Transcript
Narrator 0:00
From Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc in New York to Cleveland’s giant Free Stamp, public art can be a controversial and even divisive topic involving questions of style and esthetics, audience, relevancy, civic identity and democratic expression. Conversely, public art can create a climate of creativity, foster public advocacy, rehabilitate a city’s economic and cultural profile and establish positive relationships between artists, patrons and audiences. This is evident by successful pieces like Chicago’s Cloud Gate or the many iterations of Robert Indiana’s love sculpture at the Richard M Fairbanks symposium held at the University of Indianapolis on February 5, 2016 arts professionals and city leaders postulated that despite the potential criticism that could be lobbed at public art, there exists an inherent value in the beautiful and artistic that should be celebrated for its power to enrich and inspire. Angel Ysaguirre, Executive Director of the Illinois Humanities Council and former Deputy Commissioner for the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and special events, articulates this in the first session of the symposium,
Angel Ysaguirre 1:09
One of the things that we never that we seem to be afraid to talk about when it comes to the arts, in terms of the value, is the intrinsic value of beauty. And I think it’s a mistake not to not to talk about that, but there’s a fair amount of research about the relationship between art and nature and happiness, and in the end, that’s the point of government, right to provide the kinds of tools that we need as a community to make individuals happy. But I wouldn’t discount the incredible importance of Beauty and the relationship between beauty and happiness.
Narrator 1:46
Julia Moore of the Arts Council of Indianapolis likewise argues for the ability of public art to transform urban space into an artistic experience. She notes that one of the key moments of Indianapolis arts infusion strategy was to put art where people were anyway.
Julia Moore 2:01
This happened in a number of places. The Indianapolis International Airport, the whole new airport in 2008 five years of design and planning and art was supposed to be part of the airport from the very beginning. Get art into places where people, ordinary, ordinarily go. So just simply walking through the airport, even getting a drink of water becomes an artistic experience, and this has resulted in our airport getting the title of North America’s Best Airport four out of the five past five years.
Speaker 1 2:31
Scott Stulen and the curator of audience experience at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Applied Arts ability to uplift to artistic experiences in general, explaining the art can and should be appealing to a full spectrum of audiences.
Scott Stulen 2:44
Really, what we kind of think about in our departments, how fun doesn’t have to be frivolous and smart, doesn’t have to be boring, how we can have these things that are fun, accessible, but also very rooted in the arts, and kind of in art history and art education. So thinking about how we make things that are social, interactive and fun.
Ted Frantz 3:04
This podcast was produced by the Institute for Civic Leadership and Mayoral Archives and the Department of Communication at the University of Indianapolis. It is made possible by the support of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, Indiana Humanities, and the Lilly Endowment. For more information, please see our website, uindy.edu/mayoral.