On the Enactment of Roundabout Art: A Praxeological Analysis

Abstract

The growth in the use of roundabouts to regulate traffic in many European countries has been accompanied for some years now by the planned use of their central islands. With the enactment of roundabout art, a new art form has established itself in the public space. Cities and regions that make use of such deployments generally do so for urban branding and community identity building purposes. Taking a praxeological perspective, this article uses a case study from Austria to demonstrate that the success and failure of such urban branding and community identity building practices does not depend solely on the ideas of the actors involved in the planning and implementation of roundabout art. Instead, it requires a broad perspective in which the enactment of roundabout art is understood as a phenomenon that is the result of the realization of the roundabout art itself as well as of the self–development of these installations and the context–dependent reception practices of their target audiences. In doing so, the article works out and suggests some central aspects of urban branding as well as roundabout art planning, implementation, and reception practices that could be used by urban planners, politicians, and other actors engaged in such artwork projects.