Description:
This multidisciplinary anthology is the first to explicitly address both the pedagogy and geographies of socially-engaged public art practice.
Topics include: constructing new models for developing and commissioning temporary and performance based public artworks; the social inclusiveness of public art; the radical developments in public art and social practice pedagogy; and unraveling the relationships between public artists and the communities they serve.
Complete with a visual timeline providing historical context, The Everyday Practice of Public Art is an essential guide to the increasingly complex nature of artists practicing in the public realm in the twenty-first century.
Review Quotes:
"Finally a publication that attempts to explore the multiple, complex elements that make up contemporary art in the public sphere. The Everyday Practice of Public Art traces the changes in contemporary public practice through a broad reaching series of essays: from the growth of social practice in educational institutions, to the problematics of city public art regeneration programs, to an analysis of art as a catalyst for social transformation. This publication asks the question - why public art, what is happening now and what can and should art in the public sphere be doing for us?"
Dee Hibbert-Jones, Associate Professor of Art, University of California, Santa Cruz
"This book is a reminder that social practice is also an acknowledgement of different perspectives, new histories, collaboration. The authors of these texts do us a service by bringing new voices and views to the already robust debate."
Suzanne Lacy, Chair, MFA Public Practice, Otis College of Art and Design
"A wonderful collection that takes public art as a socially engaged practice seriously. Theoretically, practically and politically engaged, this book does much to advance debates on art and the social world."
Loretta Lees, Professor of Human Geography and Director of Research, University of Leicester "This volume deserves to become essential reading for researchers interested in understanding the processes underpinning the production of public art, its inscription and its contribution to social inclusion. Its value lies in the broad definition given to public art, amply reflected in the case studies, and to the innovative structuring of the discussion. The editors are to be applauded for their innovative approach in teasing out socially engaged public art practices, not least in emphasising the pedagogic routes underpinning production, its evolution and through bringing together authors representing a suitably diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds."Ronan Paddison, Emeritus Professor of Geography, University of Glasgow
"The book's value is its distillation of community-based public art practice along with advice and curricula for the establishment of public art programs that emphasize social involvement. Summing Up: Recommended."
S. Webster, Lehman College and the Graduate Center CUNY in CHOICE