This summer, Lawrence Argent installed "Ghost Trolley" in Aurora, Colorado, at a moment when rebirth of trolley systems or "light rail" has achieved messianic proportions throughout the USA. After nearly 100 years of automobiles, light rail is the mass transit system of choice for the suburban middle class moving back to the city centers. All planners under 40 years old assume that the renovated American cities of the future will be organized around light rail stations with heavy rail linking cities within metropolitan regions. All this … [Read more...]

40th Anniversity of Blake's Sargent Pepper Album cover for the Beattles Public Art managers and curators have developed successful collaborations with community-based organizations to enhance the value and participation of a new artwork, but in general the industry has failed to capture potential coordination via the mass media and Internet. In London last week, Coca Cola gave the public art establishment a lesson. Although Coca Cola was using this system to increase sales, nothing about the interactive system is ethically problematic. In … [Read more...]

A detour from new critical methods development to respond to Flyover. Or maybe this is on the way. Unlike the museum or journal, the players in the selection, design and implementation of public art and public space do not have the luxury of open exploration as the primary value. Everyone that has served on a diverse, but sophisticated design competition jury, knows that generally the museum-type artistic merit is most evident in the runner-up or second runner-up. The winner must satisfy a higher percentage of different values and … [Read more...]

I asked Lawrence Argent and he agreed. I chose Argent because I think he is one of the best public artists in the USA. But the new method of critique may not sit well with him or other artists. Past articles at Aesthetic Grounds have addressed a number of important concepts to this method: vernacular, plagiarism, popular photography and imaginative connotative associations. Now Ottoman and Persian painting traditions and comparative analysis join the group. Hidden behind all are humane ethics, American philosophical pragmatism, cognitive … [Read more...]

In the last eight months, I have written on a number of projects with open questions. Here are some answers. MESSAGE FROM SEMAPHORE IN SAN JOSE Artist Ben Rubin announces the message and recognizes the code crackers. Rubin sponsored an awardless competition to read the semaphore. The message was deciphered in a couple of days, but Rubin waited a year. The message was the first sentence from Thomas Pynchon's 'The Crying of Lot 49". NBC Report from San Jose with the code crackers THE MESSAGE: "One summer afternoon Mrs Oedipa Maas came home … [Read more...]

As summer is winding down, it's time plan your North American public art and public space travel schedule. Here is my selection. Burning Man, north of Reno, Nevada, 21 Years in Different Forms August 27 to September 3, 2007 The giant performance and installation event in the Black Rock desert. Bring your tent and your caffeine to stay up for many nights. (The Burning Man website has an excellent archive.) Another amazing temple by David Best and friends. (If you don't know Best's temple for plywood cutouts, search Google Images with "David … [Read more...]

After my blog on the value of location for public art, I was honored that Cruz-Diez sent me the following essay he wrote in 1996. If you don't know his work, Cruz-Diez is one of the giants of 20th century art in Latin America. He was born in Caracas, Venzuela in 1922. In the 1960s, he began his physichromie series. These paintings, constructions and murals change color and patterns as the viewer moves. On his website, Cruz-Diez has animated the change of one artwork. If you are visiting south Florida, two works are on permanent display at … [Read more...]

Perhaps a division exists among the designers and artists of physical space in the city. All them wish to bring renewed energy to the person in space. Physically, the artists could create a perfect moment of relaxations under a tree and the near the fountain on a hot day. Mentally, the artists could spark contemplation, a laugh or a conversation by adding images or text that interaction with the attributes of the space or culture. Another group of people has these goals, but also wished to bring life to space itself. Not more human activity … [Read more...]

LEAP and SLOW DANCING At Lincoln Center in July, David Michalek presented his scientific, commercially-styled video on three outdoor screens on Alice Tully Hall. The critical response reveals the disconnect between the disciplines in the arts. Michalek's website links to every article - all by dance critics. None of the critics seem to have any knowledge of the history of exterior projections or film/video installations. I doubt this is Michalek's method, but if an artist wishes to be well-known, then take slick pictures of well-known people … [Read more...]