n d i t i o n , as w e l l as o n g h o s t s , a l i e n s , a n d t h e

for her w h e a t - p a s t e d cut-outs that get m o r e

e s t a b l i s h C h i c a n a / o s o c i o p o l i t i c a l i d e n t i t y in

essence of pilgrimage.

p o t e n t as t h e y a g e — t o t h e gallery s e t t i n g .

U.S. territory, w i t h o u t p r i v i l e g i n g n o n - p u b l i c

Field

(1977)

firmly

RECENT PUBLICATIONS L a t i n a / o art. T h i s title represents a crucial

UNSEEN

t u r n i n g p o i n t in t h e s t u d y o f t h e s e i c o n o g r a p h -

The Unpublished Works of Ana Mendieta

ic a r t i f a c t s , b l e n d i n g t h e p e r s p e c t i v e s o f a r t

Olga Viso

history and sociology with

firsthand

MENDIETA:

Jaume Plensa

The Grown Fountain

N e w York: Prestel, 2 0 0 8

accounts

3 0 4 pages, $75 ( h a r d c o v e r )

d r a w n f r o m artists' interviews.

This rich v o l u m e traces M e n d i e t a ' s early A GUIDE T O DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA

s t u d i e s as a n art s t u d e n t in I o w a ; t h e g e n e s i s

Nato T h o m p s o n , editor

o f her signature works; the archetypal female

N e w York: Creative T i m e Books, 2 0 0 8

f o r m s k n o w n as s i l u e t a s ; a n d p u b l i c art

2 2 4 p a g e s , $15 ( p a p e r b a c k )

projects, i n c l u d i n g o n e s b e i n g d e v e l o p e d at

A cultural reader that gathers m o r e than 100

the t i m e o f her tragic d e a t h in 1985. Inter-

artists, cultural critics, a n d activists t o reflect

spersed t h r o u g h o u t are revealing pages f r o m

on the historical roots and current manifesta-

M e n d i e t a ' s n o t e b o o k s : sketches, s h o p p i n g lists

tions o f d e m o c r a c y in the U n i t e d States. T h i s

for materials, recipes for g u n p o w d e r mixtures,

d o c u m e n t i n c l u d e s w r i t i n g a n d a r t w o r k by

and photographic source materials. Viso's

Liam Cillick, Sharon Hayes, Jenny Holzer, and

a c c o m p a n y i n g essay provides insights into

m a n y o t h e r s ; c o m p r e h e n s i v e essays by Yates

the forces that inspired and shaped the artist's

McKee, D o u g Ashford o f G r o u p Material, and

work, and shows h o w the genius o f Mendieta's

N a t o T h o m p s o n ; and interviews w i t h Critical

v i s i o n h a s s u r v i v e d its p h y s i c a l m a n i f e s t a t i o n s .

Art E n s e m b l e ' s Steve Kurtz, Rene Gabri a n d

THE CROWN

FOUNTAIN

j a u m e Plensa Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2 0 0 8 2 4 0 pages, $ 6 0 (hardcover) A c o m p r e h e n s i v e m o n o g r a p h o f artist Jaume P l e n s a ' s Crown Fountain

Ayreen Anastas, and Trevor Paglen.

in M i l l e n n i u m Park,

OUT OF NOW:

Chicago. Constructed between 1999 and 2004,

The Lifeworks ofTehching Hsieh

the piece instantly b e c a m e a popular public

SUPERLIGHT

Adrian Heathfield, Tehching Hsieh

attraction, featuring water cascading d o w n two

Steve Dietz, editor

C a m b r i d g e : M I T Press, 2 0 0 9

m o n u m e n t a l towers, a n d video o f the faces o f

San Jose: Z e r o i , 2 0 0 9

382 pages, $ 4 9 . 9 5 ( h a r d c o v e r )

1,000 Chicagoans w i t h various lighting effects.

336 p a g e s , $ 6 0 ( p a p e r b a c k )

A n extensive critical a c c o u n t o f Taiwanese-

Also includes an extensive chronology o f Plensa's multi-faceted oeuvre.

C h r o n i c l i n g t h e 2 0 0 6 a n d 2 0 0 8 01SJ B i e n n i a l ,

A m e r i c a n artist Tehching Hsieh's

this catalogue examines c o m p e l l i n g questions

separate one-year-long performances that

five

about whether today's technology can solve

w e r e u n p r e c e d e n t e d in their physical difficulty

C A S C O L A N D : Interventions in Public Space

t h e p r o b l e m s c a u s e d by p r e v i o u s i n n o v a t i o n s ,

o v e r e x t r e m e d u r a t i o n s a n d in t h e i r a b s o l u t e

Roel S h o e n m a k e r s a n d

w i t h a r t i s t s t a k i n g o n s u c h t o p i c s as t e r r o r i s m ,

c o n c e p t i o n o f art a n d life as s i m u l t a n e o u s

Michiel van Oosterhout, editors

colonialism, climate change, and inescapable

processes. Includes an intensive exchange with

Rotterdam: Episode Publishers, 2 0 0 8

poverty, i l l u m i n a t i n g s o m e o f t h e w e i g h t i e s t

t h e artist a n d a set o f letters f r o m l e a d i n g art

160 pages, € 2 4 . 5 0 (paperback)

issues o f our t i m e with a deft a n d often

t h e o r i s t s Peggy Phelan a n d Carol Becker, a n d

A c a t a l o g u e o f the m u l t i d i s c i p l i n a r y p u b l i c art

humorous touch.

artists M a r i n a A b r a m o v i c , Santiago Sierra, a n d

p r o j e c t led by D u t c h a r t i s t F i o n a d e Bell in D r i l l

T i m Etchells.

Hall, an area in the inner city o f J o h a n n e s b u r g , South Africa. The catalog chronicles the trans-

i j J A L L A N K A P R O W : A r t as Life Q-

Eva M e y e r - H e r m a n n , A n d r e w P e r c h u k ,

Stephanie Rosenthal, editors

CO D O U A L A I N T R A N S L A T I O N : A V i e w o f t h e C i t y C J a n d its Creative T r a n s f o r m i n g P o t e n t i a l s

Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2 0 0 8 4 0 8 p a g e s , $55 ( h a r d c o v e r )

g Lucia B a b i n a , M a r i l y n D o u a l a Bell, e d i t o r s CC R o t t e r d a m : E p i s o d e P u b l i s h e r s , 2 0 0 7

This richly illustrated v o l u m e d o c u m e n t s

five

d e c a d e s o f K a p r o w ' s life a n d w o r k . Its six essays range across his shifts f r o m painter to e n v i r o n m e n t a l artist to the inventor o f the H a p p e n i n g a n d t h e Activity, w h i l e its e x t e n s i v e c h r o n o l o g y features scores, letters, posters, photographs, and clippings, most drawn from

f o r m a t i o n o f the city's m o s t d a n g e r o u s z o n e s into fashion runways, public gardens, urban playgrounds, and even a bed and breakfast, s h o w i n g h o w the artist's w o r k successfully

256 pages, € 3 0 (paperback)

e n c o u r a g e d residents and artists alike to s h a p e

This s m a l l - f o r m a t b o o k collects t h e essays

and mobilize their o w n public spaces.

and stories o f the role o f art a n d public space in t h e m o d e r n W e s t A f r i c a n city o f D o u a l a ,

PUBLIC ART FOR PUBLIC S C H O O L S

bringing together cross-disciplinary analyses o f

Michele Cohen

D o u a l a t h a t seek t o g o b e y o n d p r e d i c t a b l e a n d

N e w York: M o n a c e l l i Press, 2 0 0 9

prejudicial views about African towns. Douala

2 4 0 pages, S50 (hardcover)

b e c o m e s an exciting e x a m p l e o f u s i n g art a n d

This v o l u m e celebrates the h u n d r e d s o f artists

culture to develop collective processes o f u r b a n

w h o h a v e p a r t i c i p a t e d in N e w Y o r k ' s P u b l i c A r t

c h a n g e in w h i c h artistic p r a c t i c e s e n g a g e a n d

for P u b l i c S c h o o l s p r o g r a m , a n d its r e m a r k a b l e

affect the cityscape t h r o u g h cultural projects

collection of m o r e than 1,500 artworks,

and site-specific art interventions.

a s s e m b l e d o v e r 1 5 0 y e a r s . It o f f e r s i m p o r t a n t

O N T H E WALL: Four Decades o f C o m m u n i t y

the school system, showing h o w architects and

Sculpture in Public Space

M u r a l s in N e w York City

artists can unite p r a g m a t i s m w i t h creativity.

Hein van Haaren, Rudi Oxenaar

Janet Braun-Reinitz, Jane W e i s s m a n

t h e A l l a n K a p r o w P a p e r s h e l d by t h e R e s e a r c h Library at t h e Getty Research Institute. T h i s extensive collection allows Kaprow's ephemeral w o r k s t o live o n , still s t r e t c h i n g t h e b o u n d a r i e s o f m o d e r n art.

examples o f public art t h r o u g h o u t the history o f A N D R E V O L T E N : S c u l p t u r e in Private Space,

Jackson: Univ. Press o f M i s s i s s i p p i , 2 0 0 9

W I T H LOVE F R O M

2 8 8 p a g e s , $35 ( p a p e r b a c k )

Essays o n a Collective A r t Practice

T h i s is t h e first c o m p r e h e n s i v e s u r v e y o f

H i g h l i g h t s N e w York City's m o s t significant

W e n d y Jacob, Laurie Palmer, John Ploof, e d i t o r s

Volten's 50-year b o d y o f w o r k , w h i c h success-

c o m m u n i t y murals that have energized the

C h i c a g o : W h i t e W a l l s , Inc., 2 0 0 8

fully integrated art, architecture, a n d t h e envi-

visual landscape since 1968, beautifying the

172 p a g e s , $ 2 5 ( p a p e r b a c k )

r o n m e n t . It f e a t u r e s n u m e r o u s

s t r e e t s , as w e l l as e d u c a t i n g c o m m u n i t i e s a n d

A presentation of the range of the Haha

in a n d o u t o f t h e N e t h e r l a n d s — a n d e x a m i n e s

m o t i v a t i n g r e s i d e n t s t o a c t i o n . In r e l a t i n g t h e

collective's p r o j e c t s s i n c e its i n c e p t i o n in

a variety o f subjects, i n c l u d i n g Volten's stylistic

m a n y fascinating stories behind the murals,

1988—including sculptural installations,

d e v e l o p m e n t over the years, his relationship to

the authors describe the interactions between

community-based projects, and video w o r k s —

the constructivist tradition, a n d his influence

artist and r e s i d e n t s — i n c l u d i n g the controver-

s h o w n in a n i n n o v a t i v e r a n g e o f l o c a t i o n s , a n d

o n s u c h A m e r i c a n a r t i s t s as D o n a l d J u d d ,

sies that m i g h t have led to t h e d e s t r u c t i o n o f

e x p l o r i n g s u c h t o p i c s as t e m p o r a l i t y , e v e r y d a y

Richard Serra, a n d Barnett N e w m a n .

several notable murals.

life, a n d t h e p l a c e o f c o l l a b o r a t i o n .

Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2 0 0 8 144 pages, J 6 o ( h a r d c o v e r ) English &

Dutch

photographs—

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HAHA:

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Subscribe/Advertise T h e A c ; A J is t h e U K ' s l e a d i n g p r o f e s s i o n a l r e s o u r c e f o r p u b l i c art p r o v i d i n g i n f o r m a t i o n a n d c o m m u n i c a t i o n s o n c o n t e m p o r a r y art c o m m i s s i o n s in t h e p u b l i c c o n t e x t i n v o l v i n g art, a r c h i t e c t u r e a n d u r b a n d e s i g n . Art o- Architecture Journal & C o n f e r e n c e P r o g r a m m e 2 0 0 9 A o A J 6 8 / 6 9 Genius Loci, p u b l i s h e d J u n e + Conference: Genius Loci. 1 8 t h S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 9 , U n i v e r s i t y o f E s s e x T h e G e n i u s Loci - Capital of C u l t u r e p r o g r a m m e e m b e d d e d artists within t h e p l a n n i n g : p r o c e s s , F u n d e d t h r o u g h t h e P u b l i c A r t C o m m o n F u n d a n d f i n a n c e d b y n e w b u i l d i n g .. d e v e l o p m e n t in E s s e x . In p a r t n e r s h i p w i t h E s s e x C o u n t y C o u n c i l / C o m m i s s i o n s E a s t . . http://sketchbook.fhe-edi.co.uk/ Ac~AJ 70/71 British C e r a m i c s Biennial: C e r a m i c Design in the Public Realm published September + Conference: Ceramic Design in the Public Realm 9 t h / 1 0 t h O c t o b e r 2 0 0 9 T h e Potteries M u s e u m & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent T h e B r i t i s h C e r a m i c s B i e n n i a l f e a t u r e s G u e r i l l a C e r a m i c s , w i t h c o m m i s s i o n e d art / c e r a m i c s in p u b l i c a n d u r b a n a r e a s o f t h e P o t t e r i e s . In p a r t n e r s h i p w i t h t h e 1st B r i t i s h C e r a m i c s Biennial. Stoke-on-Trent. 3rd O c t o b e r - 13th D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 9 www.brifishceramicsbiennial.com Conference: EXPO: Art & Sound & Environment. Leeds. 26th-29th September

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Live t h e A r t . Love t h e Place. ScottsdalePublicArt.org

NEWS

IN-SPIRE-ATION Inspired since 2006 by the character o f the f o r e s t in San F r a n c i s c o ' s P r e s i d i o , artist A n d y

I N D U S T R I A L PARK FACE-LIFT

G o l d s w o r t h y felt c o m p e l l e d t o create a series

Eight giant oil tanks in S o u t h Portland, M a i n e ,

o f sculptures that celebrate the site's u n i q u e

will s o o n get a face-lift, t h a n k s t o the M a i n e

g e o l o g i c a l a n d s o c i a l history. In t h e fall o f

Center for Creativity. Several years ago, the

c o u n t r i e s . T h i s fall t h e y selected a w i n n e r —

2008, u s i n g unhealthy M o n t e r e y cypress trees

center, a n o n p r o f i t organization, l a u n c h e d a

V e n e z u e l a n a r t i s t J a i m e G i l i , w h o is e a g e r

t h a t h a d b e e n felled as part o f an extensive

p r o j e c t t o p u t art o n t h e sides a n d t o p s o f t h e

to begin work on the 261,000-square-foot

reforestation project, Goldsworthy created

oil tanks, w h i c h are visible f r o m Interstate 295,

c a n v a s . H i s w i n n i n g s u b m i s s i o n is a d e s i g n

Spire, t h e first o f t h r e e w o o d e n s p i r e s r e a c h i n g

o v e r h e a d airplanes, t h e local hospital, a n d

o f triangular f o r m s in pastel colors. T h e

Art All A r o u n d put o u t a request for p r o p o s a l s a n d r e c e i v e d 5 6 0 e n t r i e s f r o m 73

as h i g h as 1 0 0 feet. If s u p p o r t a n d a p p r o v a l s

b o a t s o n t h e Fore River. T h e p r o j e c t , c a l l e d

o r g a n i z a t i o n is s t i l l w o r k i n g t o r a i s e t h e r e s t

f o l l o w t h i s first m o n u m e n t a l e f f o r t , h e h o p e s

Art All A r o u n d , a i m s to add visual interest to

of the m o n e y necessary to complete the

to return to build other spires and c o m p a n i o n

an industrial area—and help make Portland a

p a i n t i n g s , a n d t h e project d o e s n o t yet have a

w o r k s . "I like t h e s e n s e o f t h e spire b e i n g

n a t i o n a l leader in p u b l i c art.

start date. Visit

mainecenterforcreativity.org.

s o m e t h i n g t h a t is e n d i e s s b e l o w , " G o l d s w o r t h y t o l d t h e New York Times l a s t N o v e m b e r , " a s i f it's d r a w i n g f o r m a n d life a n d m o v e m e n t

from

the ground below."

CAN NEEDS A NEW

HOME

A r t in t h e Public Interest (API), a n o n p r o f i t

API has been C A N ' s organizational

organization that serves the i n f o r m a t i o n

s p o n s o r for t h e past 10 years, but n o w h o p e s

co-exist w i t h — t h e n e w trees p l a n t e d at t h e

needs o f artists and organizations w h o bring

to rehouse the organization to ensure a stable

Presidio, originally built as a S p a n i s h fort in

the arts together with c o m m u n i t y and social

f u t u r e f o r it. A P I is s e e k i n g a n o r g a n i z a t i o n w i t h

t h e 1 770s a n d later seized by t h e U.S. A r m y

c o n c e r n s , is s e e k i n g a n e w h o m e f o r t h e

the resources and c o m m i t m e n t to help C A N

in 1846. A public trust t o o k over t h e property

C o m m u n i t y A r t s N e t w o r k ( C A N ) . C A N is a n

e v o l v e a n d e x p a n d . I t is a l s o c o m m i t t e d t o

10 years ago, w i t h t h e m a n d a t e t o preserve

international r e s o u r c e — w h o s e h o m e base

keeping CAN's founders, Linda Burnham and

t h e l a n d a n d d e v e l o p it f o r p u b l i c u s e . T h e

is i t s w e b s i t e ,

Steven Durland, involved during the transition

Spire is a l s o i n t e n d e d t o w e l c o m e — - a n d

www.communityarts.net—that

project's relationship with the living trees

focuses o n the w o r k o f artists and their

process, w h i c h m a y take a year or m o r e . API

w i l l t r a n s f o r m t h r o u g h t i m e : A t first Spire w i l l

c o m m u n i t y partners "that actively p r o m o t e the

has p l e d g e d t o m a k e t h e RFP a n d t r a n s i t i o n process a s m o o t h one.

dominate the landscape and dwarf the young

a r t s as p a r t o f e d u c a t i o n , p o l i t i c a l life, h e a l t h

trees, b u t as t h e n e w p l a n t i n g s grow, they will

recovery, prisoner rehabilitation, e n v i r o n m e n t a l

overtake the m a n m a d e object and become the

protection, c o m m u n i t y regeneration, electronic

new focal point. This transitory quality pleases

communication, and more."

Goldsworthy. "We're always w a n t i n g to hold o n t o t h i n g s a s t h e y a r e , " h e t o l d t h e Times.

"But

t h a t ' s n o t t h e n a t u r e o f l i f e o r t h i n g s , is i t ? " A related e x h i b i t i o n , G o l d s w o r t h y at

T h e s i t e is a t r e a s u r e t r o v e o f c r i t i c i s m

The API board hopes that relocation will foster long-term sustainability, succession p l a n n i n g , a n d field g r o w t h f o r C A N . C u r r e n t l y , API has three strong contenders to take over

a n d d o c u m e n t a t i o n a b o u t c o m m u n i t y art,

C A N . I t is h o l d i n g m e e t i n g s n o w t o f u r t h e r

d e f i n e d as b r o a d l y as p o s s i b l e . T h e w e b s i t e

assess each o r g a n i z a t i o n a n d ask detailed

p r o m o t e s the social benefit and intellectual

questions about their planned stewardship o f

t h e P r e s i d i o , h a s b e e n e x t e n d e d t o July 19 at

value o f c o m m u n i t y - b a s e d arts by acting

C A N . C A N has o p e r a t i n g m o n e y t h r o u g h the

Building 49, adjacent to the Presidio Officer's

as a p o r t a l f o r i n f o r m a t i o n e x c h a n g e ,

e n d o f 2 0 0 9 , s o t h e A P I p l a n s t o t a k e its t i m e in

Club o n the M a i n Post. Photo courtesy The Presidio

Trust.

research, critical dialogue, n e t w o r k i n g a m o n g

m a k i n g a decision. Meanwhile, API w e l c o m e s

practitioners, and training information.

c o n t i n u e d advice, support, input, and w i s d o m .

NEWS BEST PRACTICES

SHOE

The Public Art Network, a p r o g r a m o f

T h e shoe-hurling Iraqi journalist

A m e r i c a n s for t h e Arts, p u b l i s h e d its " B e s t

al-Zeidi has stirred u p m o r e than s t r o n g

Practices" w h i t e paper for professionals in the

emotions: His action has inspired a public

field

o f p u b l i c art, f o c u s i n g o n R e q u e s t s For

Q u a l i f i c a t i o n s ( R F Q s ) , R e q u e s t s For P r o p o s a l s

IMMEMORIAL Muntadhar

a r t w o r k in S a d d a m H u e s s e i n ' s h o m e t o w n o f Tikrit. Baghdad-based artist Laith al-Amari has

(RFPs), c o p y r i g h t , a n d o t h e r critical i s s u e s in

m e m o r i a l i z e d al-Zeidi's act by c r e a t i n g a sofa-

the

field.

sized sculpture of a giant copper-coated shoe

In a d d i t i o n , E c o a r t s p a c e c o - f o u n d e r

with a tree g r o w i n g out o f the t o p a n d resting

P a t r i c i a W a t t s is f a c i l i t a t i n g G r e e n P u b l i c A r t

o n a base s c u l p t e d t o l o o k like

P r o j e c t s : A r t i s t S e l e c t i o n Best Practices, as

T h e visually eccentric s c u l p t u r e w a s u n v e i l e d in

part o f A m e r i c a n s for the Arts's 2009 A n n u a l

late January.

C o n v e n t i o n , " R e n e w a b l e Resources: Arts in

flowing

cloth.

A l - A m a r i h a s s a i d t h a t t h e s h o e is " n o t a

S u s t a i n a b l e C o m m u n i t i e s , " June 1 8 - 2 0 in

p o l i t i c a l w o r k , " a n d t h a t i t is m e a n t t o h o n o r

Seattle. T h i s r o u n d t a b l e session will w o r k

the folk hero reputation o f the shoe-slinging

toward developing guiding principles for

journalist. H e hopes the sculpture will "be a

recruiting and selecting artists for " g r e e n "

s o u r c e o f p r i d e f o r all I r a q i s . "

p u b l i c art p r o j e c t s a n d e x a m i n e h o w a d m i n -

In A r a b c u l t u r e , t h r o w i n g a s h o e is a s i g n

istrators can facilitate the c o m b i n a t i o n o f

o f great c o n t e m p t , and the image o f al-Zeidi

public art w i t h sustainable design. Joining

t o s s i n g his s h o e s at P r e s i d e n t B u s h h a d a

W a t t s are V a u g h n Bell o f S e a t t l e D O T , a n d

powerful resonance around the M u s l i m world.

Rebecca Ansert, civic art project m a n a g e r for

N o w the shoe sculpture will carry the symbol-

the Los Angeles C o u n t y Arts C o m m i s s i o n .

ism of the event through to future generations.

Both these statements o f best practice

M e a n w h i l e , al-Zeidi has been sentenced to

will help i m p r o v e and bring unifying principles

three years in p r i s o n o n charges o f a s s a u l t i n g

to the c o m m i s s i o n i n g and creation of public

a foreign leader—later reduced to o n e year a n d

art—green or otherwise.

likely t o be a p p e a l e d .

VAN BRUGGEN M A D E HER

MARK

Early 2 0 0 9 b r o u g h t t h e p a s s i n g o f o n e o f p u b l i c art's s e m i n a l , if n o t always p r o m i n e n t , figures:

critic, art historian, curator, a n d

sculptor Coosje van Bruggen. A well-respected critic a n d s c h o l a r — especially within academic circles—van Bruggen was best k n o w n publicly for the collaborative sculptures she created with her h u s b a n d , p o p artist Claes O l d e n b u r g . The s c u l p t u r e s , w h i c h t u r n e d everyday o b j e c t s like a flashlight, trowel, bowling pins, or a collar and bow into oversized, brightly-colored versions o f themselves, n o w grace parks, college c a m p u s e s , c o n c e r t halls, a n d government buildings across the country and t h e w o r l d . T h e pieces are at o n c e s w e e t a n d m i s c h i e v o u s , w h i m s i c a l a n d wry. S o m e critics have refused to recognize van B r u g g e n ' s role in t h e creation o f the sculptures, instead giving credit to Oldenburg. But the two, w h o did their

first

collaboration

in 1 9 7 6 a n d m a r r i e d in 1 9 7 7 , i n s i s t e d t h a t it was an equal partnership. They w o u l d conceive ideas together, then O l d e n b u r g w o u l d d r a w T h e 1 5 SunFlou/ers,

the sketches and van Bruggen would focus on

w h i c h are under

construction, will generate about 30 kilowatts o f solar energy to be reverse-metered into

colors and location. Van Bruggen received a graduate

the grid for credit and used to offset night

d e g r e e in art h i s t o r y at Rijks U n i v e r s i t y o f

lighting costs. T h e project, d e s i g n e d by M a g s

G r o n i n g e n , T h e N e t h e r l a n d s , in 1967. She

H a r r i e s a n d L a j o s H e d e r , is b e i n g s p o n s o r e d

t h e n b e c a m e an a s s i s t a n t c u r a t o r at Stedelijk

by b o t h t h e Catellus D e v e l o p m e n t

Company

M u s e u m in A m s t e r d a m w h e r e she w o r k e d

a n d the City o f A u s t i n . T h e e n e r g y - c o n s c i o u s

w i t h early e n v i r o n m e n t a l artists a n d

c i t y o f A u s t i n h o p e s t h e SunFlowers

o f the Dutch avant-garde. She maintained

will be a

members

p r o m i n e n t v i s u a l s y m b o l o f its c o m m i t m e n t t o

an i n d e p e n d e n t career even after m a r r y i n g

cleaner energy and a greener future.

and collaborating with Oldenburg, serving

A bike path will w i n d t h r o u g h the sculpted

as s e n i o r c r i t i c in t h e s c u l p t u r e d e p a r t m e n t

S U N F L O W E R S P O W E R E D BY S U N S H I N E

solar collectors, but residents o f the new

at Yale University, c u r a t i n g c o n t e m p o r a r y art

A u s t i n , T e x a s , is g o i n g t o g e t a l i t t l e b r i g h t e r

d e v e l o p m e n t , bikers, a n d pedestrians are not

e x h i b i t i o n s , a n d w r i t i n g f o r Artforum

with the help o f photovoltaic solar collector

the only o n e s w h o will get to enjoy the

Her collaborative work with Oldenburg

panels s h a p e d like

The solar panels were c u s t o m - m a d e to have a

flowers.

T h e project has

flowers.

magazine.

has been the subject o f a l m o s t 40 exhibitions.

humble beginnings—a developer creating a

blue crystalline surface t o a p p e a r like a h u g e

mixed-use, LEED-certified space a l o n g t h e I-35

patch of flowers. This massive blue flower

her h o m e in Los Angeles after a battle w i t h

highway wanted to mask the loading docks that

g a r d e n w i l l b e v i s i b l e t o m o t o r i s t s o n 1-35.

metastatic breast cancer. She w a s 66.

ran along o n e edge o f the n e w d e v e l o p m e n t .

A n o t h e r s p e c i a l filter w i l l b e a p p l i e d t o t h e

Photo of Claes Oldenburg

But instead of covering up the docks with

l i g h t s u n d e r n e a t h e a c h p a n e l , g i v i n g t h e l i g h t it

Bruggen installing

any old thing, t h e developers decided o n an

t h r o w s a hint o f blue so n i g h t t i m e strollers can

N o t e s , in Middlesbrough,England

earth-friendly, energy-generating,

e n j o y t h e g a r d e n c o l o r s , t o o . Illustration

and

September

photo of the project in construction

artists.

courtesy Oldenburg

p r o d u c i n g piece o f p u b l i c art.

light-at-night-

by the

Van B r u g g e n d i e d January 10, 2 0 0 9 , at

and Coosje van

their sculpture,

1 4 , 1 9 9 3 , b y Hazel van Bruggen

Bottle of on Call, Studio.

109

NEWS h a v e t o w a r d e a c h o t h e r . G e r m a n y is d e p i c t e d as a m a z e o f a u t o b a h n s t h a t r e s e m b l e a s w a s t i k a . B u l g a r i a is f i l l e d i n b y a r o w o f g r i m y s q u a t t o i l e t s . R o m a n i a is a D r a c u l a t h e m e p a r k . T h e w h o l e o f F r a n c e is o n s t r i k e . B r i t a i n , i n a n o d t o i t s p e r c e i v e d E u r o p h o b i a , is s i m p l y missing from the artwork. U p r o a r ensued. Bulgaria l o d g e d an official c o m p l a i n t w i t h the Czech a m b a s s a d o r in Sofia, a n d t h e Bulgarian representative to the EU called the r e p r e s e n t a t i o n an " o f f e n s e to national dignity." Other countries were similarly m i f f e d . O n t o p o f that, Cerny, w h o has a l o n g history o f creating provocative art, p r e s e n t e d t h e p r o j e c t as t h e w o r k o f 2 7 different artists f r o m the m e m b e r countries U N I T E D WE STEREOTYPE

(the only artists to work on the project were

P u b l i c a r t is u s u a l l y c o m m i s s i o n e d f o r

Cerny a n d t w o o f his friends). H e even created

uplifting reasons: to beautify, celebrate,

websites and quotes for s o m e o f the fake

honor, invigorate, revitalize, or m e m o r i a l i z e ,

artists. T h e Czech g o v e r n m e n t did not k n o w

T h e s p i r i t o f t h e c o m m i s s i o n f o r Entropa, a

about the ruse until the week the sculpture

172-square-foot, eight-ton sculpture depicting

was unveiled.

—

was no different: The Czech government

by t h e s c u l p t u r e , b u t s o m e c r i t i c s r e g a r d t h e

c o m m i s s i o n e d Czech artist David Cerny to

p i e c e as a b r i l l i a n t c o m m e n t a r y o n t h e o f t

c r e a t e t h e p i e c e t o m a r k t h e b e g i n n i n g o f its

hush-hushed prejudices and psychological

the 27 European U n i o n member-states,

U m p t e e n feathers have been ruffled

s i x - m o n t h presidency o f the EU. T h e g u i d i n g

borders that can divide a "united" people.

principle for the creation o f the project (and for

A l s o , t h e y t h i n k t h e p i e c e is a b u s t - u p . S o d o e s

the Czech Republic's presidency which began

Cerny. H e t o l d t h e m e d i a in January t h a t he

in January) w a s "a E u r o p e w i t h o u t borders."

" w a n t e d t o f i n d o u t i f E u r o p e is a b l e t o l a u g h

1 1 0

P e r h a p s t h e m a n d a t e should h a v e b e e n

a t i t s e l f . " W h i l e t h e s c u l p t u r e is s t i l l o n d i s p l a y

"a Europe w i t h o u t stereotypes." T h e finished

in B r u s s e l s ( t h e C z e c h g o v e r n m e n t let it stay

piece, w h i c h w a s i n s t a l l e d in t h e E u r o p e a n

up to avoid controversy over free-speech

C o u n c i l b u i l d i n g in B r u s s e l s , B e l g i u m , in

c e n s o r s h i p ) , t h e " l a u g h i n g at i t s e l f ' p o r t i o n

m i d - J a n u a r y , " c e l e b r a t e s " E u r o p e a n u n i t y by

i s — a s y e t — n o w h e r e to be f o u n d .

highlighting the stereotypes m e m b e r countries

Photo courtesy the

NATURAL HABITAT H o w m u c h — a n d what type o f — s p a c e does an a r t i s t n e e d t o c r e a t e art? In an era w h e n t h e liveliest arts n e i g h b o r h o o d s are o f t e n t h e m o s t e x p e n s i v e t o live in ( a n d , paradoxically, are often the s a m e neighborhoods that were built u p a d e c a d e o r m o r e a g o by t h e t y p e s o f y o u n g artists w h o c a n n o l o n g e r a f f o r d t o live in t h e m ) , t h a t q u e s t i o n is r e l e v a n t a n d p r e s s i n g — a n d it h a s p r o v o k e d a n e w a r t p r o j e c t i n s e a r c h of answers. Artist S i m o n Draper, in c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h

artist.

ecoartspace, a nonprofit organization that fosters the creation of works that inspire a sustainable relationship with the natural world, i n v i t e d IO artists t o p a r t i c i p a t e in a site-specific, c o l l a b o r a t i v e e x h i b i t i o n p r o j e c t at S p i r e S t u d i o s i n B e a c o n , N e w Y o r k , c a l l e d Habitat for

Artists.

I n Habitat for Artists, e a c h p a r t i c i p a t i n g a r t i s t created a w o r k i n g s t u d i o o u t o f a small six-foot by s i x - f o o t s t r u c t u r e , o r t u r n e d t h e s t r u c t u r e itself into the w o r k o f art (or b o t h ) . T h e spaces are m e a n t t o incite q u e s t i o n s a b o u t m a r g i n a l spaces, the proper a m o u n t o f space required t o be creative, a n d t h e c r e a t i o n o f ideas in nontraditionally "artsy" locations. The small sheds have simple doors, w i n d o w s , or skylights, and m o s t o f the materials used t o build t h e sheds are reclaimed o r recycled. A r t i s t s w o r k e d in a n d o n t h e sheds prior to the spaces o p e n i n g to the p u b l i c o n M a y 17. T h e artists will c o n t i n u e

S P R U C I N G U P T H E S A N A N T O N I O RIVER As part o f t h e city's river i m p r o v e m e n t project,

landscaping, pocket parks, educational and

t h e S a n A n t o n i o R i v e r F o u n d a t i o n is p l a n n i n g

cultural venues, and scenic overlooks that will

to put a new shine on and around eight bridges

e n h a n c e t h e river. W h e n c o m p l e t e , t h e San

t h a t cross t h e San A n t o n i o River by a d o r n i n g

A n t o n i o River Park will be t h e largest linear

t h e m w i t h o r i g i n a l p u b l i c art.

p a r k in t h e U n i t e d States.

Phase o n e o f t h e several-year revital-

Philadelphia-based D o n a l d Lipski, w h o

ization project has a total budget o f $2.2

is k n o w n f o r m a k i n g s c u l p t u r e s w i t h f o u n d

million and will involve eight artists w o r k i n g

objects, will fashion a school o f seven-foot-long

o n 11 i n d i v i d u a l b r i d g e p r o j e c t s . A r t i s t s

longear sunfish, w h i c h are native t o t h e San

w e r e c h o s e n in t h e fall a n d are w o r k i n g o n

A n t o n i o R i v e r , t o g o u n d e r t h e 1-35 o v e r p a s s .

their installations now. (Phase t w o will entail

O t h e r participants include British artist M a r t i n

larger art p r o j e c t s u n d e r w r i t t e n by c o r p o r a t e

R i c h m a n , w e l l - k n o w n for his colorful, g l o w i n g

s p o n s o r s . ) T h e San A n t o n i o River F o u n d a t i o n

sculptures and installations, and legendary

is c o m m i t t e d t o r a i s i n g $ 5 0 m i l l i o n t o a d d

s o u n d s c u l p t o r Bill F o n t a n a .

a m e n i t i e s s u c h as m o r e p u b l i c art,

Photo courtesy the artist and Calerie

w o r k i n g in t h e m t h r o u g h S e p t e m b e r . T h e s h e d s as w e l l as t h e a r t w o r k s i n s i d e w i l l be available f o r sale, w i t h a 10 p e r c e n t d o n a t i o n g o i n g t o e c o a r t s p a c e . L e a r n m o r e at w w w . h a b i t a t f o r a r t i s t s . b l o g s p o t . c o m . Photo courtesy Mamie

Hilisley, Habitat for Artists a[ ecoartspace.

Send y o u r latest public art N E W S and R E C E N T PROJECTS to: office@ForecastPublicArt.org S u b m i s s i o n r e v i e w is o n g o i n g .

Lelong.

NEWS IRAQ TALKS BACK British artist Jeremy Deller has organized a t r a v e l i n g , c r o s s - c o u n t r y U.S. t o u r all a b o u t Iraq. S p o n s o r e d by C r e a t i v e T i m e , t h e T u r n e r Prize-winning artist l a u n c h e d his roving, o p e n - e n d e d d i s c u s s i o n at t h e N e w M u s e u m in M a n h a t t a n in February. H e invited journalists, Iraqi refugees, soldiers, a n d scholars t o have one-on-one conversations with visitors about their m e m o r i e s o f Iraq. Deller a n d his t e a m t h e n hit t h e r o a d in a n RV, p u l l i n g a f l a t b e d c a r r y i n g t h e r e m n a n t s o f a car d e s t r o y e d in a B a g h d a d explosion, s t o p p i n g in p u b l i c sites a n d cities a c r o s s the c o u n t r y — f r o m Chicago to Los Angeles. Neither pro- nor anti-war, Deller w a n t s to b r i n g p e o p l e together, far f r o m m e d i a - s a t u r a t e d r e p o r t s a n d o p i n i o n s : " I t h i n k it w i l l b r i n g o u t a l o t o f e m o t i o n , b e c a u s e finally y o u g e t t o h e a r a b o u t it f r o m a real p e r s o n . " To f o l l o w t h e t o u r , visit www.conversationsaboutiraq.org.

E N G L A N D PONIES UP

pPublicEarth W H E R E I N T H E W O R L D IS P U B L I C A R T ? D o y o u w a n t t o find p u b l i c a r t a n y w h e r e i n the world? N o w you can. PublicEarth, a new online m a p p i n g tool that radically simplifies finding

and sharing information about

p l a c e s , is p a r t n e r i n g w i t h F o r e c a s t P u b l i c A r t ( p u b l i s h e r o f Public Art Review) t o c r e a t e a unique treasure map. F o u n d e d in 2 0 0 8 t o h e l p p e o p l e

find

a n d share rich i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t places, PublicEarth has already m a p p e d millions o f locations and offers structured descriptions

For h u n d r e d s o f years, a p r a n c i n g w h i t e h o r s e

represent both the revitalization o f north Kent

has been the s y m b o l o f the county o f Kent

and the growth of London.

in E n g l a n d . N o w t h a t s y m b o l w i l l b e c o m e a

Planning and permissions alone could

33 t i m e s life-size s c u l p t u r e o f a w h i t e h o r s e

take u p t o 12 m o n t h s , a n d t h e r e c e s s i o n m a y

s t a n d i n g o n all f o u r h o o v e s . T h e h o r s e is t h e

limit access to financing, but organizers o f the

design of former Turner Prize-winner Mark

project h o p e t o have t h e statue in place for t h e

Wallinger. His proposal was chosen f r o m a

2012 L o n d o n O l y m p i c s . T h e project has been

s h o r t list o f three.

called t h e "Angel o f the S o u t h , " in c o m p a r i s o n

T h e h o r s e w a s c o m m i s s i o n e d as part o f

t o A n t o n y G o r m l e y ' s s c u l p t u r e , Angel of the

the Ebbsfleet L a n d m a r k Project, an under-

North,

taking o f Eurostar, L o n d o n & Continental

underway, local residents are reacting

Railways a n d Land Securities, t h e developers o f

to the project with a mix o f curiosity and

E b b s f l e e t Valley. T h e

a m u s e m e n t . O n e resident, Jeff Halls, t o l d t h e

finished

s c u l p t u r e will be

in G a t e s h e a d . As c o n s t r u c t i o n gets

close t o E u r o s t a r ' s i n t e r n a t i o n a l s t a t i o n a n d , at

Guardian,

a h e i g h t o f 1 6 4 feet, it w i l l l o o k o v e r all o f t h e

place look a bit better, I s u p p o s e I ' m for it."

n o r t h K e n t l a n d s c a p e . T h e h o r s e is m e a n t t o

Rendering courtesy Futurecity

"Anything that's done to make the Ltd.

o f each point, route or region. N o w Forecast P u b l i c A r t is c u r a t i n g a n d r e c o m m e n d i n g public art locations for PublicEarth users.

ARCTIC EXHIBIT

" W e are e n c o u r a g i n g the creation o f

Protect 7"7 is a n o n g o i n g a r t p r o j e c t c o n c e i v e d

public art c o n t e n t o n this 'wikipedia o f places,'

by B e l g i a n artist W i m Tellier. Tellier c r e a t e d six

says Jack Becker, e x e c u t i v e d i r e c t o r o f F o r e c a s t

large p h o t o collages, o n e for each inhabited

P u b l i c A r t . P u b l i c E a r t h is b u i l t w i t h ' w i k i '

continent. H e photographed more than 4,500

tools, e m p o w e r i n g and providing users with

children, collaged the individual photos o f

an o r g a n i z e d f r a m e w o r k t o collaborate a n d

c h i l d r e n t o g e t h e r (by c o n t i n e n t ) , a n d o v e r l a i d

discuss shared interests and locations.

each individual continent-collage w i t h a large

"Whenever I want to find information a b o u t a n e w city, t h e b i g s e a r c h e n g i n e s

p h o t o o f a naked elderly person sunbathing. In early February, all six o v e r s i z e p h o t o

just gave m e businesses and restaurants,"

collages (which together weigh three tons)

said D u n c a n McCall, o n e o f the f o u n d e r s

w e r e t r a n s p o r t e d by s h i p t o A n t a r c t i c a . ( T h e

of PublicEarth. "I w a n t e d to be able to

journey to Antarctica took over two months).

find

other interesting things to d o — w h e r e could

T h e c o l l a g e s w e r e i n s t a l l e d in f r o n t o f P r i n c e s s

I go for a walk, see s o m e historic buildings

E l i s a b e t h S t a t i o n in A n t a r c t i c a f o r 10 d a y s in

or an i n t e r e s t i n g bit o f s c u l p t u r e ? W e created

early February a n d aerial p h o t o g r a p h s w e r e

P u b l i c E a r t h t o be t h e o n e s o u r c e for e v e r y t h i n g

taken o f the snowy scene. T h e installation was

t h a t is i n t e r e s t i n g a b o u t w h e r e y o u a r e r i g h t

o n e o f t h e largest p h o t o g r a p h y exhibits in t h e

now, or where you're going to go."

w o r l d a n d t h e first o f i t s k i n d i n A n t a r c t i c a .

P u b l i c E a r t h is f r e e a n d a v a i l a b l e o n t h e Internet t o d a y — a n d will s o o n be accessible

In April, t h e installation traveled t o A n t w e r p w h e r e it b e c a m e a c c e s s i b l e t o t h e

on mobile phones and GPS devices. D e m a n d

g e n e r a l p u b l i c . Later t h i s year, t h e i n s t a l l a t i o n

f o r h a n d h e l d c o n t e n t a b o u t p u b l i c places, says

will be sent t o N e w York. Prints o f t h e

B e c k e r , is o n t h e r i s e , a n d i t h a s " u n l i m i t e d

p h o t o g r a p h s (limited to just t w o editions each)

potential for deepening the experience o f

as w e l l as p r i n t s o f p h o t o s f r o m t h e e x h i b i t s

a p p r e c i a t i n g a n d i n t e r p r e t i n g public art

in A n t w e r p a n d N e w York w i l l be a v a i l a b l e f o r

w o r l d w i d e . " To explore the site for yourself,

a m e r e 2 5 , 0 0 0 e u r o s e a c h a t t h e Protect 7"7

visit w w w . p u b l i c e a r t h . c o m , and search for

website: www.protect77.com.

"public art" anywhere on the map.

Photos courtesy the

artist.

FIREFORM Graphic

Tile

*•

Fireform GraphicTile is a n a l l - n e w g r a p h i c m e d i u m c o m b i n i n g Winsor Fireform's w o r l d - r e n o w n e d p o r c e l a i n e n a m e l i m a g i n g and custom color matching technology with traditional c e r a m i c , p o r c e l a i n , glass a n d s t e e l tile. W e p r o u d l y o f f e r t i l e i n a n y c o l o r , a n y g r a p h i c , f o r a l i f e t i m e ! Call800.643.3i8i 36"

A n y Color 3 6 " x 5 4 " m u r a l c o m p r i s e d o f six 1 8 " x 1 8 " c e r a m i c tiles p r o d u c e d u s i n g F i r e f o r m G r a p h i c Tile's p r o p r i e t a r y D i r e c t E n a m e l I m a g i n g process.

For A Lifetime 3401 M o t t m a n Road SW T u m w a t e r' , W A 9 8 5 1 2

360.786.8200

• L i f e t i m e exterior n o - f a d e warranty

fax 360.786.6631 sales@fireform.com

M A D E IN

—

USA

Public Art Master

PA"

Project

Planning

Management

Program

Development

Sustainable public art requires partnership.

p h o t o by Kevin Buchanan

C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s to Cliff Garten Studio o n t h e c o m p l e t i o n o f Avenue of Light Emily Blumenfeld + Meridith

a n installation of six m o n u m e n t a l lighted stainless steel sculptures

PO Box 23167

llYJiH FORT

W O R T H

PUBLIC

St. L o u i s , M O

McKinley 63156

tel: 3 1 4 664.5902 fax: 3 1 4 6 6 4 . 5 9 0 8 e: a r t @ v i a p a r t n e r s h i p . c o m

web:

www.viapartnership.com

ART

w w w . f w p u b l i c a r t . o r g

M O S A I C

A R T

F A B R I C A T O R S

MOSAIKA A R T

D E S I G N

www.mosaikadesign.com 514.286.0990 or

Jun K a n e k o Water Plaza

Chris Doyle The Moons

K a n s a s City, Missouri

W o p o Holup The River

Municipal Art C o m m i s s i o n

E l l e n Driscoll Pro Patria Mori

1.888.870.7476

Alice Aycock Strange Attractor for Kansas City

www.kcmo.org/cimo.nsf/web/art

U.S. RECENT PROJECTS

F E A T U R E D PROJECT by Tiffany

Barber

Community

it is

constituted

is an intensive term, meaning by interactions

place or geographical

rather than

physical

boundaries.

- Edgar Arceneaux Artist and Director o f Watts H o u s e Project In S e p t e m b e r 2008, t h e Los A n g e l e s

generates a physical and social infrastructure

is s e t t i n g a n e w p r e c e d e n t f o r c o n t e m p o r a r y

for creativity, catalyzes artistic p r o d u c t i o n , a n d

art a n d a r t - m a k i n g practice. T h e project's

neighborhood s u r r o u n d i n g the historic

e s t a b l i s h e s p a r t n e r s h i p s t h a t c a n lead t o real

significance pushes past the current p a r a d i g m s

Watts Towers was officially reintroduced

s o l u t i o n s , h o p e , a n d c h a n g e . T h e i d e a is t o p a i r

o f community-sited work. Sidestepping the

as an i n d e p e n d e n t , a r t i s t - d r i v e n u r b a n

artists, architects, and designers with residents

pitfalls o f " p u b l i c art," the project instead

r e v i t a l i z a t i o n p r o j e c t . Rick L o w e l a u n c h e d

to imagine and execute aesthetic and structural

c o n s t r u e s t h e t e r m community

t h e W A T T S H O U S E P R O J E C T in 1 9 9 6 as

i m p r o v e m e n t s to each of the properties

d e s i g n a t i o n t h a t fixes a n i n s i d e r - o u t s i d e r

part o f the M u s e u m o f C o n t e m p o r a r y Art's

adjacent t o t h e Watts Towers. In t a n d e m w i t h

d i a l e c t i c a n d m a k e s it i m p o s s i b l e t o p r o d u c e

U n c o m m o n Sense exhibition. Lowe, w h o

t h e s e p r o g r a m s a n d g o a l s , Watts House Project

m e a n i n g f u l e f f e c t s . Watts House Project

founded a similar neighborhood-specific

is c e n t e r e d o n s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s h i p s b o l s t e r e d

traverses the divide between theory and

r e s p o n s e , Project Row Houses, i n t h e h i s t o r i c

by t h e c h e m i s t r y a n d s y n e r g y b e t w e e n

praxis, a n d creates a p l a t f o r m for renewed

T h i r d W a r d n e i g h b o r h o o d o f H o u s t o n , Texas,

participants.

w a s d r a w n t o W a t t s b e c a u s e o f its r i c h c u l t u r a l

as a l o o s e

m o m e n t s o f m e a n i n g a n d s o l i d a r i t y f o r its

Since the l a u n c h event in S e p t e m b e r

core audience—residents and surrounding

history. C o n t e m p o r a r y A m e r i c a n artist Edgar

2008, Arceneaux a n d his project t e a m have

neighbors, partners, and contributors—those

A r c e n e a u x , w h o served as an a r t i s t - i n - r e s i d e n c e

successfully remodeled the facades and yards

w h o benefit f r o m the project and those w h o

w i t h L o w e in H o u s t o n , t o o k the h e l m o f

o f t w o p r o p e r t i e s o n t h e East 107th Street

w o r k t o m a i n t a i n i t s v a l u e . By n u r t u r i n g a n d

the Watts project w h e n Lowe was no longer

block ofWatts, and began the third and fourth

e n h a n c i n g p r e e x i s t i n g r e l a t i o n s h i p s , Watts

e q u i p p e d t o d e v e l o p it.

r e m o d e l s in early 2 0 0 9 . A n e t w o r k o f d i v e r s e

House Project is p r o d u c i n g n e w o p p o r t u n i t i e s

resources, volunteer, and fundraising efforts,

for social intersections and associations not only for Watts residents, but for the larger Los

I n i t s c u r r e n t i t e r a t i o n , Watts

House

Project is a n o n g o i n g c o l l a b o r a t i v e a r t w o r k i n

a n d c o n t i n u e d s u p p o r t o f f e r e d by L A x A R T ,

the shape of a neighborhood redevelopment of

ForYourArt, Creative Capital, and the U C L A

A n g e l e s c o m m u n i t y . Tiffany Barber is a Los

20 properties adjacent to the towers. Through

A r m a n d H a m m e r M u s e u m m a k e Watts

Angeles-based critic, consultant,

exhibition spaces, artist-in-residence programs,

Project p o s s i b l e .

educational and social p r o g r a m m i n g , and r e s i d e n t i a l h o u s i n g , Watts House Project

House

D u e in large p a r t t o its a p p r o a c h — p a r t c o n c e p t u a l , p a r t a c t i v i s t — W a t t s House Project

and

Photos by Aimee Chang, Director of and Residency Programs, Hammer courtesy W a t t s H o u s e P r o j e c t .

curator. Academic Museum,

U.S. RECENT PROJECTS

I l l u m i n a t e d by 5 0 0 k i l o w a t t s o f p o w e r , t h e f o u r square panels o f D. A. T h e r r i e n ' s epic dance, recorded sound, original music,

temporary installation, BEAUTIFUL LIGHT, stretched across 80 feet, s u s p e n d e d m o r e t h a n

puppetry, video, interactive sculpture, and

8 0 f e e t i n t h e air. F o u r p e r f o r m e r s s t o o d o n a

storytelling. Given the range o f restrictions

bridge directly below, s p a n n i n g the Arizona

a b o u t behavior in a p o l l i n g place o n Election

Canal in d o w n t o w n S c o t t s d a l e â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a g o r g e o u s

Day, p u l l i n g o f f M Y V O T E P E R F O R M S w a s n o

s e t t i n g , if a l s o a c h a r g e d o n e , g i v e n all t h a t

easy task f o r c o - p r o d u c e r s Pegi Taylor a n d J o h n

electricity in close p r o x i m i t y t o water. T h e

Loscuito, w h o got approval f r o m state and

"four-letter w o r d m a c h i n e " p e r f o r m e d 10

l o c a l e l e c t i o n o f f i c i a l s , as w e l l as m a n a g e r s at

t i m e s last January. C o m m i s s i o n e d by

each p o l l i n g site, at several stages in p r e p a r i n g

S c o t t s d a l e P u b l i c A r t , it s h o w c a s e d T h e r r i e n ' s

the project. T h e pieces were based a r o u n d

v a r i o u s f a s c i n a t i o n s : l i g h t , as w e l l as t h e

ideas about citizenship a n d voting, but were

symbolism and metaphors surrounding

deemed nonpartisan, of course; they included

it i n a h o s t o f r e l i g i o n s a n d c u l t u r e s ; a n d

p i a n i s t s p l a y i n g w o r k s by A m e r i c a n c o m p o s e r s ;

language, along with the codes that represent

an a n i m a t e d video about the state's voting

it. D r e s s e d i n w h i t e , t h e p e r f o r m e r s m a d e a

history screened for voters w a i t i n g in line;

series o f s e e m i n g l y r a n d o m patterns s h o w

7th-graders reading m o n o l o g u e s on democracy

u p o n the panels, rendered in b l i n d i n g w h i t e

and freedom; a song based on voting

light that c o u l d be seen for miles. T h e patterns

experiences of senior citizens w h o frequent

gradually evolved into t h e letters A C G T (letters

o n e o f t h e p o l l i n g sites ( a n d p e r f o r m e d by

representing D N A ) and ultimately words:

s o m e o f t h e m ) ; and p e r f o r m e r s flipping large

text, m o r e , less, life, fate, love, h o p e . T h a t

Jacob's L a d d e r t o y s at t h e poll-site e n t r a n c e t o

arc f r o m c o n f u s i o n t o clarity a n d uplift, t a k e n

evoke the tension o f w a t c h i n g election results.

together w i t h an e l e c t r o m e c h a n i c a l s o u n d t r a c k e v o c a t i v e o f Contact o r Close Encounters of the Third Kind, o n t o p o f t h e b r i l l i a n t l i g h t , g a v e t h e overall e x p e r i e n c e a c i n e m a t i c feel a p p r o a c h i n g H o l l y w o o d b l o c k b u s t e r p r o - p o r t i o n s . See m o r e at w w w . b e a u t i f u l l i g h t . o r g . Photos by John

Romero.

E n t i t l e d The Tally [ p i c t u r e d ] , t h e p e r f o r m a n c e An African-American w i n n i n g the presidency

appeared to c o r r e s p o n d to votes being tallied.

w a s n ' t the only history m a d e in t h e 2008

It w a s c r e a t e d b y B r e n t B u d s b e r g a n d h i s

e l e c t i o n . P e r f o r m a n c e art at t h e p o l l s w a s

WhiteBoxPainters, a collaborative performance

a n o t h e r first, o n e t h a t M i l w a u k e e , W i s c o n s i n ,

g r o u p w h o specialize in p u b l i c events i n v o l v i n g

c a n be p r o u d t o c l a i m . In a d d i t i o n t o e x e r c i s i n g

w h i t e b o x e s . To l e a r n a b o u t all t h e p r o j e c t s ,

t h e i r r i g h t t o v o t e , c i t i z e n s a t 11 p o l l i n g

visit w w w . m y v o t e p e r f o r m s . c o m .

stations t h r o u g h o u t t h e city also e x p e r i e n c e d

Photo courtesy the artists.

C o m m i s s i o n e d by S o u n d T r a n s i t f o r Seattle's

take o n p s y c h e d e l i c or o p art. A t n i g h t , t h e

l i g h t r a i l c o r r i d o r , t h e S O U N D O F L I G H T is

retaining wall d i s a p p e a r s in the dark a n d the

installed on a zigzagging retaining wall that

p a n e l s a p p e a r t o float, g l o w i n g a l m o s t as if

runs alongside the train tracks o n Martin

lit f r o m b e h i n d , a n a s s e m b l a g e o f b i l l b o a r d s

L u t h e r K i n g Way. T h i r t y - f i v e p a n e l s , r u n n i n g u p

selling p u r e eye candy. Last year t h e piece w a s

t o 5 feet by 2 0 feet, are p a i n t e d in g e o m e t r i c

h o n o r e d as a n o u t s t a n d i n g p u b l i c a r t w o r k

designs reminiscent o f Native A m e r i c a n rugs,

by A m e r i c a n s f o r t h e A r t s . " D i c k Elliott w a s a

u s i n g brilliant hues: blue, orange, white, red,

northwest treasure and a northwest original,"

yellow, g r e e n . C i r c u l a r r e f l e c t o r s in t h e s a m e

said Barbara Luecke, m a n a g e r for S o u n d

c o l o r s , a n d in t w o sizes, are affixed in layers

T r a n s i t ' s a r t p r o g r a m . " T h e Sound of Light h e

t o the panels in a process that artist Richard

created for S o u n d Transit's retaining wall was

C. E l l i o t t ( w h o d i e d l a s t N o v e m b e r )

patented

a n d u s e d in c o m m i s s i o n e d w o r k f o r o t h e r light-rail lines, p a r k i n g garages, a n d airports a r o u n d t h e c o u n t r y . T h e e f f e c t is a n e x u b e r a n t

the biggest c o m m i s s i o n he had to date, and certainly a g e m in o u r art c o l l e c t i o n . " L e a r n m o r e a b o u t t h e a r t i s t at w w w . r e f l e c t o r a r t . c o m . Photo courtesy Jane

Orleman.

115

U.S. RECENT PROJECTS

F r o m its c o n c e p t i o n a n d d e s i g n t o its u n v e i l i n g last N o v e m b e r , T H E L A N G U A G E O F B I R D S has p r o v e d t o be a q u i n t e s s e n t i a l ^ San F r a n c i s c a n a r t w o r k . A series o f 23 s c u l p t u r e s o f o p e n books, rendered in i l l u m i n a t e d white polycarbonate plastic and suspended o v e r a traffic plaza in t h e city's N o r t h B e a c h n e i g h b o r h o o d , w e r e i n s p i r e d by flocks o f f l y i n g s w a l l o w s . " T h e i m a g e o f flying b o o k s , " says Brian Goggin, w h o created the work with Dorka Keehn, " e m e r g e d f r o m the idea o f culture a n d n a t u r e i n t e r c o n n e c t i n g in u n e x p e c t e d ways." A r a n d o m scatter o f phrases s t a m p e d o n t o t h e plaza c o n c r e t e are f r o m w o r k s by 9 0 San F r a n c i s c o a u t h o r s c h o s e n by t h e local c o m m u n i t y ; their p a t t e r n w a s d e t e r m i n e d by S h i m m e r walls are t r a d i t i o n a l l y f e a t u r e d at

s t i l l a l l o w i n g a i r f l o w ; it a c t s a s a f o c a l p o i n t

t h r o w i n g the words (on paper) f r o m a balcony

discos, p a w n shops, and other places w h e r e a

for motorists on t w o major roads entering

at t h e S a n F r a n c i s c o M u s e u m o f M o d e r n A r t

l o t o f f l a s h f o r a l i t t l e c a s h is d e s i r e d . A s h i m -

d o w n t o w n Raleigh. T h e wall's 79,464 4x4-inch

i n t o a n a t r i u m . F u n d e d by t h e S a n F r a n c i s c o

m e r w a l l a s p u b l i c a r t — t h a t is, a s i g n a t u r e

"pixels" capture the western and southern sun-

Arts C o m m i s s i o n , San Francisco

p i e c e o c c u p y i n g a h i g h - v i s i b i l i t y s i t e as p a r t o f

light, b u t their relatively low-gloss a l u m i n u m

o f Public Works, and private donors, the

t h e skyline in a city u n d e r g o i n g an a m b i t i o u s

c o m p o s i t i o n m a k e s t h e piece m o r e tasteful (or

w o r k ' s p o w e r u s e is o f f s e t b y e n e r g y c o l l e c t e d

" r e n a i s s a n c e " — i s , in a w o r d , surprising. T h e

at least less flashy) t h a n its glitzy v e r n a c u l a r

f r o m solar panels m o u n t e d o n the roof o f

CREE S H I M M E R W A L L , by T h o m a s Sayre w i t h

brethren. T h e civic i m a g e r y — a giant oak tree,

the legendary City Lights b o o k s t o r e a few

Department

N e d Kahn, w a s u n v e i l e d last S e p t e m b e r at t h e

R a l e i g h b e i n g u n o f f i c i a l l y k n o w n as t h e " C i t y

d o o r s away. T h e p i e c e d r e w h u n d r e d s f o r its

o p e n i n g o f the n e w Raleigh C o n v e n t i o n Center,

of O a k s " — a l s o helps. But the nighttime LED

unveiling, a ceremonial spectacle involving

w h e r e it o c c u p i e s t h e f a c i l i t y ' s w e s t e r n w a l l .

backlighting in various colors? M a y b e not so

"dancers, a m a r c h i n g b a n d a n d t w o nearly

T h e 21 l - b y - 4 4 - f o o t p i e c e n o t o n l y o b s c u r e s t h e

m u c h . L e a r n m o r e a b o u t t h e p r o j e c t at

n a k e d n y m p h s , " t h e San Francisco

center's boilers and chillers f r o m view while

t h o m a s s a y r e . c o m . Photo by Holly

r e p o r t e d . Photo by Jamil

Jacques.

W h i l e Barack O b a m a was getting s w o r n

Chronicle

Hellu.

not taken aback w h e n s o m e "felt the need to

i n t o office in January, o n e artist s o u g h t

act violently" t o w a r d his " i n s t a n t

to instantly m e m o r i a l i z e his predecessor.

t h r o w i n g s h o e s at it a n d e v e n t o p p l i n g it in

B r o c B l e g e n , a s t u d e n t at t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f

i m i t a t i o n o f t h e f a m o u s fall o f t h e S a d d a m

monument,"

M i n n e s o t a , s h o w e d u p at the i n a u g u r a t i o n

statue in Baghdad. W h a t did surprise h i m

w i t h his "alternative to the traditional m o d e l

w a s his piece r e m a i n i n g o n v i e w for over an

figurative

presidential m o n u m e n t s " : a

h o u r a n d a h a l f b e f o r e o f f i c i a l s o r d e r e d it

p o r t a b l e , inflatable, 2 0 - f o o t G E O R G E W. B U S H

t a k e n d o w n . B l e g e n s a y s it w a s s t r a n g e r s t i l l

M O N U M E N T . Referring to the materials,

that, despite stringent security restrictions, he

B l e g e n said t h a t " a i r b r u s h e d vinyl a n d air

a n d his c o h o r t s got to the Lincoln

c o n v e y a less d u r a b l e political legacy" t h a n

carrying "a small generator a n d t w o large

t h a t o f p r e s i d e n t s w h o get m e m o r i a l i z e d in

boxes," w i t h o u t being stopped or questioned.

Memorial

stone. T h e material choice also reflects the

Blegen w a n t s to inflate t h e m o n u m e n t at

"comedic and informal nature o f President

several locations across the country a n d

Bush, w h i c h m a y be o n e o f his e n d u r i n g

abroad—sites that were important parts

qualities." The artist inflated the statue behind

o f B u s h ' s life a n d p r e s i d e n c y . In d o i n g so,

t h e Lincoln M e m o r i a l in the m o m e n t s that

h e s a y s , it w i l l p r o v i d e a p h y s i c a l c o n t e x t t o

the 4 3 r d president was b e c o m i n g history, so

d i s c u s s G e o r g e W. B u s h a n d his t e r m in office.

as t o i m m e d i a t e l y c o n f r o n t p e o p l e l e a v i n g t h e

See m o r e at w w w . g e o r g e b u s h m o n u m e n t . c o m .

historic inauguration ceremony. Blegen was

Photo courtesy the

artist.

U.S. RECENT PROJECTS W i t h its 12 m i r r o r - f i n i s h s t a i n l e s s steel b o w l s t i p p i n g i n t o o n e a n o t h e r , W H O L E F L O W at first glance m i g h t s e e m like a particularly sleek version o f an e a r t h e n backyard tricklefountain. Situated outside a Whole Foods store in Pasadena, California (thus t h e u n f o r t u n a t e , i f s o r t o f i n e v i t a b l e n a m e ) , it

••'fy 4 *

>. .

• %

is a c t u a l l y a n i n n o v a t i v e e x a m p l e o f h o w a r t

can d o d o u b l e duty and serve an ecological f u n c t i o n . C r e a t e d by B u s t e r S i m p s o n in 2 0 0 8 ,

A V J

the f o u n t a i n takes in s o m e 1,800 gallons o f gray w a t e r daily, c o n d e n s e d f r o m t h e chillers o f the grocery's refrigerators and freezers. T h e

K*< i v

c a s c a d i n g f l o w f r o m b o w l t o b o w l ( e a c h is 5 0 inches in d i a m e t e r ) aerates t h e w a t e r t o help c l e a n it; e v e n t u a l l y , t h e g o a l is f o r t h e o u t p u t to irrigate the landscape o f a future adjacent m i x e d - u s e d d e v e l o p m e n t . Part o f the City o f Pasadena's Public Art Program, the fountain w a s c o m m i s s i o n e d in 2 0 0 5 a n d u n d e r w e n t a process for r e c l a i m i n g gray w a t e r — a n o t h e r a c c o m p l i s h m e n t that could help expedite future projects. W o r k i n g closely w i t h the artist

1; j '">•»£.

w e r e a r t c o n s u l t a n t M a r c Pally, d e v e l o p e r C o r d o n Estrand o f Bellevue Ventures and property o w n e r M a r k Ittih. Photo courtesy the artist.

H e r e ' s o n e s m a l l part o f C a l i f o r n i a ' s farreaching plan t o b e c o m e a leader in solar energy use. As part o f an e x p a n s i o n d o u b l i n g t h e size o f its Pearl A v e n u e B r a n c h Library, t h e city o f San Jose c o m m i s s i o n e d Lynn G o o d p a s t u r e t h r o u g h its P u b l i c A r t P r o g r a m t o c r e a t e S O L A R I L L U M I N A T I O N I: E V O L U T I O N O F L A N G U A G E . Created in c o l a b o r a t i o n w i t h Peters Glass S t u d i o a n d unveiled last December, the w o r k consists o f four art-glass w i n d o w s set into t h e library's s o u t h w e s t corner and a 200-watt LED lamp inside the

Intent on creating a "visual gateway" for

technique. Artists outside the state include

t h e city o f I n d i a n a p o l i s , t h e I N D I A N A P O L I S

N e w Yorker Janet Z w e i g , w h o s e t r a i n - s t a t i o n -

b u i l d i n g . O n e layer o f glass in t h e w i n d o w s

A I R P O R T A u t h o r i t y c o m m i s s i o n e d 39 a r t w o r k s

style flip s i g n s s h o w a n i m a t i o n s o f p e o p l e

features designs based o n Latin, Vietnamese,

f r o m 18 artists for t h e n e w $1.1 b i l l i o n facility

dealing w i t h their baggage; UK artist M a r t i n

Russian, and several Indian w r i t t e n languages,

t h a t o p e n e d last fall. T h e s e l e c t i o n p r o c e s s

D o n l i n , w h o i n c o r p o r a t e d texts f r o m Indiana

a n d a s e c o n d l a y e r is e m b e d d e d w i t h s q u a r e

n a r r o w e d 5 5 0 a p p l i c a n t s t o a roster o f 52, w h o

poets and writers and saturated colors into

p h o t o v o l t a i c cells in v a r i o u s c o n f i g u r a t i o n s ;

p r o p o s e d w o r k f o r specific sites in a n d a r o u n d

his glass m u r a l s o n the c o n c o u r s e s ; a n d Los

t h e t w o are s a n d w i c h e d t o g e t h e r in o n e

the airport. M u c h of the work incorporates

A n g e l a n s C a m e r o n M c N a l l a n d D a m o n Seeley,

insulated w i n d o w unit. Solar energy collected

t h e m e s a r o u n d flying a n d travel, but the final

w h o s e i n t e r a c t i v e field o f c e i l i n g l i g h t s f o l l o w s

t h r o u g h t h e c e l l s p o w e r s t h e l a m p , w h i c h is

selection, a c c o r d i n g t o Keira A m s t u t z , t h e city's

visitors on the pedestrian bridge between the

i n s c r i b e d w i t h t h e p h r a s e " W e are all o n e "

director o f cultural affairs, also "expresses

parking garage and terminal. Pictured above

in c u n e i f o r m a n d c h a n g e s c o l o r s , m o v i n g

the character of both the land and people

are o n e o f D o n l i n ' s f o u r t e e n glass panels

t h r o u g h a range o f blue, green, orange, and

of central Indiana and demonstrates that

f a b r i c a t e d by Franz M a y e r o f M u n i c h (this o n e

purple shades. While the content o f this piece m i g h t be n o t h i n g o u t o f t h e o r d i n a r y for art

I n d i a n a p o l i s is a p r o g r e s s i v e a r t s c o m m u n i t y . "

f e a t u r i n g a p a s s a g e by p o e t N o r b e r t K r a p f ) a n d

Six I n d i a n a a r t i s t s w e r e a m o n g t h e f i n a l i s t s ,

Cardinalis,

i n c l u d i n g painter N h a t Tran, w h o created an

actual F-l 4 T o m c a t aircraft wing.

abstract mural using urushi, an Asian lacquer

by J o h n v a n A l s t i n e , m a d e f r o m a n

in a library, it w i l l , o n e h o p e s , i n s p i r e a n e w generation of renewable-energy innovators.

Photography.

Photos courtesy City of San Jose,

California.

U.S. RECENT PROJECTS

Despite D o u g and Mike Starn's penchant f o r f r a g i l e m a t e r i a l s s u c h as b e e s w a x o r photographs, often torn and taped, durability w a s o b v i o u s l y a key f a c t o r in c r e a t i n g t h e i r first

p u b l i c a r t w o r k , an i n s t a l l a t i o n at t h e n e w

S o u t h Ferry s u b w a y s t a t i o n in M a n h a t t a n . C o m m i s s i o n e d by t h e M e t r o p o l i t a n Transportation Authority's Permanent Art Program, t h e $1 m i l l i o n p r o j e c t , SEE IT SPLIT, SEE IT C H A N C E , was unveiled in January w i t h the s t a t i o n ' s o p e n i n g . R u n n i n g over 2 3 0 feet o f u n d u l a t i n g w a l l s , t h e d o m i n a n t e l e m e n t is fused-glass panels "printed" with images of black tree branches using glass powder, a t e c h n i q u e that creates layering effects. T h e silhouetted tree imagery, f r o m the artists' Structure

of Thought

series, " s y m b o l i z e d the

layers a n d layers o f s e n s o r y i n p u t , m e m o r i e s , emotion, imagination, and ideas." Layering also c o m e s into play in t w o other e l e m e n t s of the installation: A 20-foot-wide mosaic,

based on an 1886 m a p that s u p e r i m p o s e d a street grid into a 1640 t o p o g r a p h i c a l m a p of Manhattan, whose dominant view of t h e s o u t h e r n e n d o f M a n h a t t a n reflects the s t a t i o n ' s l o c a t i o n ; a n d in a

floor-to

ceiling

s t a i n l e s s s t e e l f e n c e , a t r e e - b r a n c h i m a g e is reflected in glass p a n e l s . Learn m o r e a b o u t t h e artists at w w w . s t a r n s t u d i o . c o m .

As t h e rest o f the c o u n t r y has slid into economic decline, Braddock, Pennsylvania's

Photos courtesy the artists.

d e c a d e s o f d i s t r e s s h a v e b e c o m e , in a sense, a badge of honor. H o m e to A n d r e w Carnegie's f i r s t s t e e l m i l l a n d h i s first l i b r a r y , t h i s t o w n

Each year, t h e F r i e n d s o f T r y o n Creek State

o f less t h a n 3,000 ( d o w n f r o m 18,000 after

Park, a n o n p r o f i t c o n s e r v a n c y d e d i c a t e d t o

W o r l d W a r II) is a t l a s t g a r n e r i n g s o m e

t h e e p o n y m o u s g r e e n s p a c e in m e t r o p o l i t a n

a t t e n t i o n a s its m a y o r p u b l i c i z e s t h e p l a c e

Portland, O r e g o n , c o m m i s s i o n s a series o f

as a " l a b o r a t o r y " f o r e c o n o m i c i n v e s t m e n t .

t e m p o r a r y , site-specific art installations for

As w i t h o t h e r Rust Belt t o w n s , t h e arts play

the park. T h e works f r o m N A T U R A L CYCLES:

a key r o l e in t h e s e e f f o r t s , w i t h p r o j e c t s like

A CELEBRATION O F ART IN T H E FOREST

t h e B R A D D O C K M O S A I C PARK, installed last

stay u p f o r an e n t i r e year. O n e s t a n d o u t a m o n g

fall by s c u l p t o r J a m e s S i m o n a n d s e v e n local

t h e c u r r e n t c r o p is J e n P a c k ' s Forevergreen

teenagers, w h o were employed to work on the

Tuffet, p a r t l y f o r i t s l u r i d g r e e n c o l o r [ p i c t u r e d ] ,

mosaic over the summer. The 10-foot-diameter

A d e n s e c l u m p o f p l a s t i c s t r a n d s , it w a s s e t

m o s a i c d e p i c t i n g a p o n d is t h e c e n t e r p i e c e

o n t h e f o r e s t floor a s a w a y o f q u e s t i o n i n g

o f a small park that S i m o n overhauled f r o m a

"green" o n many levelsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;especially given the

trashed vacant lot sitting between a n e w bus

current overuse of that word. Also on view

shelter a n d a n e w h o u s i n g d e v e l o p m e n t ; later

t h r o u g h S e p t e m b e r are B r e n n a n C o n a w a y ' s

p h a s e s call for s i d e w a l k " s t r e a m s " in m o s a i c

rendered

l e a d i n g t h r o u g h t h e park a n d t o t h e p o n d . In

i n c l u m p s o f v i n e s ; L e e I m o n e n ' s The Source

addition, several m o s a i c t o t e m poles will be

Series, m e r g i n g s a l v a g e d t r e e s w i t h p r o d u c t s

added to create a "three-dimensional forest."

invader, a n o v e r s i z e d h u m a n

figure

like f e n c i n g , crates; Julie Lindell's

Non-Trivial

Pursuit, a 1 0 - f o o t b a l l m a d e o f f o u n d o b j e c t s ,

S u p p o r t e d by a g r a n t f r o m t h e M i d A t l a n t i c Arts Foundation, the project involved the

p i e r c e d by g i g a n t i c k n i t t i n g n e e d l e s ; a n d

Keys/Americorps Braddock Youth Project and

V i c k i L y n n W i l s o n ' s Fung-US, a m i n i a t u r e

Allegheny County. Helen Wachter, director o f

civilization laid o u t o n the slabs o f bracket

Keys S e r v i c e C o r p s , refers t o t h e p r o j e c t as a

f u n g u s g r o w i n g o n several trees.

success, bringing "beauty and positive change

Photo by Andie

t o t h e c o m m u n i t y . " Photos courtesy the

Petkus.

artist.

Design

Fabrication

3D Modeling

CONCEPT to REALITY 505.242.6796

cmyinc.com

Broward C o u n t y Cultural Division Public Art & Design Program

Vanish i ng Vi e w O

by Alison Sky

% \ t

I fj, I

> Longmont, C O 32' H steel sandstone, glass, LED lighting Greg E. Reiche placitan@gmail.com

INTERNATIONAL RECENT PROJECTS FEATURED FESTIVALS compiled

by Sophia

Pogoff

In t h e p a s t six m o n t h s , t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l p u b l i c art c o m m u n i t y e x p e r i e n c e d a flourish

o f festivals, each exploring the relationship between public space and

c o m m u n i t y i s s u e s . T h e f o l l o w i n g six h i g h l i g h t s m a y i n s p i r e f l i g h t s o f f a n c y , o r even

flights

overseas.

In September, o n t h e banks o f Russia's N e r a River, t h e H2O: N O R D I C A N D R U S S I A N A R T I N P U B L I C S P A C E S a t St. P e t e r s b u r g ' s P e t e r a n d Paul Fortress d r e w artists f r o m Finland, Sweden, and Russia to explore t h e m e s o f water and romanticism. A m o n g them were T o m m i G r o n l u n d and Petteri N i s u n e n o f Finland, w h o s e Unnaturally

Natural

consisted of a row

o f s m a l l , r o u n d p o o l s set i n t o t h e beach at t h e Fortress. From a distance, these p o n d s either r e f l e c t e d t h e sky a b o v e o r a p p e a r e d as b l a c k voids depending on the angle f r o m which they w e r e v i e w e d . Photo by Tommi

48'C PUBLIC.ART.ECOLOGY, a multifaceted

ecotours, films, and concerts. O n e project,

p u b l i c art festival set w i t h i n t h e capital city

located within the abandoned archeological

of Delhi, India this past December, brought

s i t e o f R o s h a n a r a P a r k , w a s Roshanara's

together local a n d international artists to

by N e w Y o r k - b a s e d artist M a r y M i s s . T h i s

Gronlund.

Net,

explore issues o f sustainability, urban ecology,

massive installation featured a dizzying puzzle

and c o m m u n i t y awareness. Referring to the

o f d i a m o n d - s h a p e s c u l p t u r e s f o r m e d by e v e n l y

exigencies o f global w a r m i n g , w h i c h can be

spaced o r a n g e and blue pipes, and listed the

felt in Delhi's c o n t i n u o u s l y escalating s u m m e r

n a m e s o f medicinal plants and their uses,

t e m p e r a t u r e s , the festival p r e s e n t e d n e w art

w r i t t e n in b o t h English a n d H i n d i .

projects, s y m p o s i a , p e r f o r m a n c e art, u r b a n

Photo courtesy 48'C

Pubhc.Art.Ecology.

T h e BRUSSELS B I E N N I A L took place f r o m O c t o b e r 2008 t h r o u g h January 2009, p r o v i d i n g i n t u i t i v e i n s i g h t i n t o t h e art s c e n e o f the highly urbanized region between t h e Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. With contributions from more t h a n 4 0 international artists, the biennial also p r e s e n t e d e x h i b i t i o n s by e x p e r i m e n t a l art i n s t i t u t i o n s in Brussels w i t h m o r e t h a n 150 artists f e a t u r e d . R e p r e s e n t i n g a first s t e p in

The 13th JAKARTA B I E N N I A L E , titled

a l a r g e r p r o j e c t d e s i g n e d as a t r a n s - n a t i o n a l

Arena, e n d e d i n M a r c h a n d w a s h a i l e d a s a

e n d e a v o r t h a t w i l l u n f o l d in t w o s t e p s u n t i l

" b r e a k t h r o u g h , " f o c u s i n g o n c o n t e m p o r a r y art

2010, the biennial explored the notion o f a

across cultures rather than highlighting cultural

space o f e n c o u n t e r s and s o u g h t to "lay d o w n

differences. Significantly, w o m e n a c c o u n t e d for

a porous line between context and practice,

nearly o n e t h i r d o f the participating artists, o n e

f o r m and m e d i u m , artist and system,

o f the h i g h e s t rates a m o n g A s i a n biennials. T h e

i n s t i t u t i o n a n d locality." T h e oft-controversial

event was divided into thematic categoriesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;

German sculptor OlafMetzel's bronze

Z o n e o f U n d e r s t a n d i n g , Fluid Z o n e , and Battle

s c u l p t u r e , Turkish Delight, w a s d i s p l a y e d i n a

Z o n e â&#x20AC;&#x201D; w i t h projects in s h o p p i n g malls, bus

p u b l i c s p a c e in a B r u s s e l s park. T h e

stops and parks. C h o r e o g r a p h e r Boby Ary

figure,

depicting a female nude w o m a n dressed only

S e t i a w a n ' s d a n c e p r o j e c t , Z . C (Zebra Cross),

in an Islamic headscarf, explored the f e m a l e

utilized t h e c r o s s w a l k at a street i n t e r s e c t i o n .

figure

T h e p e r f o r m a n c e started w h i l e t h e cars a n d

within the context of contrasting world

views o f Eastern and Western culture.

o t h e r v e h i c l e s w e r e s t o p p e d by t h e traffic light.

Photo by Olaf

Photo courtesy Jakarta

Metzel.

B/enniale.

INTERNATIONAL RECENT PROJECTS

I n S e p t e m b e r , Wandering

Lines: Towards

a New Culture of Space b r o u g h t t o g e t h e r 25 artists to c o n t r i b u t e to the 5th SCAPE BIENNIAL i n C h r i s t c h u r c h ,

New

Zealand. While exploring the theme of the "conditions and conflicts" o f public spaces, artists p r o b e d n o t i o n s o f globalization and c o n s u m e r i s m . The projects included a multitude of public interventions, c h a l l e n g i n g c o n v e n t i o n s by p l a c i n g art w o r k s in previously u n u s e d spaces. Atelier v a n L i e s h o u t ' s Darwin,

for instance—a

g i a n t , p u r p l e s p e r m cell w i t h a m a n n e d information booth inside—was placed in the heart o f C h r i s t c h u r c h , in Cathedral Square. T h e s c u l p t u r e j o i n s art a n d a r c h i t e c t u r e in a n a b s t r a c t yet u t i l i t a r i a n

Ex-tagger J R does street p h o t o g r a p h y o n a m a s s i v e scale, in t e r m s o f t h e size o f his images, their n u m b e r s , a n d their reach a r o u n d the globe. Best k n o w n for his triptych p o r t r a i t o f a r a b b i , a p r i e s t , a n d a n i m a m , JR

f o r m , which, according to SCAPE'S

has shifted t h e focus o f his recent w o r k ,

o r g a n i z e r s , " s u g g e s t s n e w life a n d t h e

T H E W O M E N PROJECT, t o v i c t i m s o f p o v e r t y

r e g e n e r a t i o n o f this central city site."

a n d political a n d sexual violence in several

Photos by Brendan Lee.

African countries. T h e Parisian artist pastes u p poster- a n d billboard-size portraits in the streets o f s l u m s , war zones, and other povertyw r a c k e d places w h e r e his s u b j e c t s live. T h i s

C O I N C PUBLIC '08: PORT CITY SAFARI,

i n p l a c e s w h e r e a r t is u n h e a r d o f is a l s o

the collaboration o f an international

documented, and occasionally those images

network o f artists s h o w c a s i n g their w o r k s

o f h i s w o r k in situ a r e p a s t e d u p a s w e l l . I n t h e

in p a r t i c i p a t i n g p o r t cities t h r o u g h o u t

s l u m o f Kibera, Kenya, he installed a three-part

E u r o p e . T h e p r o j e c t b e g a n in Bristol,

w o r k : water-resistant p h o t o s o f local w o m e n

UK, and explored issues relating to

c o v e r i n g m o r e t h a n 21,000 s q u a r e feet o f

trade, mobility, and productivity through

r o o f t o p s ; i m a g e s o f their eyes c o v e r e d t h e sides

workshops, exhibitions, and seminars.

a n d t o p s o f six t r a i n c a r s t r a v e l i n g a n e a r b y

Creek artist Zafos Xagoraris created Port AmpHphons,

a i m e d at " i n c r e a s i n g

the v o l u m e o f silence" permeating port e n v i r o n m e n t s , by a m p l i f y i n g t h e a m b i e n t s o u n d s o f these a b a n d o n e d spaces, s u c h as t h e t o p s o f m a s t s , a n d t h e w i n d . In M a r s e i l l e , t h e o l d e s t h a r b o r o n t h e

tffe

Mediterranean, Brazilian artist Maria Thereza Alves m a p p e d sites a l o n g t h e p o r t

process o f m a k i n g t e m p o r a r y street "galleries"

p r e s e n t e d by a M A Z E l a b o f M i l a n , w a s

w h e r e ballast o n ships arrived in t h e 16th century. She created an "herbal archive" o f t h e seeds s h e f o u n d at t h o s e s i t e s — f r o m all o v e r t h e w o r l d — s o m e w h i c h h a v e lain d o r m a n t m o r e t h a n 500 years. Photo courtesy the artist and

aMAZElab.

line; a n d t h e m a t c h i n g l o w e r halves o f t h o s e faces were m o u n t e d o n sheet metal positioned o n t h e s l o p e b e l o w t h e t r a i n . O v e r a l l , )R m i g h t be seen as a e s t h e t i c i z i n g p o v e r t y a n d s q u a l o r w i t h i m a g e s t h a t are s t r i k i n g , raw, fierce, g o r g e o u s — a n d h u m o r o u s — b u t , as h e t o l d t h e London Independent,

"I a m not an artist

with a cause but an artist w h o causes people t o t h i n k . " JR w a s r e c e n t l y c o m m i s s i o n e d t o post his w o r k o n t h e o u t s i d e o f L o n d o n ' s Tate M o d e r n gallery. H e p l a n s t o b l o w u p a s i n g l e i m a g e s o l a r g e t h a t it w i l l o c c u p y t h e f u l l h e i g h t o f the gallery's 325-foot t o w e r — t h e largest e n l a r g e m e n t o f a p h o t o g r a p h ever a t t e m p t e d . Photos courtesy T h e W o m e n P r o j e c t .

INTERNATIONAL RECENT PROJECTS

Both the title and the f o r m o f this w o r k — a massive wardrobe abandoned on a beach in S o p o t , P o l a n d — b o r r o w directly f r o m a s t u d e n t film b y R o m a n P o l a n s k i . T W O M E N A N D A WARDROBE o p e n s w i t h e p o n y m o u s m e n bringing the eponymous, enormous piece o f furniture out o f the ocean, then l u g g i n g it a r o u n d , w o r d l e s s l y . T h e r e ' s a n indirect reference, in t e r m s o f that silence, in a r t i s t Pawel A l t h a m e r i n v i t i n g Jacek A d a m a s t o b e c o m e i n v o l v e d as t h e s e c o n d m a n in t h e p r o j e c t , c o m m i s s i o n e d by t h e O p e n Art Project a n d t h e State A r t Gallery. B o t h s t u d i e d s c u l p t u r e at t h e W a r s a w A c a d e m y o f F i n e A r t s , w h e r e t h e y w e r e i n f l u e n c e d by

122

Grzegorz Kowalski's teachings on nonverbal c o m m u n i c a t i o n . Even w i t h o u t that k n o w l e d g e , the work, installed near the l a n d m a r k Sopot Pier, s t a n d s as a n a b s u r d i s t m y s t e r y , in k e e p i n g w i t h o t h e r s c u l p t u r e s by A l t h a m e r u s i n g everyday objects (bus seats, p l a y g r o u n d e q u i p m e n t ) as s c u l p t u r e s u n t o t h e m s e l v e s . Photo by Michal

Szlaga.

W h e n Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary

the project was to translate Ritchie's famously

l o o k e d t o M a t t h e w Ritchie in c o m m i s s i o n i n g

d e n s e d r a w i n g style i n t o three d i m e n s i o n s ,

its latest c o l l a b o r a t i v e art p a v i l i o n , t h e artist

evoking a m o d u l a r system that s e e m s to be

r e s p o n d e d w i t h typical m i n d - b l o w i n g a p l o m b .

simultaneously building up and breaking down.

" W h a t I ' m a i m i n g f o r is t o d e s c r i b e t h e w h o l e

Like his t w o - d i m e n s i o n a l w o r k t h e p a v i l i o n

s p e c t r u m o f experience, simultaneously," he

h a s g r e a t a m b i t i o n s . A m o n g o t h e r t h i n g s , it

s a i d o f T H E M O R N I N G LINE, w h i c h w e n t o n

a i m s t o s e r v e as " a c o n v e r s i o n o f p l a c e i n t o

v i e w last fall in Seville, S p a i n , as p a r t o f t h e

language that visualizes the past and future..."

city's third International Biennial o f C o n t e m p o -

O n a s i m p l e r level, t h e p a v i l i o n w a s o u t f i t t e d

rary A r t . In c o l l a b o r a t i n g o v e r t h r e e years w i t h

with sensors that respond to the m o v e m e n t s of

a r c h i t e c t s a n d e n g i n e e r s , a s w e l l as s c i e n t i s t s ,

p e o p l e w a l k i n g t h r o u g h a n d a r o u n d it, p r o d u c -

musicians, computer programmers, and

ing voices, images, and s o u n d s in response.

a n i m a t o r s , the artist created w h a t he describes

It is s l a t e d t o a p p e a r a t S o u t h B a n k C e n t r e

as a n a n t i - p a v i l i o n : a s t r u c t u r e t h a t o p e n s u p

in L o n d o n in s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 , a n d o t h e r v e n u e s

s p a c e r a t h e r t h a n e n c l o s i n g it. O n e o b j e c t i v e o f

t h e r e a f t e r . Photo by Todd Eberie.

Five years ago, s u n - s t a r v e d L o n d o n e r s fell in l o v e w i t h O l a f u r E l i a s s o n ' s Weather

Project,

i n v o l v i n g a giant fake s u n g l o w i n g in t h e Tate M o d e r n ' s massive Turbine Hall. Now, the Viennese have their o w n bit o f the D a n i s h artist's m a g i c o n p e r m a n e n t display in the heart o f Last D e c e m b e r , t h e City C o u n c i l in D u n d e e ,

given the chemical reaction whose notation

t h e city. C o m m i s s i o n e d by V e r b u n d , a n e n e r g y

Scotland, unveiled a concrete sculpture of a

is c a r v e d i n t o t h e s c u l p t u r e ' s p l i n t h . A r t i s t s

c o m p a n y , f o r its h e a d q u a r t e r s o n t h e h i s t o r i c

c a r — t h a t is, a c o n c r e t e s c u l p t u r e o f d r a p e r y

Louise Scullion and M a t t h e w Dalziel w o r k e d

A m H o f s q u a r e , YELLOW FOG is i n t e n d e d t o alter the p e r c e p t i o n s o f passers-by a n d the

s h r o u d i n g a c a r — o u t s i d e a p a r k i n g r a m p in the

with a type of concrete that incorporates a

c i t y c e n t e r . T h o u g h s o m e m i g h t s e e CATALYST

nano-crystalline grade of titanium dioxide.

m o o d o f t h e overall square. At d u s k , 32 fluores-

as s a y i n g " m o t h b a l l t h e car a n d get o n t h e

Besides s o u n d i n g impressively high-tech, this

c e n t t u b e s set into a grate a l o n g t h e base o f the

b u s , " its a m b i g u i t y a l l o w s f o r m u l t i p l e read-

catayltic material interacts w i t h light, causing

b u i l d i n g e m i t a precise shade o f yellow light,

ings. The drapery s i m u l t a n e o u s l y evokes

airborne pollutants to break d o w n into h a r m -

i l l u m i n a t i n g f o g seeping f r o m the s a m e grate,

mystery and depicts an everyday practice

less nitrate, w h i c h e v e n t u a l l y w a s h e s o f f t h e

w h i c h slowly drifts up the building fa$ade and

( a t l e a s t f o r c a r l o v e r s ) . It a l s o a l l u d e s t o t h e

s c u l p t u r e ' s surface a n d enriches t h e soil.

i n t o t h e s q u a r e . W i t h t h e f o g g i v i n g it f o r m , t h e

past—classical public sculpture traditions—

Overall, the c o m b i n a t i o n o f the material and

yellow light affects h o w p e o p l e see o t h e r colors

a n d the future, in t e r m s o f t h e a u t o m o b i l e ' s

t h e f o r m it t a k e s m a k e s f o r a s c u l p t u r e t h a t

and distances. T h o u g h the piece's construction

p o i n t s t o a s h o r t - t e r m s o l u t i o n for air p o l l u t i o n ,

is e v i d e n t t o a l l , i t s e r v e s a s a m y s t e r i o u s r i t u a l

w h i l e k e e p i n g its r o o t c a u s e f r o n t a n d center.

m a r k i n g the transition f r o m day to night.

Photo courtesy Dalziel+Scullion

Photo by Rupert

u l t i m a t e fate: A r e w e a n t i c i p a t i n g its o b s o l e s cence or s o m e kind o f environmentally friendly overhaul? T h e latter s e e m s m o r e possible,

studio.

Steiner.

INTERNATIONAL RECENT PROJECTS

By M e m o r i a l D a y , t h e n u m b e r o f t h e L E D c o u n t e r in L o n d o n s h o u l d be s p e e d i n g t o w a r d 2 2 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 , o n its w a y t o h i t 5 5 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 by m i d n i g h t o n N e w Y e a r ' s Eve. P o s i t i o n e d above the London headquarters of the Hiscox insurance c o m p a n y , since January 1 DEATH C O U N T E R h a s b e e n t a l l y i n g h u m a n d e a t h s w o r l d w i d e for 2 0 0 9 at t h e rate o f a p p r o x i m a t e l y 2 per s e c o n d , b a s e d o n a U.S. c e n s u s c a l c u l a t i o n . A r t i s t S a n t i a g o S i e r r a is k n o w n for w o r k s that d r a m a t i z e t h e value o f h u m a n l a b o r , s u c h a s Workers who cannot be paid, remunerated

to remain inside

cardboard

boxes-, h e r e , t h e M a d r i d n a t i v e ' s a t t e m p t t o i m p o s e precise m e a s u r e m e n t s on death reflects t h e h u m a n desire for c o n t r o l over s o m e t h i n g t h a t is b o t h u n p r e d i c t a b l e a n d i n e v i t a b l e . T h e v a l u e o f a n a r t w o r k t a l l y i n g 55 m i l l i o n d e a t h s w a s c a l c u l a t e d as e q u a l t o t h e v a l u e o f a s i n g l e life: S i e r r a ' s . H i s c o x g a v e t h e a r t i s t a 1 5 0 , 0 0 0 - e u r o life i n s u r a n c e p o l i c y v a l i d f o r t h e d u r a t i o n o f t h e p r o j e c t , w h i c h is p a r t o f its O f f e r S . E x c h a n g e : Sites o f N e g o t i a t i o n s in C o n t e m p o r a r y A r t , a series o f p u b l i c art

U s i n g a f o r m c r e a t e d by t h e i n t e r s e c t i o n s o f craft, g a r d e n i n g , e n v i r o n m e n t a l i s m , a n d public a r t , B r i t i s h a r t i s t A n n a G a r f o r t h is p a r t o f a m i c r o t r e n d in p u t t i n g u p " m o s s graffiti" in various L o n d o n locations. W h i l e other artists have u s e d stencil-like i m a g e r y in a p p l y i n g pieces o f m o s s to brick walls and other public u r b a n surfaces, G a r f o r t h ' s w o r k in a series s h e d u b b e d ( s o m e w h a t c o r n i l y ) MOSSENGER matches w o r d s — i n c l u d i n g excerpts f r o m c r e a t i v e p a r t n e r Elly S t e v e n s ' p o e t r y — w i t h a digital typeface called Georgia, w h i c h she felt h a d " a p o e t i c aesthetic a b o u t it." " W a t c h y o u r

says, " r e p r e s e n t s a n u n u s u a l s y n t h e s i s

s k i n p e e l " is s e t w i t h i n t h e d e c a y i n g s h e l l o f

between advanced civilization and nature." She

A b n e y Park C h a p e l in a g a r d e n c e m e t e r y in

says it i n s p i r e d E I & A b e , a c r e a t i v e p a r t n e r s h i p

northeast London, while "Nourish" grows on

between her and Stevens. " W e w a n t e d to

a c o n c r e t e bridge s u p p o r t , b l e n d i n g in well

explore n a t u r e r e c l a i m i n g t h e city walls, a n d

e n o u g h w i t h t h e g r a f f i t i n e x t t o it t h a t i t ' d b e

give voice to s o m e t h i n g — m o s s — t h a t

hard for passers-by o n the adjacent sidewalk to

r e m a i n u n s e e n , f a s h i o n i n g it i n t o a f o r m w e

notice. The idea o f w r i t i n g the m o s s , G a r f o r t h

c a n u n d e r s t a n d . " Photos courtesy the

may artist.

c o m m i s s i o n s . Photo courtesy the artist.

People o u t s i d e t h e U.S. c o u l d n ' t vote for Barack O b a m a , but s o m e o f t h e m elected to h e l p c r e a t e EXPECTATION, a 2 . 5 - a c r e s a n d portrait o f the 4 4 t h U.S. President in Barcelona, during the 2008 campaign.

Masterminded

by J o r g e R o d r i g u e z - G e r a d a , w h o u s e d G P S e q u i p m e n t to transpose an image o f O b a m a o n t o a v a c a n t lot, t h e piece r e q u i r e d 6 5 0 t o n s o f s a n d a n d gravel; s t y m i e d by f o u r s t r a i g h t days o f d o w n p o u r s , the artist a n d volunteers worked d o w n to the wire, revealing the c o m p l e t e d p i e c e o n t h e eve o f E l e c t i o n Day. Rather than expressing his o w n hopes for the then-candidate, Rodriguez-Gerada said that Expectation

was "more about questioning

O b a m a - m a n i a . " H e also noted c o n n e c t i o n s between this massively scaled " s a n d painting" and the healing traditions that technique holds a m o n g Tibetan monks, Australian aborigines, and Native A m e r i c a n s — a hint about the role an O b a m a presidency c o u l d play o n a global s c a l e . Photo courtesy the

artist.

INTERNATIONAL RECENT PROJECTS

Bruce Munro's

spectacle has g r o w n — o r perhaps s p r o u t e d —

fiber-optic

f r o m its o r i g i n a l , r a t h e r m o d e s t e x h i b i t i o n in

2 0 0 4 in a c o u r t y a r d at t h e V i c t o r i a a n d A l b e r t

FIELD O F L I G H T

M u s e u m in L o n d o n . T h e lighting designer installed the largest and m o s t recent version at t h e Eden Project, a g a r d e n a t t r a c t i o n in

Palacio, a c e n t e r p i e c e o f t h e Pare d e Retiro,

country's long winter nights), the project

s e r v e s as t h e M u s e o Reina S o f i a ' s o u t p o s t f o r

c o n s i s t e d o f 6,000 " b l o o m s , " acrylic s t e m s

p u b l i c c o n t e m p o r a r y art i n s t a l l a t i o n s ) . T h e

t o p p e d w i t h clear glass spheres, w h i c h

kicker was e n g i n e e r i n g the piece so that water

s o m e w h a t resembled spindly white straw m u s h r o o m s . I l l u m i n a t e d by m o r e t h a n 7 8 , 0 0 0 cable, the g l o w i n g techno-

flora c o v e r e d s o m e 1 3 , 0 0 0 s q u a r e feet at Eden, w h o s e series o f geodesic d o m e s c o m p r i s e t h e w o r l d ' s l a r g e s t g r e e n h o u s e . Field of Light spreads across the grass roof o f the visitor center, between d o m e s h o u s i n g rainforest and M e d i t e r r a n e a n b i o m e s — a site that allowed the futuristic forms o f the d o m e s and the

fiber-

o p t i c b l o o m s to play o f f each other. M u n r o has said that this s h o w y yet magical "alien i n s t a l l a t i o n " is m e a n t t o h i g h l i g h t n a t u r e , b u t u p s t a g i n g it is a l s o a d i s t i n c t p o s s i b i l i t y . Photos by Mark

Pickthall.

EL RETIRO i n s t a l l a t i o n . H e u s e d t h e m t o c o v e r the 1,000-square-meter floor of Madrid's after L o n d o n ' s iconic Crystal Palace (today t h e

t h r o u g h February (taking advantage o f the

fiber-optic

i d e n t i c a l s l a b s o f m a r b l e f o r h i s PALACIO DE

Palacio de Cristal, built in 1887 a n d m o d e l e d

C o r n w a l l , E n g l a n d . O n v i e w last N o v e m b e r

feet o f

S p a n i s h artist Evaristo Bellotti evidently likes a c h a l l e n g e , h a v i n g cut, by h i m s e l f , 1,668

periodically e m e r g e d f r o m b e n e a t h t h e flagstones, p o o l i n g in the shallow S-shapes that Bellotti had carved into each one. The tactile c o m p o n e n t o f t h e w o r k is e s s e n t i a l : V i s i t o r s d u r i n g its e x h i b i t i o n last fall w e r e i n s t r u c t e d t o w a l k o n it w i t h b a r e f e e t , i n t h e p r o c e s s b e c o m i n g a vertical c o m p o n e n t o f this expansive h o r i z o n t a l w o r k . T h e w a t e r o n t h e m a r b l e , emerging, receding, and evaporating, together w i t h the light conditions, creates striking visual effects; overall, the piece c o m b i n e s spare e l e g a n c e w i t h , p e r h a p s b e c a u s e o f all t h a t m a r b l e , a t o u c h o f t h e e l e g i a c . Photo courtesy Museo Nacional

Centro de Arte Reina Sofia.

Planet of the Apes o f f e r e d a c i n e m a t i c v i e w o f a w o r l d r u l e d by c h i m p a n z e e s , t h e a n i m a l t h a t is g e n e t i c a l l y c l o s e s t t o h u m a n s ; a s i m i l a r b u t m o r e c o m p l e x i d e a is p u t f o r t h w i t h M I M E T E S ANON, o n v i e w last w i n t e r a n d s p r i n g in the E c o n o m i s t Plaza in L o n d o n . A realistic, fullg r o w n c h i m p a n z e e s c u l p t e d in b r o n z e was p e r c h e d o n a r a i l i n g in t h e plaza, l u r k i n g o n the sidelines, s e e m i n g to observe his genetic descendants f r o m a distance. The title that a r t i s t A l a s t a i r M a c k i e c h o s e f o r h i s first w o r k o f p u b l i c a r t is t e l l i n g : I t ' s l i s t e d a s a s y n o n y m f o r c h i m p a n z e e f r o m 1820 i n t h e r e f e r e n c e c l a s s i c Mammal

Species of the World, w i t h m i m e t e s

b e i n g t h e G r e e k v e r b " t o i m i t a t e , " w h i l e anon m e a n s e i t h e r i m m e d i a t e l y , s o o n , o r later. Mackie's work often has twists that provoke v i e w e r s t o r e c o n s i d e r a s s u m p t i o n s ; j u s t as his realistic c h i m p returns the gaze o f passers-by in t h e plaza, a s c u l p t u r e f r o m his c o n c u r r e n t gallery e x h i b i t i o n — a m i r r o r e d , d o m e d taxidermy vitrine—turns viewers' inspecting gazes back on t h e m . Photo courtesy All Visual Arts,

London.

PERCENT

FOR

ART

INTERDISCIPLINARY POLICY

AND

JANET

MBA

919.942.8835 P U B L I C A R T C O L L A B O R A T I V E . O R G

Public

PROGRAM

DEVELOPMENT, K A G A N

Art

Collaborative PLANNING,

PROJECT MA

MANAGEMENT

PRINCIPAL

) KAGAN@NC.RR.COM P E R C E N T F O R A R T C O L L A B O R A T I V E . O R G

Collaborative

www.ArtsAndScience.org

ARTS

& SCIENCE

COUNCIL

BUILDING A MEMORABLE CITY CHARLOTTE, MECKLENBURG COUNTY, NC + PRIVATE PARTNERS

of Earth 2008, R a l e i g h - D u r h a m I n t e r n a t i o n a l Airport, T e r m i n a l 2 N o r t h . S o u t h T e r m i n a l c o m m i s s i o n in p r o g r e s s , c o m p l e t i o n 2 0 1 1 .

P a i n t i n g s , s c u l p t u r e s a n d site s p e c i f i c p u b l i c a r t

P h o t o s : B. L a m b e r t

www.lydiarubio.com

Eileen Doughty

Lynn Basa

textile landscapes

site-specific work in terrazzo, mosaic, paint, glass

The Name of a River Can Heal (and detail), St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital

The Glendale History Walk. T u m b l e d glass mosaic. City of Glcndale. AZ 2008 Mosaic fabrication: Mosaika Art 8c Design

www.doughtydesigns.com

www.lynnbasa.com

These artists arc all m e m b e r s of the P u b l i c A r t i s t F o r u m . For more information, visit h t t p : / / g r o u p s . y a h o o . c o m / g r o u p / p u b I i c a r t i s t f o r u m

Carol Salmanson

Daniel Sroka

light and reflective materials

abstract nature photography

Diaphany. Mixed Greens Gallery window installation (viewed f r o m West 26th Street), New York, NY 2008-9

www.carolsalmanson.com

Botanical Abstracts installed at Miraval' Tucson Resort 8c Spa (with detail of Enfold).

www.danielsroka.com

BJ Katz art glass installations

Feng Shui: Flow Of Life by BJ K A T Z 2008. Commissioned by C h a n d l e r Gilbert C o m m u n i t y College, Engel Hall Health Sciences Building.

www.bjkatz.com

These artists are all m e m b e r s of the P u b l i c A r t i s t F o r u m . For m o r e information, visit h t t p : / / g r o u p s . y a h o o . c o m / g r o u p / p u b l i c a r t i s t f o r u m

Joanie San Chirico painting, photography, textile art, site-specific installations

Sandbar #1 and 2, O c e a n C o u n t y Library Main Branch, Toms River, NJ. Textile, aluminum armature, stainless steel cables. T x 6' a n d 6' x 7*.

www.joaniesanchirico.com

A New Deal ?

W i n d Powered Art

â&#x20AC;˘

Pe-ar Pre-?ident Obama,

On behalf of the arts community, I kvould lifcc- to congratulate you on your election a? our now

president.

I arvi /vritin^. to ur^f- you to Initiate- a neiv Koosevelt-style

Works P r o j e c t Adiviini?tration

to employ thousands of skilled artists and craftspeople as participant? in ttie rc-tuiWin^. of Americas

infrastrvcture. J u ? t as they were

in the

1J^)C>S, artists could be oommSSmed

to adorn our highways, bridges, parks, and schools with

imagery pertinent

to the time-?. This

would be a valuable opportunity to bring. art to communities throughout the United

States.

In particular, artists could oelebYate rural communities' growing, commitment to wind energy project? across the &re-at

Plain?. Thi? \/aSt "Saudi Arabia of wind* promise-? to be the

e-conorviic and cultural renaissance of the Midwest. thk

It would Seem only appropriate- to recognize*

re-birth by offering, each community the opportunity to commission it? VeYy own

artwork,

celebrating, it? n e w ca?h crop. L-ocal schools could launch de-?i^t competitions and learn about vvinoi e-ne-r^tj'? potential, and t>u?ine??e-? could help assemble sculptures. Artworks placed near the entrance to Such communities or combined with Thus, communities hitherto Share-

youY

could be

a pavilion in a local park-

unable to afford cultural icon? would be able to

commitment to re-ne-yvable energy with their

own roadside

inte-rpretation?. Additionally, r e ? t area? and bridges at the entry point? to states with

wind programs could e r e c t ivind-poivered artwork-S

aS beacons, a? well a? didactic

displays about ivind power.

A s one example, the accompanying, illustrations shows a wind figure

American

based on Oirant Wood's famous rural portrait,

(Gothic. The male figure's iconic pitchfork, the land, i? transformed

Symbol of ivorfdn^.

into ivind turbines a? a

twenty-first

ce intury Symbol of wind energy a? the next "crop*

A N D R E W

LEICESTER

LAST PAGE

|>AC*.t.tT

FRONTED [LOW- LUUL.

129

PlPAC-ItC

PI^CtA^

fAweU

Arvie-ric-a'? ^rand tradition of family roadside- attractions the Jolly

Such as

reen Gn'mt, Faul 6myon, Pino^aurS, and Oi'mi Tire/>,

would be-joined t>y symbols of our commitment to a c-leaner and greener

future.

Public- art can thus reflect

an individual commuwty's values, -the area's

Shared agrarian histonj, and its contribution to the- national Search for a homegroM] Source of Secure energy.

Sincerely, hndrew

l<^\cc-Ster

A N D R E W L E I C E S T E R is an artist who works exclusively United

States, the United

of sustainability,

Kingdom,

most specifically

www.andrewleicester.com

and Australia.

in the public

realm,

throughout

the

His most recent work addresses the issues

wind, solar power, and

reclamation.

C O M M I S S I O N I N G A G E N C I E S : CITY O F L O S A N G E L E S C U L T U R A L A F F A I R S SÂ» L N R P R O P E R T Y

CORPORATION

PHOENIX OFFICE OF ARTS AND CULTURE P U B L I C

A R T

P R O G R A M

Janet Echelman, Her secret is patience, 2009, Downtown Phoenix Civic Space

J2& FSC

Mixed S o u r c e s Product group from well-managed f o r e i l i . controlled JOurcci and retyf led wood or fiber Cert no SW-COC-002309 www.fsc.org 91996 Forest Strnardthip Coumil