Building a world: The political nature of public art.
Item
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Title
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Building a world: The political nature of public art.
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Identifier
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AAI9630458
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identifier
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9630458
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Creator
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Gee, Marie.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Leanne Rivlin
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Date
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1996
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Art History | Sociology, Social Structure and Development | Psychology, Social
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Abstract
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In this research nineteen influential public art professionals were interviewed in order to develop a picture of current cultural sensibilities about public art in terms of the relationship between these public art professionals and the audience they serve. Found was a deep-seated paradox in which the aesthetic values and beliefs of the art world and the need to maintain them were in conflict with a concern for the everyday lives and experience of a pluralistic and non art-educated public. It was argued that public art professionals, who must satisfy both the art world and the public world, resolve this paradox by opening a political arena in which both sides can speak and act.;Although some public art professionals encourage the audience to understand public art through education and public relations, more seem to allow people without such an art education to be involved in the public art process in a way that is political, that is, coming together in public to speak and act about matters of public interest.;The manifestations of this political nature of public art are varied: from responding to the artwork itself, to sitting on committees, attending public meetings, or working with the artist, people, or the "constituents" as they are often called, are being given a position in a political process. Although for the most part decision-making is still reserved for art world professionals, the very involvement of the public, the attention to its concerns, the attempt at inclusion, all point to a challenge of the strictly bounded aesthetic world.;Public art professionals, embedded in the aesthetic habitus, continue to speak that language, believe in the power of art and artists, and see the public as people who respond to art. But when they bring that art into an everyday context, exposing it to people without a background in art and even involving those people in the process--expecting themselves, artists, and the artwork to change with the context--they are undermining the authority which art and artists have maintained for hundreds of years.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
