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

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Author(s)
Younger, Jay
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2012
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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 ...
View more >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.
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View more >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.
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Journal Title
International Journal of the Humanities
Volume
9
Issue
7
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2012. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. For information about this journal please refer to the journal’s website or contact the author.