Increasingly, local governments at the cutting edge are recognising the need to carefully define their role in public art and more broadly cultural development.
The 'Art on Line' project initially conceived by Craig Walsh, involved the work of three Brisbane based artists - Wendy Mills, Keith Armstrong and Craig Walsh - who are perhaps better known as working along the experimental edge of fine art, rather than as 'community artists'.
There's something about public art projects that seems to either bring out the best or the worst in artists. Looks at the 'loo with a view' on the beach front at Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. The project has not been without its tensions......
Over the past decade there has been a significant increase in the number of public art projects directed at the improvement of the quality of public environments. Looks at two projects 'Restoring the Waters' in Fairfield (NSW) involving the artists Michaelie Crawford and Jennifer Turpin and the East Perth Greenway Project by artist Nola Farman. Both projects involve urban waterways and are to do with connecting people to place.
It is arguable that temporary public art is a more valid response to the transitory, dynamic and complex nature of the city and public life, more available to be critical and exploratory, than its permanent counterpart.
Although the history of the west militated against private sponsorship, it began to blossom in the 1990s. This was assisted by the State Government sponsored Percent for Art Scheme. Looks at various examples of public art in Western Australia.
Book review Public Art Practical Guidelines
Authors Pip Sawyer, Malcolm McGregor, Robyn Taylor
Published by the Ministry for Culture and the Arts
September 1997
$40.00 + $5.00 p&h from the
Artists Foundation of WA
RMIT project 'City Provoked' asked questions about the nature of public art emphasising 'new genre public art' - flexibility and responsiveness, specificity and topicality, innovation, challenge, engagement, unregulated encounter. collaboration, temporality and process rather than closure.