32115

SoSe 15: From Public Sculpture to Public Art

Michele Bogart (Terra Gastprofessur)

Comments

This class will examine the history and significance of three-dimensional public art in the United States, with particular focus on patronage and process. We will start with public monuments of the turn of the twentieth century, and move on to investigate public art from the Depression on into the present. Our investigations will be divided (somewhat arbitrarily) between memorials and more deliberately self-expressive non-commemorative work. Readings and student-led class discussions will explore the shifting forms, sites, meanings of, and audiences for, public art, and the relationships among creativity, aesthetics, public policy, urban politics, and signification. Analysis and critique of specific works of art, as well as of the practical side of public art-making and conservation will also be a crucial objective, with inquiry guided by some of the following questions: How do we assess public art in the present day? Is it appropriate to use the same criteria as we use to evaluate art in the gallery? How do we protect the public interest but not mistreat artists? Does contemporary public art serve a real public purpose? Under what circumstances? How do concerns for excellence stack up against desires for community participation and affirmation? Should 21st-century public art be permanent? Students will do written work that either builds upon issues studied in class or proposes alternative points of view. close