Differing Critiques for Public Art

Slavin offers a discussion of the development of public art at least from 1963 after which analyzes a few of the controversies over public art over the last 3 decades. She finds that the fact that a few of the art produced was not understood as it was abstract rather than representational so that much with the public failed to understand what was getting stated by these works. Slavin's principal issue is that the experts and art globe supporters failed in their duty to educate the public about the nature and meaning of these kinds of art and to provide interpretations as to why these works should be appreciated. Instead, these supporters did what attacked groups usually do--they drew their professional wagons into a circle and created a siege mentality, responding "as a group of specialists defending their professional prerogatives" (Slavin 43).

Wainwright begins having a critique of an earlier essay by Suzanne Lacy which created the term "new genre public art" referring to "socially engaged, socially responsible public art" (Wainwright 16). Wainwright finds that Lacy and others expect such art being accepted on its personal terms, based on "the worthiness in the artist's intentions, not in term of social results" (Wainwright 16). She finds this failure counter-intuitive simply because the artist could explicitly intend a project to try and do social work, meaning "it is reasonable to jud

 

5) activist works ought to operate across scales in terms of medium and target audiences; and

Slavin indeed assumes that art will go beyond the boundaries with the past and so will always be moving into new territory and new modes of expression, thus requiring at all times that some explanation is going to be needed to bring much of the public to a location where the jobs can be understood additional readily. Wainwright assumes the same thing but places the onus over a artist and not on a audience or supporters.

Wainwright further states that the work "should succeed aesthetically in a way that is certainly out there towards the general public" (Wainwright 17).

Wainwright considers her criteria and adds numerous that she says would indicate success, and these criteria in particular show what she techniques by achievement in this context. She adds the following:

2) an activist project need to be committed to rigorous, systematic self-evaluation.

ge the accomplishment of that project by regardless of whether of nor it achieves this goal" (Wainwright 16). Wainwright thus suggests two criteria by which to achieve an overall judgment about social activist public art:

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