The landscape of public art has traditionally been dominated by sculpture, whether it be the monumental (such as Anthony Gormley’s colossal Angel of the North) or actual monuments like those clustered in Trafalgar Square. In recent years, however, there has been a move away from the landmark sculpture; instead of defining a place’s identity, a new wave of public artworks have come along which seek to disrupt and unsettle, using their locations as a platform to provoke rather than embellishing them as decoration. Public Art (Now): Out of Time, Out of Place is a new book surveying public art from the past ten years, challenging our preconceived notions about when, where and how art in the public realm takes place.
The practitioners featured in the book — edited by Claire Doherty — take a much different approach to that seen in the past, and their events and creations are here organised into five sections: Displacement, Intervention, Disorientation, Occupation and Perpetuation. Around 40 key international works are profiled, chosen for the bold way in which they tackle the issues of today such as the power and influence of corporations over the common man, implications of global migration, and the isolation of the individual in today’s society. The book includes process and event images, detailed descriptions and interviews with the practitioners, as well as texts from the editor and colleagues Per Gunnar Eeg-Tverbakk, Chris Fite-Wassilak, Matteo Lucchetti, Magdalena Malm and Alexis Zimberg. Public Art (Now) is available 9 March from publisher Art / Books in association with Situations, Public Art Agency Sweden and the European Network of Public Art Producers.
Paweł Althamer,
Common Task, multiple locations, worldwide (2008 –12)
Maider López,
Ataskoa, Mount Aralar, Basque Country, Spain (2005)
Jonas Dahlberg,
a visualization of the proposal for the memorial to honour the
victims of the Oslo terror act of 22 July 2011
Deborah Kelly,
Tank Man Tango, multiple locations, worldwide (2009–ongoing)
Heather and Ivan Morison,
You Are Lost (2014), commissioned by the Kinsale Arts Festival in the
historic port and fishing town of Kinsale, Ireland
Mike Kelley,
Mobile Homestead, Detroit, United States (2010–12)
