2nd Call for Papers
International Geographical Congress 2012
Cologne, 26th - 30th August 2012
IGU Commission 'Cultural Approach'
Organisers:
Julia Lossau (Humboldt-Universitaet Berlin) and Quentin Stevens (The
Bartlett, UCL/RMIT University)
The Uses of Art in Public Spaces
With the emergence of public art as a distinct form of art practice in
the late 1960s, and the subsequent explosion in its varieties of medium,
form and location, geographers began examining the complex spatialities
of public art’s conception, production and reception. This interest has
intensified through the cultural turn in the social sciences, the
increased interest in utilizing qualitative data and methods, and in
particular through the strong links established both theoretically and
empirically between art and urban gentrification. Another strong
thematic link between public art and geographical research agendas is
the ways that these artworks might connect to memory and sense of place.
The vast majority of existing research into public art has focused on
the aesthetic, cultural and political intentions and processes which
shape its production. The art object is often viewed in terms of an
instrumental or symbolic role within a particular ideologically-driven
activity, such as affirming class or ethnic distinctions, or assisting
city marketing and gentrification. What remains relatively understudied
is how various kinds of public art are actually received by the public,
and the material landscape within which that reception occurs. Much
analysis dwells on theoretical discussion of the potential
representational capacities of artworks as texts, with too little
empirical analysis of their actual ‘use’, which may not be discursive,
and which may not be as the artist or sponsor intended.
The aim of this session is to examine various geographical aspects of
public artworks from the perspective of their everyday use. We take
public art in a broad sense to include commissioned and unofficial
artworks, memorials, street art, advertising, and street furniture. We
are interested in the rich diversity of people’s engagements with public
artworks across various temporal and spatial scales.
We particularly encourage the submission of papers which explore the
following themes:
• different modes of use of public artworks: passive, active and
interventionist; through the various senses
• different understandings of use within the overall development process
for public art: its conception, funding, procurement, development,
construction, unveiling, and aftercare. Does the public only ‘use’
public artworks as finished products?
• conflicts between everyday practices around public art and the
expectations of designers, sponsors and site managers
• the encouragement or management of specific user behaviors around
public artworks
• how everyday practices around public artworks relate to their meaning,
history and their modes of representation
• how these practices vary according to specific social factors such as
gender, age, and cultural background
• how notions of ‘use’ and ‘mis-use’ can be conceptualised convincingly
in the case of art, which is typically defined in opposition to
practical utility
Please submit your abstract of max. 3.000 characters online on
https://igc2012.org by December 15, 2011.
--
Prof. Dr. Julia Lossau
Juniorprofessur für Kulturgeographie
Geographisches Institut
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Unter den Linden 6
D-10099 Berlin
Sitz: Rudower Chaussee 16
Tel.: +49 (0)30 2093 6882
FAX: +49 (0)30 2093 6853
|