Artists Reconsider Their Roles in Our Society Through Residency Program

Making art in the public is no longer just placing an object in a public plaza, a monumental sculpture in a park or a memorial sculpture. Public art can be integrated into the landscape or digitally into the fabric of a building.   Or, art in the public can be seventy artists doing performances on Main Street over a short span of time.

Considered in current phraseology as  “social practice”, art in the public   might be serving food to people at a public venue.  Or, public art as social practice might be a hotel that considers itself to be art, (like in rockaway beach NYC). That is to say  “Hotel as art” as opposed to a hotel that is “decorated” with art works.  Boats sail the harbor constructed entirely of recycled wood replete with gardens whose produce are detoxifying agents. The boat might be piloted and farmed by a crew of artists.

However it is manifest, some stronger in concept and in form than others, different forms of art are engaging the public in a variety of ways.  Diverse mediums are morphing in public spaces and effectively transforming them.

Reconsidering The Artists' Role in Society

Over the last few decades in  an increasingly object oriented and mercantile art world, artists are beginning to think and work at other ways in which they can contribute their talents to society. And, with the planet as tumultuous as it has ever been economically and politically it is appropriate to question our roles and to feel creative and empowered, as opposed to being motivated by an arbitrary art world.

If artists are traditionally the ones in society to critique society and be visionaries, now is a perfect time for us to be asking these questions.  It is within this rich and compelling dialogue of the moment that I designed a program at SVA, “Reconfiguring Site.”

Many artists would like to make art in the public but feel overwhelmed by its challenges or turned off by what is often seen as the compromise of one’s creative freedom. The restrictions imposed by a commissioning agency, as well as limitations of liability, money, recognition etc are off putting for
an artist.

The Residency

The Public Art Residency Program at SVA was structured as a think tank for public art. Inviting high caliber artists whose work has been sited in the public (but who might not necessarily title themselves “public artists”), as well as landscape architects, architects, curators, and public art administrators, this six week intensive residency gave each participant an opportunity to engage with these concerns.  

Daily workshops with artists and public art administrators gave the participants exposure to top practitioners in the field. The public art administrators who visited ranged from a representative of the GSA’s art in arch program “Nuts and bolts” workshops that are critical for artists to know in order to work on public art projects, were offered.  These were reading from plan (architecture and landscape architecture); grant writing, contracts for artists, and more.

A range of public art administrators were invited to speak about how to put together a good proposal or what makes a public artwork successful. Critics and curators were invited to critique the works on a routine bases, thus engaging in the process, paramount to the development of a work of real substance. Each participant had their own studio and access to the state of the art sculpture and digital facilities of SVA.

Four days a week there was a two-hour visit from an artist, public art administrator, or a curator. In addition to guest lecturers were four core faculty members. One is an experienced public art curator; two were artists who work in the public (with diverse approaches to working in the public). There was also an architect.

The participants were required to develop a work during their time that could be realized. SVA’s sculpture facilities offered state of the art digital labs where they could develop maquettes for their visions if they felt that appropriate. Most of the participants elected to develop temporary projects for overlooked sites in NYC.

Since the program’s inception, many of the participants have successfully won projects, among them a major GSA (General Services Administration) project in Miami, AIOP (Art in Odd Places) projects, and countless other installations in public sites. The artists who attend this program come because they are reconsidering their practices as artists.

Art in the public can push the boundaries of conventional notions of art as object  (its traditional relationship to decoration) to become something larger, often questioning the role of the artist in contemporary society. Making art in the public is a dialogue with site, often with art history, and ultimately with the viewer of the work. Understanding the complexity of making a successful work in the public was the mission of this residency.

A comprehensive program in public art that addresses the complexity of creating resonant works in the public is what we began at SVA’s public art residency in the summer of 2011. Next year it will become a laboratory for actually making works and placing them in the public!

Read more about the SVA Public Art Residency >>