Siah Armajani -- Public Artist

As defined by the Morrill Act, the great land grant institutions of the United States have a distinct three part role to play in the education of the US public: to provide education, research and outreach for the benefit of the state and all its multiple constituencies. Since state and federal tax dollars partially fund land grant institutions, there is a responsibility to serve the interests of the citizenry well. At its core, the land grant mission fosters participation, civic responsibility and democracy. Public art does so as well.

Public art practice is well suited to developing the ongoing exploration of the civic meaning of public space and representation. Shared concerns around an investigation regarding what constitutes the public, and discovering meaningful roles for participation with diverse constituencies can help focus the effort between a public artist and a public institution such as a land grant university.

While this site speaks mostly to public art as a practice of the visual arts, there are many strands of public art that include or incorporate multimedia performance work, theater and dance. These art forms lend themeselves equally well to the exploration of public meaning and community building. Involving the arts in all their richness, where applicable, is critical.

Public Art and Art in Public Places

A quick look through the many web sites that a search on the term "Public Art" retrieves on the web, makes it immediately obvious that a distinction needs to be drawn between art placed in public spaces and a more integral public art practice. The process (as well as needs) of public art is distinct from making works of art in the confines of the studio and placing them in public spaces, or work based solely on local environmental conditions (for example, site-specific installation work). Public art draws its uniqueness, as a practice, from the commitment of the artist to relinquish a significant portion of the art process to a public concern and the constituencies that represent that concern. Public artists work with communities to identify and communicate local meanings, and invite the community to help define the artistic endeavor--to tailor the art work to their specific context, their social and cultural reality. That means that public art is not necessarily about championing status quo norms, whether in terms of the "official" art world, or dominant cultural values. Public art must be democratic and engaged.

While partnering with a community to make art, and inviting participation, the artist does not relinquish the responsibility of crafting the work. The artist brings professional knowledge and a developed set of skills to the table and that is not negotiable. But those skills are placed at the disposal of the evolving project as a whole.

Product and Process

Another, often confusing, concern of public arts practice is the question of the artistic outcome of a public arts project. While it is true that public art has been associated with sculptural projects and quasi-architectural constructions. That limitation is reflective more of its contemporary origins than any inherent necessity. Contemporary public art practice emerged as a consequence of the efforts of several artists who were exploring the context of the "site" in sculptural work. Works of art placed outdoors invariably inhabit a space with preexisting conditions, meanings, and concerns. Art works placed outside of the gallery, museum or studio benefit from an exploration of the meaning of the specific place in which they are situated.

As some artists began to exploit the possibilities of areas that were "left over" from architectural projects (typically spaces too small or insignificant to be of much concern to the architect--areas often simply covered over with grass, concrete or indescript plazas). They became concerned with the impact of the art work on the space and the people who used it. Controversy surrounding the placement of art work in public areas drove the need to develop a critical evaluation of the role of art placed in public venues. The plethora of responses to that developing dialogue is evident in the wide-ranging projects that are currently done under the rubric of public art. From that exploration of responsibility to public places and meanings evolved a practice of art making that is committed to understanding public meaning and evolving strategies for civic engagement..

It should be clear that as important as the eventual artistic product(s) is to a successful public art project, a thoughtfully crafted process is equally relevant. The community and the artist agreeing to undertake a public art project must create an opportunity, an openness, that can facilitate the need to uncover and create public meaning. This can be easily undermined either by the inflexibility of the artist, a project that a community feels no commitment to, or an overly-mananged committee-driven project that leaves the artist and/or community little room for creative expression.

Public-Publics

The use of the term public is very misleading and often enough intentionally so. It takes little reflection to see that there is no mythological, homogenous "public"--no uniform audience for public art. Instead, there are many competing, even conflicting, meanings inherent in a comprehensive vision of any given public space. This is precisely where the greatest contributions can be made by a public arts approach (and the greatest potential for creative involvement inheres) since, at its best, public art practice seeks to lend expression to a diversity of voices. It facilitates a creative exploration of the underlying tensions intrinsic to any community or place and exploits the plurality of meanings evident. The meanings of "place" are contested and that is nowhere more apparent than in the land grant institution. Land grant institutions constantly strive to balance the competing needs of the various publics they serve under the impossible umbrella of administering for the public good.

Leadership in the land grant context requires a similar commitment to understanding the multiple competing claims of diverse publics on the resources of the institution. Public art can effectively partner to uncover and creatively engage those multiple constituencies.