CFP: Interrogating “Public” in Public Art: Evaluating Efficacy, True Intentions and Meaning in Art for All?

Posted: 
August 4, 2020

Interrogating “Public” in Public Art: Evaluating Efficacy, True Intentions and Meaning in Art for All?
2020 Universities Art Association of Canada
Chairs: MR Barnadas ([email protected]) and Lara Bullock ([email protected])

Who is the public in “public art” and what does it mean to create work for and about art in the public domain? This panel invites papers that address the problematics of art in the public sphere from the vantage point of its relationship to the publics whom it is meant to address, represent, serve, and with which it shares space.

We invite artists, academics, critics, and administrators to submit papers that consider public art through the lens of critical consciousness, ethical responsibility, efficacy of representation and/or the delegatory function of public art, as well as class-consciousness and the socio-economic implications of public art. Additionally, papers might address the act of making and siting art within the public realm and public art under the aegis of egalitarianism/government collections or other public art collections and the complex relationship with the audience they are meant “for.”

Proposals due August 7, 2020 via https://uaac-aauc.com/conference/.