Blog Assignment #11: Public Art Projects and Contemporary Debate

The “Art in the Open” exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York explored the many different forms that public art projects in New York City have taken over the years. These art projects have varied from physical structures (statues and installations) to more performative and conceptual pieces. In addition, many have explicitly engaged the community in debate about contemporary topics.

This blog assignment asks you to explore the ways that public art does and can engage the community (in this case, the NYC public) in contemporary debates. It has four components.

  1. Read about Ai Weiwei’s current public art exhibit, “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors.” Think about the goals of the artist for this exhibit. You can find the link here: https://www.publicartfund.org/ai_weiwei_good_fences_make_good_neighbors
  2. Visit at least three (3) of the instillations in the exhibit. The exhibit takes many different forms (structures, banners, bus shelters, etc). Try to visit at least 2 different kinds. Take a photograph of each that you visit.
  3. Post your photographs of the 3 installations and a short reflection about how each piece “works” to engage the community to the course blog site. The reflections can be short (less than 100 words), but should be thoughtful and engaged.
  4. Finally, brainstorm about the following questions: If you had to create a public art project that engaged the NYC community around the theme you chose for your curatorial project, what would it be? Where would it be? What form would it take? How would the form reflect the content and engage the community in discussion? Write up your thoughts and provide a short (300-500 word) description of the public art project you envision.

After the deadline has closed, please read the entry of 1-2 of your classmates and, if at all possible, go to the building or space and use their entry to take a quick tour. Then post a comment about what you learned about the building or space from their tour to the course blog site.

Deadline for blog: Sunday, November 19th at 5:00 pm

Deadlines for comments: Monday, November 20th at 11 pm

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