State of the Art

I am sure not all self-labeled creatives are rebellious by nature. I have yet to meet someone who fits the bill, but that's not to say they don't exist.
"Lets make art/design and stick to the rules we have been given" - never heard those words uttered, but perhaps I frequent a different support group? All this to say that spending 6 hours yesterday discussing a framework for regulating public art in the city of Cape Town was well, challenging.

Of course artists need guidelines and an authority to provoke, agitate and address. Providing suggestions as to how that authority should conduct itself was both frustrating and disarming at the same time. I was repeatedly brought back to the struggle playing out in my mind - not so much as what constitutes art, but what the role of that art is. A conversation I had today brought some clarity.

I sing with a band at our church. As we play, we seek to capture the attention of our audience so as to direct them towards thinking about God and the things of God. We worship Him and utilize our talents to make it easier for others to do so. I can honestly say that humbling myself before my creator and acknowledging who He is is a great blessing to me as it is honoring to Jesus Christ. To worship is to rightly align my priorities in my heart and mind, remembering that without God I have nothing and am lost. With Him, and through Him I am saved. As a vocal musician in a church context, my art is to lead others to that place of acknowledgment.

How does this relate to public art? Well, what do we draw attention to as visual artists? What do we draw people from and gather people towards? If art is not frivolous and whimsical as some like to believe, what are artists saying and how are they using their talents to lead us into realigning our perspectives and priorities?
Art and Worship are closer together than I realised. 

So how does a self-proclaimed rebel and follower of Christ do design and art?
I used to think that there was simply one type of rebellion, and that was it was wrong to rebel. In a sense that was right thinking, as the Bible calls us to be under authority and to operate under authority in a God-honoring way. My inner struggle is not so much with law makers, but with the position of law itself. Legalism. An overzealous desire to apply the letter of law, to the detriment of the spirit with which that law was created. Drives me nuts. That is what I rebel against (mostly).

So back to talking about rules and management of art. I would tend to focus such a document in guiding the reader to understand the role of art (which is..?) and that the manner in which is undertaken should inherently be for the public good. For example, rather than saying 'no sharp edges on any artwork', I would place greater emphasis on communicating safety. Favoring a more encompassing education about the heart of the matter over bullet-point style rules...

We all know that someone from my support group is bound to create something incorporating fireworks one day, coming back to say the document said nothing about THAT exact matter.
 We really are a rebellious bunch!

A challenging day for an anti-legalistic designer writing rules for visual worship leaders.

Thanks as always to www.leonslens.com for incredible shots!

 

Curating the City

Over the last few days as I have been sifting through public art, not-art and everything in between, I decided to visit an exhibition which would hopefully clarify the matter.

2013 Ways to Do Public Art is currently running at the Cape Town City Hall. I had not yet visited City Hall and thought of the exhibition as a double-dose of public spectacle: public architecture meets public expression. It was unfortunately a truly disappointing experience. Rhetoric was shouted against and pasted on every surface as the paint of this grand old lady seemed to peel off with disgust.
There was little in the way of artwork with no obvious sense of flow, progression or narrative. If the objective was to accurately portray the state of public art and policy on artistic expression in the city then it may perhaps be the most scathing opinion thus aired on the matter.

I was hoping for the pink carpet to be rolled out.

A genuine invitation for the public to be engaged with art.

The bar needs to be higher, it's as simple as that.

Still Life/No Life with Chicken Leg 

Here today, gone tomorrow..

I have a surprising number of friends who would not consider themselves creative. Their perspectives are always necessary and often priceless for those of us who like to say we are.
Today's discussion was about the obvious disconnect between permanent and temporary works of public art. After steering clear of the 'does graffiti count?' discussion (phew!) we came to the conclusion that if art in a public realm is not engaging, it is not useful. Unfortunately many pieces in our city appear to lack engagement and thus cast a poor light on the usefulness of art.

It this the role of public art: to engage and serve city dwellers? How long can a piece of art perform this role - or perhaps the question is for how long does city culture hold issues, tensions and discussions in its bronzed grip before moving to the next idea? Perhaps the question is what type of art would have city dwellers disengage with what is currently consuming them first?

Temporary exhibitions are exciting. Although if truth be told, the allure of what is next on the art scene is cradled side-by-side with the reassurance that if I don't enjoy it or identify with it, it wont be there long enough to really matter. Protests, yarn bombing, chalk art, flash mobs and the like are art of a different generation. A generation that paces in front of a microwave and wears out the 'door close' buttons on elevators. My idea, right now, is valid and useful..but tomorrow, someone elses i(dea) will take centre stage, but just for a moment, only to be screen swiped away for the next.

Engaging art. Quality discussions. Contested space.

Here are a two public artworks which I have found to be absorbing and engaging. World class. Not in Cape Town.

The Bean
Chicago USA:Anish Kapoor

The Vietnam War Memorial Wall
Washinton DC, USA:Maya Lin

...but is it art?

Understanding Public art in the City of Cape Town in 28 days.

This is my mission and my job. With any creative endeavor, one cannot limit ones thoughts to work hours and work days, so 28.24.7 it will be.
As our team are unpacking, documenting and repackaging the notions of public art in our fair city, we keep hovering around the same discussion. Process vs Product. The very manner in which we record, select and understand these art works adds an additional layer of text to their story. Thus if some of our endevours seem to be unsuccessful then, by virture of the process, we have still progressed.
Not everyone agrees....and so it officially becomes art! 

And therewith the motivation for this blog. Documenting and displaying the art of understanding art.

Feel free to comment as you cruise through here, or head over to our team Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/CapeTownPublicArt#

The idea of contested space will always be at the front of my mind when I look at a publicly accessible work of art. As we work through the next 28 days, other creative prejudices, opinions and ideas will surely be laid bare...but first things first.

Simply put, contested space is any space that two or more people,entities etc. are in dispute over (or at least, not in agreement) Broadly speaking, that could be anything from a newly constructed cycle path to your small, but developing, village in the digital construct of Age of Empires. 

Who owns it. Who wants it. Who uses it. Who needs it. 

Tools of the Trade

 
All the opinions recorded in this blog are my personal thoughts and do not represent my employers, co-workers, clients, the artists mentioned etc etc. If you have any copyright concerns or issues relating to opinions voiced, do let me know.