The Coupling of Art and Government: Dilemmas in Government Commissioned Public Art

Abstract

In Queensland, Australia, public art, and specifically the public art produced under Art Built-in, has been seen to be "dumbed down," with a preference for art in the public domain that is not critically-engaged. The government client-commissioner within the supposedly democratic art-by-committee process often expects the artwork to represent government values and to be content-free and risk-free with the intention of avoiding controversy. With the demise of Art Built-in in 2006, Arts Queensland has put in place a new strategy, art + place. In terms of critically engaged practice in public art, has Queensland public art improved? In this paper, a case study of three recent commissioning phases of the Department of Justice and Attorney General will be undertaken to reflect on the development of Queensland's government public art commissioning methodologies.