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Public Art Conference Archive—2001
Panel Presentation: The Distribution of Power in the Public Art Process
- Moderator: Tom Finkelpearl, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, NY
- Panelists: Dennis Adams, Artist, NY, NY, Mary Miss, Artist, NY, NY, and Tom Otterness, Artist, Brooklyn, NY
- Notetaker: Tricia Mire
Summary
Percent for Art laws require cities to commission public art in city-funded construction projects. But why is it that in one building an artist joins a design team and has a say in the basic decisions that define the project, while in the next building an artist is relegated to a minor site pre-selected by the architect? When an artist joins a design team does he/she gain power in the project or lose the power to have an independent voice? How do personal charisma and professional experience come into play? How does the swirling cloud of community input, potential controversy, inter-agency competition, and legal interpretation destabilize the power relations in the commissioning process? These and other questions will be addressed by a group of public art veterans, people who have experienced the agony and the ecstasy of "the process."
