Public art

The Spire of Dublin

Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre[1] with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically accessible to the public; it is installed in public space in both outdoor and indoor settings. Public art seeks to embody public or universal concepts rather than commercial, partisan, or personal concepts or interests.[2] Notably, public art is also the direct or indirect product of a public process of creation, procurement, and/or maintenance.[3][4][5][6]

Independent art created or staged in or near the public realm (for example, graffiti, street art) lacks official or tangible public sanction has not been recognized as part of the public art genre,[7] however this attitude is changing due to the efforts of several street artists.[8][9] Such unofficial artwork may exist on private or public property immediately adjacent to the public realm, or in natural settings but, however ubiquitous,[10][11] it sometimes falls outside the definition of public art by its absence of public process or public sanction as "bona fide" public art.[12]

  1. ^ Phillips, Patrica C. (1989). "Temporality and Public Art". Art Journal. 48 (4): 331–335. doi:10.2307/777018. JSTOR 777018. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  2. ^ Smith, Roberta (2008). "Public Art, Eyesore to Eye Candy". Landscape Architecture Magazine. 98 (12): 128–127. JSTOR 44794099. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  3. ^ Raven, Arlene, ed. (1989). Art in the Public Interest. Ann Arbor and London: UMI Research Press (University of Michigan. ISBN 0-8357-1970-7.
  4. ^ Finklepearl, Tom (2001). Dialogues in Public Art. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0262561488.
  5. ^ Gevers, Ine (ed.). Place, Position, Presentation, Public. Maastrict/De Balie, Amsterdam: Jan van Eyck Akademie.
  6. ^ "Americans for the Arts | Public Art". Americans for the Arts. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  7. ^ Suderburg, Erika, ed. (2000). Space, Site, Intervention: Situating Installation Art. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-3158-1.
  8. ^ Ellsworth-Jones, Will (February 2013). "The Story Behind Banksy". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  9. ^ Deitch, Jeffrey (2010). Swoon. New York: Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 978-0810984851. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  10. ^ Rafael Schacter, "The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti", September, 2013; ISBN 9780300199420.
  11. ^ "Rafael Schacter and His "World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti"". www.brooklynstreetart.com. 2014-02-13. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
  12. ^ Bacharach, Sondra (October 2015). "Street Art and Consent". British Journal of Aesthetics. 55 (4): 481–495. doi:10.1093/aesthj/ayv030. Retrieved 22 September 2020.