Public Art

A small sample of sites that have undergone this redefinition process. Unsanctioned “Public Art” is everywhere, a simple stencil that challenges, and to some extent removes, the cultural bureaucrats “power to define” what is and isn’t acceptable “Public Art”. This simple “naming” of objects, views and walls, as art in public space, is intended to re-direct the gaze from state authorised “public art by numbers” that’s been rinsed through various committee’s, back to already existing sites and objects of interest. The project was inspired by a late night phone call I took from a Conservative politician requesting, on behalf of the head of the local public art committee, that I refrain from using the term “Public Art” to describe Nuart’s Street Art projects and that I should stick with “Gatekunst”. A pending application for support was discussed, “we’re dealing with your application and trying to find a way”. The inference was clear.

The following morning I registered www.publicartstavanger.com.

Main Photo: Brian Tallman.

SAFE PUBLIC ART

Is public art too conservative, too boring, too consensus driven, you know, a little too "safe"?. It is now. I saw this abandoned safe in Kristiansand and thought perhaps the Arts Council had initiated a new way to distribute funds, if they had, it was empty when I got there. Considering the initial inspiration for this project, this was an opportunity too good to miss.