ThoughtGallery.org > Mad. Sq. Art Symposium: Explaining Public Art

Mad. Sq. Art Symposium: Explaining Public Art

Madison Square Park Conservancy will host Explaining Public Art, a free public symposium, on the morning of May 18, 2015. In a series of individual presentations and group discussions, artists who have exhibited with Mad. Sq. Art, the contemporary art program of the Conservancy, will share their ideas and understandings of public art today.

Public art is at a crossroads. Colliding with the goals, aims and forms of the 1970s public art movement, today’s outdoor sculpture thwarts categorization because materials, site, maker and organizer aren’t standardized as part of a systemic program. Art presented in public spaces today must answer many questions about its meanings, its methods, and its makers. What is the purpose of “public art” in 2015—for artists, for art, and for the public? As artists today develop work across many indoor, outdoor and institutional contexts, what are the aesthetic, high-minded, or social motivations for presenting work? Whose job is to “explain” the art: the artist or organizer, the critic or viewer? Can outdoor sculpture today be explained within a rubric determined almost a half-century ago?

Kate D. Levin, Head of the Arts Program, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation, will present a keynote conversation at the conclusion of the symposium.

Admission is free but reservations are required. Please RSVP at [email protected].

One Madison Ave. at 23rd St., New York, NY











When: Mon., May. 18, 2015 at 9:00 am - 12:30 pm

Madison Square Park Conservancy will host Explaining Public Art, a free public symposium, on the morning of May 18, 2015. In a series of individual presentations and group discussions, artists who have exhibited with Mad. Sq. Art, the contemporary art program of the Conservancy, will share their ideas and understandings of public art today.

Public art is at a crossroads. Colliding with the goals, aims and forms of the 1970s public art movement, today’s outdoor sculpture thwarts categorization because materials, site, maker and organizer aren’t standardized as part of a systemic program. Art presented in public spaces today must answer many questions about its meanings, its methods, and its makers. What is the purpose of “public art” in 2015—for artists, for art, and for the public? As artists today develop work across many indoor, outdoor and institutional contexts, what are the aesthetic, high-minded, or social motivations for presenting work? Whose job is to “explain” the art: the artist or organizer, the critic or viewer? Can outdoor sculpture today be explained within a rubric determined almost a half-century ago?

Kate D. Levin, Head of the Arts Program, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation, will present a keynote conversation at the conclusion of the symposium.

Admission is free but reservations are required. Please RSVP at [email protected].

One Madison Ave. at 23rd St., New York, NY

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