Public Art and the Fragility of Democracy

Public Art and the Fragility of Democracy
Author: Fred Evans
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2018-11-20
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0231547366

Public space is political space. When a work of public art is put up or taken down, it is an inherently political statement, and the work’s aesthetics are inextricably entwined with its political valences. Democracy’s openness allows public art to explore its values critically and to suggest new ones. However, it also facilitates artworks that can surreptitiously or fortuitously undermine democratic values. Today, as bigotry and authoritarianism are on the rise and democratic movements seek to combat them, as Confederate monuments fall and sculptures celebrating diversity rise, the struggle over the values enshrined in the public arena has taken on a new urgency. In this book, Fred Evans develops philosophical and political criteria for assessing how public art can respond to the fragility of democracy. He calls for considering such artworks as acts of citizenship, pointing to their capacity to resist autocratic tendencies and reveal new dimensions of democratic society. Through close considerations of Chicago’s Millennium Park and New York’s National September 11 Memorial, Evans shows how a wide range of artworks participate in democratic dialogues. A nuanced consideration of contemporary art, aesthetics, and political theory, this book is a timely and rigorous elucidation of how thoughtful public art can contribute to the flourishing of a democratic way of life.

The Practice of Public Art

The Practice of Public Art
Author: Cameron Cartiere
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2008-05-07
Genre: Art
ISBN: 113589468X

This exciting new collection of essays by practicing artists, curators, activists, art writers, administrators, city planners, and educators offers divergent perspectives on the numerous facets of the public art process. The volume also includes a useful graphic timeline of public art history.

The Arts of Democracy

The Arts of Democracy
Author: Casey Nelson Blake
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2007
Genre: Art and state
ISBN: 9780812240290

Written by some of the most respected and accomplished scholars working in their fields, this volume illuminates the often contradictory impulses that have shaped the historical intersection of the arts, public culture, and the state in modern America.

Art in Public

Art in Public
Author: Lambert Zuidervaart
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2010-11-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 113949175X

This book examines fundamental questions about funding for the arts: why should governments provide funding for the arts? What do the arts contribute to daily life? Do artists and their publics have a social responsibility? Challenging questionable assumptions about the state, the arts and a democratic society, Lambert Zuidervaart presents a vigorous case for government funding, based on crucial contributions the arts make to civil society. He argues that the arts contribute to democratic communication and a social economy, fostering the critical and creative dialogue that a democratic society needs. Informed by the author's experience leading a non-profit arts organisation as well as his expertise in the arts, humanities and social sciences, this book proposes an entirely new conception of the public role of art with wide-ranging implications for education, politics and cultural policy.

The Moving Image as Public Art

The Moving Image as Public Art
Author: Annie Dell'Aria
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2021-05-08
Genre: Art
ISBN: 3030659046

This book maps the presence of moving images within the field of public art through encounters with passersby. It argues that far from mere distraction or spectacle, moving images can produce moments of enchantment that can renew, intensify, or challenge our everyday engagement with public space and each other. These artworks also offer frameworks for understanding how moving images operate in public space—how they move viewers and reconfigure the site of the screen. Each chapter explores a mode of address that examines how artists and curators leverage the moving image’s attentional power to engage audiences, create spaces, make place, and challenge assumptions. This book also examines the difficulties and compromises that arise when using urban screens for public art.

Doing Democracy

Doing Democracy
Author: Nancy S. Love
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2013-10-28
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1438449127

Doing Democracy examines the potential of the arts and popular culture to extend and deepen the experience of democracy. Its contributors address the use of photography, cartooning, memorials, monuments, poetry, literature, music, theater, festivals, and parades to open political spaces, awaken critical consciousness, engage marginalized groups in political activism, and create new, more democratic societies. This volume demonstrates how ordinary people use the creative and visionary capacity of the arts and popular culture to shape alternative futures. It is unique in its insistence that democratic theorists and activists should acknowledge and employ affective as well as rational faculties in the ongoing struggle for democracy.

Public Art

Public Art
Author: Cher Krause Knight
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2011-09-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1444360612

This book takes a bold look at public art and its populist appeal, offering a more inclusive guide to America's creative tastes and shared culture. It examines the history of American public art – from FDR's New Deal to Christo's The Gates – and challenges preconceived notions of public art, expanding its definition to include a broader scope of works and concepts. Expands the definition of public art to include sites such as Boston's Big Dig, Las Vegas' Treasure Island, and Disney World Offers a refreshing alternative to the traditional rhetoric and criticism surrounding public art Includes insightful analysis of the museum and its role in relation to public art

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of the City

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of the City
Author: Sharon M. Meagher
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 580
Release: 2019-08-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1317400631

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of the City is an outstanding reference source to this exciting subject and the first collection of its kind. Comprising 40 chapters by a team of international contributors, the Handbook is divided into clear sections addressing the following central topics: • Historical Philosophical Engagements with Cities • Modern and Contemporary Philosophical Theories of the City • Urban Aesthetics • Urban Politics • Citizenship • Urban Environments and the Creation/Destruction of Place. The concluding section, Urban Engagements, contains interviews with philosophers discussing their engagement with students and the wider public on issues and initiatives including experiential learning, civic and community engagement, disability rights and access, environmental degradation, professional diversity, social justice, and globalization. Essential reading for students and researchers in environmental philosophy, aesthetics, and political philosophy, The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of the City is also a useful resource for those in related fields, such as geography, urban studies, sociology, and political science.

Creative Rebellion for the Twenty-First Century

Creative Rebellion for the Twenty-First Century
Author: D. Boros
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2012-04-09
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1137016582

Employing political philosophy to argue the need for social and public art projects to be a part of the everyday lives of Americans, Boros creates a new synthesis of philosophical ideas to support the political value of public art.

Connecting Museums

Connecting Museums
Author: Mark O'Neill
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2019-10-16
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1351036165

Connecting Museums explores the boundaries of museums and how external relationships are affected by internal commitments, structures and traditions. Focusing on museums’ relationship with heath, inclusion, and community, the book provides a detailed assessment of the alliances between museums and other stakeholders in recent years. With contributions from practitioners and established and early-career academics, this volume explore the ideas and practices through which museums are seeking to move beyond what might be called one-off contributions to society, to reach places where the museum is dynamic and facilitates self-generation and renewal, where it can become not just a provider of a cultural service, but an active participant in the rehabilitation of social trust and democratic participation. The contributors to this volume provide conceptual critiques and clarification of a number of key ideas which form the basis of the ethics of museum legitimacy, as well as a number of reports from the front line about the experience of trying to renew museums as more valuable and more relevant institutions. Providing internal and external perspectives, Connecting Museums presents a mix of applied and theoretical understandings of the changing roles of museums today. As such, the book should be of interest to academics, researchers and students working in the broad fields of museum and heritage studies, material culture, and arts and museum management.