Public/Private
Consultation/Commission
As The Maker
Most crafts are made for an imaginary private audience and it's very difficult to make things you don't like.
It's also difficult to predict what people will buy. The audience is implied by what sells.
Either it sells or it doesn't (there is a market or there is not).
Having a target audience gives companies a specific market to aim for.
But you need to earn their trust, so that when they buy one piece from you, they want to buy another. You are developing a relationship.
Feedback always comes after you made the item.
Feedback always comes after you made the item.
This implies artistic freedom to a point, as it can be disheartening to make stuff that doesn't sell.
Work can only cost what (limited) disposable income is available to you.
Maker has the power to decide what is artistic...
Market has the power to decide what is financially viable.
As The Buyer
You decide what you like & what you don't like, out of what is available.
The buyer always earns more than the artist (has more disposable income).
Your freedom is to consume and you are given the idea of choice, but you are only choosing within a set (you cannot buy what isn't available).
Why Commission Art?
An example of a commission that went badly.
Dreamspace V was a large scale public art instillation made from 1996 to 2006 by artist Maurice Agis.
"Some of those who have experienced Dreamspace use the psychedelic language more akin to the Sixties to convey the sensation. "It's very womb-like and trippy. It's dreamy, a really nice vibe," one said. Previous visitors have likened the experience of walking through the labyrinth of coloured caverns to standing inside a rainbow fish."
The Guardian
Unfortunately one day, the installation made from huge pvc cells came loose from it's moorings killing two people and injuring fifteen more. The ensuing investigation, legal case and stress on Agis, literally destroyed him. During his trial for manslaughter and health & safety violations he vowed never to make a large scale sculpture or installation ever again. Two months after the legal case against him came to an end (charged with health & safety breach), Maurice Agis passed away.
Examples of Public Art
Art Is Good For You.
It's not about art - it's about the public (and their interaction with it)
Something of the public for the public
The irony of sculptures designed for a specific place being moved because of insurance.
Public space is now corporate space.
Governments/corporations own or rent it to fill with representations of themselves.
Art can sometimes need to compete with marketing installed with/by the same government or company that owns the space.
Some governments encourage the creation of public art.
Majority of countries have a % for art policy. Stating that if a new building is to be created a % of the funding goes towards a piece of public art.
But who decides what is in good taste, best value, who controls the gatekeeping for a project like that?
When does the 1% not work
Memorials & Monuments Are Public Art Too.
They promote well being, but you have to be extremely carefull about what you are trying to achieve.
Memorials be participatory work.
They can help indiviuals or community find a sense of ownership or closure for a particular event.
Especially in memorial work as they are specifically for remembrance.
It costs the same amount to make a piece of participatory (street/performance) art as it does to make a permanent sculpture.
You decide what you like & what you don't like, out of what is available.
The buyer always earns more than the artist (has more disposable income).
Your freedom is to consume and you are given the idea of choice, but you are only choosing within a set (you cannot buy what isn't available).
Why Commission Art?
- The commissioned artist gets to take someone else's idea and develop[ it with their own creative choices
- The commissioner has to accept that their idea will go through someone else's artistic choices.
- The person who originally designed the project may not know about material knowledge.
- It can sometimes be difficult to interpret an idea.
- It is important to remember that a commission is not a collaboration.
An example of a commission that went badly.
Dreamspace V was a large scale public art instillation made from 1996 to 2006 by artist Maurice Agis."Some of those who have experienced Dreamspace use the psychedelic language more akin to the Sixties to convey the sensation. "It's very womb-like and trippy. It's dreamy, a really nice vibe," one said. Previous visitors have likened the experience of walking through the labyrinth of coloured caverns to standing inside a rainbow fish."
The Guardian
Unfortunately one day, the installation made from huge pvc cells came loose from it's moorings killing two people and injuring fifteen more. The ensuing investigation, legal case and stress on Agis, literally destroyed him. During his trial for manslaughter and health & safety violations he vowed never to make a large scale sculpture or installation ever again. Two months after the legal case against him came to an end (charged with health & safety breach), Maurice Agis passed away.
Examples of Public Art
- Site specific art - built for a certain place
- Community engagement - to make a place or community "better"
- Is architecture public art?
- Memorials
- Unsolicited public art - like graffiti
- Can poetry be public art?
Art Is Good For You.
It's not about art - it's about the public (and their interaction with it)
Something of the public for the public
The irony of sculptures designed for a specific place being moved because of insurance.
Public space is now corporate space.
Governments/corporations own or rent it to fill with representations of themselves.
Art can sometimes need to compete with marketing installed with/by the same government or company that owns the space.
Some governments encourage the creation of public art.
Majority of countries have a % for art policy. Stating that if a new building is to be created a % of the funding goes towards a piece of public art.
But who decides what is in good taste, best value, who controls the gatekeeping for a project like that?
When does the 1% not work
Memorials & Monuments Are Public Art Too.
They promote well being, but you have to be extremely carefull about what you are trying to achieve.
Memorials be participatory work.
They can help indiviuals or community find a sense of ownership or closure for a particular event.
Especially in memorial work as they are specifically for remembrance.
It costs the same amount to make a piece of participatory (street/performance) art as it does to make a permanent sculpture.
Counter Monuments
Literally the opposite of a permanent memorial.
Criticising the idea of erecting a monument and then forgetting about the responsibility that we have to remember the event/conflict.
Jochen gerz creates interactive pieces that are ephemeral (not made to last).
They sometimes have a participatory element to them, but sometimes this is covered up or hidden after a certain time.
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