About the
gallery
A standing stone, a Renaissance marble statue or a war memorial: permanent public sculptures have rejoiced in our triumphs, reflected our beliefs and focused our thoughts. They have also been used as an instrument of state control and ideology.
Modern sculpture has long had this legacy to deal with, and never more so than when a work is commissioned for a city centre, full of 19th century triumphal statues of 'great men'. How do artists approach permanent sculpture today?
Whilst keeping a respectful but wary eye on tradition, artists are finding new and challenging subjects, using new materials and often engaging more closely with the history of a proposed permanent site and the lives of those living there, as much as physically making a sculpture in the studio.
Using the raw materials of earth, sea and even the elements, land artists require scientific and geological knowledge as well as large-scale logistical planning skills to realise often ambitious and high-profile works. Though these works get a lot of press coverage due to their size, they are often necessarily undertaken in remote areas or are short-lived interventions (see also Non-permanent work and Interventions and events).
Artists and commissioners should always be aware of the ecological and social implications of making changes to the landscape, however small or temporary. Also, be prepared for protracted negotiations with landowners!
When we make a sandcastle we know it will, in time, be consumed by the sea. Indeed, we may even design the castle with this in mind, and enjoy watching its demise. In such playful situations we are not worried about the impermanence of our 'work'.
So it is with artists making non-permanent sculpture and installation. Often a particular artwork will be installed in various sites and become, like a touring work of theatre, a different experience each time. Or the work may be made, like the sandcastle, with its eventual destruction or disappearance in mind.
Unlike permanent sculpture, such artworks eventually exist only as documentation, or in the memory. These artists are less concerned with adding yet another object to an already crowded planet.
Often critical or playfully anarchic, intervention art interrupts an already existing social system or institutional structure. This might be a physical intervention – say, by incongruously placing objects within a given context, often one of cultural, commercial or political power – or more abstract in form – perhaps using a means of communication, like street signs, billboards or radio, to adopt the systems and techniques of public information advertising and entertainment for artistic purposes. (see also Text and technologies)
Artists might also stage workshops and events, working with a community, drawing on its collective history and working as a conduit and facilitator for ideas. Such one-off events often live on as film or video pieces (see also Moving image and Non-permanent work)
How does an artist respond to a world saturated with images of all kinds, particularly those electronically generated, coming to us from broadcast media or computer and projection screens? The answer for some artists has been to work within the media, to understand how it works and make their own art using it.
To be fully public, such works are often projected onto large screens, or installed in public places like shopping malls, railway stations or airports. Some artists have experimented with the projected image, getting rid of the screen altogether and allowing a backdrop of, say, a commercial or cultural building to become part of the work. In this way, image and background can interact visually and conceptually. The moving, and often speaking image, when read in relation to the architecture upon which it is projected can comment in some way on the use or function of the building or the organisation housed within it.
We are constantly bombarded with text messages and answer them using an increasing range of text technologies. Artists have used text in a variety of ways, from poetic or commonplace words carved in blocks of stone, using traditional craft skills, to electronic information boards, or projections, bristling with incongruous messages of hope and despair. The text artist, like the poet, uses the images words suggest. Perhaps though, the artist places the emphasis on the visual and interventionist nature of the display and delivery of these messages. However, in art as in poetry, it is dangerous to make too many rules and distinctions!
Art and architecture have had a long and often interdependent relationship. Most great historical buildings had murals, ceilings and statuary designed by the leading artists of the day. Some of our modern 'high-status' buildings and public developments continue this tradition.
Artists are often brought on to a project right from the start, to add ideas from their own particular perspective, adding to the creative relationship between client and architect, and to produce work integral to the design.
Local Councils may invite artists to contribute to redevelopment schemes around canals, parks and housing estates, often working with local residents to better understand their needs and interests.
More critically, artistic or political statements can also be made using art and architecture. Many artists have used a combination of existing architecture and other media to draw out what a particular building represents or as a backdrop to work with (see also Interventions and events and Text and technology).
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