Public Art in Australia

Subscribe to Artlink - from $55. Subscriptions available for readers anywhere in the world.

NAVA - National Association for the Visual Arts

You are here » Artlink » Issues Index » Public Art in Australia

The last issue looking at public art was in 1989. Since then the act of putting an artwork into the public arena has become a theatre of conflict, misunderstanding and mismatch of expectations of the parties involved. Issues of community consultation, funding, location, relevance, corporate policy, government involvement are addressed.

Topic list: architecture, cities, community, conservation, cultural policy, design, economy, education, environment & ecology, heritage, identity, patronage, politics, popular culture, public art, regionalism.

Subscribe or Order this issue » (from $14 inc. postage)

Articles in Vol 18 no 2, 1998

A Moment of Reflection

Feature by Janice Lally

Public Art, the Art for Public Places (APP) program, models for commissions and the matter of percent for art in South Australia. "Processes of development can be as important as the final products when trying to stimulate the field of public art." — More »

Against the

Feature by Peter Anderson

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...... — More »

An Artist Speaks Out

Feature by Greg Johns

Challenging work, work that made some form of investigative observation about where we stand at this point in time was virtually not appearing anymore....In Adelaide and other cities, decorative design work, which is often very literal and subservient to conservative briefs, commercial interests, political agendas and restrictive models has appeared everywhere under the name of sculpture. — More »

Bridging Art and Ecology

Feature by David Cranswick

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. — More »

City Provoked: These Questions and More....

Feature by Virginia Fraser

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. — More »

Commissioning Public Art: A Consultant Speaks

Feature by Merily Oppermann

"I am looking at the final design and thought 'what went wrong?' Weeks earlier the Arts Committee had selected an exciting concept design. Why did the artist change the concept design so dramatically?" — More »

Entrepreneurs and Public Art: Private Sponsorship for Public Art Begins to Bloom in WA

Feature by Dorothy Erickson

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. — More »

Fire Rituals for Multicultural Times

Feature by Stephanie Britton

Describes the public art event for the 1998 opening ceremony of the Adelaide Festival of Arts -- Flamma, Flamma held at the Torrens River, Elder Park Adelaide SA on 27th February 1998. — More »

Five Hundred Sculptors in Melbourne!

Feature by Ken Scarlett

Whether Melbourne can support 500 or more sculptors is yet to be proven, but the talent is there and architects, developers and city councils seem to be much more receptive to the concept of public art. — More »

For Arts Sake a Fair Go

Feature by Sharon Theedar

The status quo of moral rights of artists in Australia today in respect of site specific works. — More »

Getting up to Speed in Queensland: The Learning Curve Levels Off

Feature by Ian Friend

The Queenslanders Art Alliance was established in 1986, maintaining an artist register as well as project management programs collaborating with the Queensland government in the 'Designing Environments' strategy which is intended to consolidate the quality of the collaborative process in public art projects. Looks at the Kangaroo Cliffs Boardwalk project. — More »

Good or Bad Idea: The Community as Public Art Practitioner

Feature by Maggie Baxter

If art in community places isn't for the community using those places, then who is it for? Should all art in public places have immediate community appeal, or reflect those communities in some way, or even have community contributions? And if the answer to any of these is yes, need this impinge on the quality of the art? — More »

How the 'Art in Public Places' Debate Shackles Creative Genius

Feature by David Engwicht

Buckle your seatbelts for a wild, multi-disciplinary ride to explore why all urban space is art... why every individual entering public space is an artist.... how the design of public space either feeds or inhibits this artist.... how professional artists involved in the production of 'public art' should therefore respond. — More »

Local Government and Public Art

Feature by Jacke Ohlin

Increasingly, local governments at the cutting edge are recognising the need to carefully define their role in public art and more broadly cultural development. — More »

Marking the 2000 Moment: Sydney Pulls Out the Stops

Feature by Gene Sherman

Sculpture is often considered a difficult medium. Public art is frequently controversial. Yet, public sculptural art offers the widest possible audience and the greatest opportunity (by far) to experience, within the increasingly intense landscape of our cities, the humanising and deeply satisfying impact of art and culture. — More »

Need an Artist? Call ArtSource

Feature by Helena Spedding

ArtsWA created 'ArtSource' as an artist's and art consultants register as a means of facilitating best practice in project development and management. — More »

Not Fence Sitting: The Art on Line Project

Feature by Pat Hoffie

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'. — More »

Percent for Art in the West

Feature by Andra Kins

The Percent for Art Scheme in Western Australia uses an allocation of a percentage of the construction cost, usually one percent, of State Capital Works projects to commission artworks. The artist's role is to create works that are integrated with the building or the landscape. — More »

Politics/Poetics: Reflections Documenta

Feature by Anne Kirker

'documenta X' curated by Catherine David from France, opened in Kassel Germany on 21 June 1997 and ran for 100 days. This colossal international event could not be simply understood as an art exhibition and it defied many of the expected ingredients of large scale block busters. — More »

Public Art at the Canberra Museum and Gallery

Feature by Jacky Talbot

In a city with so many cultural institutions focused upon the national agenda, the new Canberra Museum and Gallery is a significant symbol of the ACTs (Australian Capital Territory) increasing confidence in a local identity, interdependent with its national role. — More »

Public Art can Kill

Feature by Julie Robb

Looks at issues of the law and public art with references to Richard Serra's 'Sculpture No.3' and Christo's 'The Umbrellas: a joing project for Japan and USA'. — More »

Public Art in Sydney - Olympian Heights or More of the Same?

Feature by Courtney Kidd

The Olympic Co-ordination Authority and the Sydney City Council, the two commissioning bodies, have the power to transform the capital with their curated programs of site specific public art, some of which will have a limited life span. Ironically, in these environments where relationship to site is one of the criteria for inclusion, it is left to the artist to reconstruct the histories, to illuminate the voices demolished to make way for Olympic progress. — More »

Putting Art in the Landscape

Feature by Alex Selenitsch

Looks at Herring Island Environmental Sculpture Park, Victoria and the issues which surround putting art into parks and public spaces. Unlike the specialised designs of the contemporary art gallery, the 'environment' is a bundle of concepts distributed across the city and suburbs. — More »

Shelf life, Use by Date and Other Related Issues

Feature by Robyn Taylor

Isn't it about time we showed artists and our public artworks a little more respect? We coaxed artists out of their studios to put their creative souls on public display, and now many of those life enhancing objects are looking unloved, forlorn and neglected. — More »

Specific Times and Particular Places: Recent Public Art in Tasmania

Feature by Mary Knights

Recently there has been a surge of vigorous and challenging public art produced in Tasmania. As well as creating their own opportunities, Tasmanian artists have participated in a wide range of projects facilitated by local and State Governments, festival organisers, corporate entities and private benefactors...engaging with diverse audiences, specific times and particular places. — More »

The Enduring Moment

Feature by Catherine Murphy

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. — More »

The Public Interest: Is There Any?

Feature by Juliette Peers

"Living a few hundred metres away from a community arts project has clarified my doubts about the standard and the value of such projects and what they achieve for their supposed audience." Peers explores the current issues facing the production of community and public art looking at 'The Bridge, Construction in Process' an event and exhibition which took place in Melbourne over March- April 1998. — More »

The SCIP Project: The Making of Memories in Amnesia Land

Feature by Pat Hoffie

Looks at the Sandgate Town Centre Improvement Project (Suburban Centre Improvement Projects) in South East Queensland. — More »

The Vision not so Splendid

Feature by Pamela J Zeplin

Prominent gallerist Paul Greenaway and influential educator Pamela J Zeplin speculated recently about the depths to which confidence in the management of Adelaide's Public Domain has sunk. Who is to blame for the rash of mediocrity -- consultants, governments, artists themselves. Interview. — More »

What do THEY make of it?

Feature by Tamara Winikoff

Jenny Holzer shared some thoughts with Tamara Winikoff during Artist's Week in Adelaide in March 1998 about her relationship with the public, who over the years and in various countries, has been the audience for her artworks in the public arena. — More »

Issue Index