"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?"
"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.
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.
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
'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.
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?
Exhibition Review Contemporary Art in Asia: Traditions/Tensions Organised by the Asia Society New York
Art Gallery of Western Australia
6 February - 29 March 1998
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.
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.
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.
Exhibition review All this and Heaven too Curated by Juliana Engberg The Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art
Art Gallery of South Australia
28 February - 13 April 1998
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.