Public Art Research Articles

Research on the New Curriculum Module and Exhibition Evaluation Mechanism of Art Education

In response to the deepening reform in the field of education in China, major art education colleges have conducted in-depth analyses of learning topics such as art education and art communication, based on their own educational and teaching needs, academic demands, and operational characteristics. The aim is to establish a cognitive concept that differs from the general depth and cognitive level of thinking, tending towards essential analysis, and to consider art education as the ultimate goal of its own disciplinary development. A new pattern of art education in the public art education bureau’s large classrooms has been gradually constructed. Building upon this, this article analyzes and studies new ideas for setting up art education curriculum modules, the new language of art education dissemination and exhibition, and the new development of art education dissemination and exhibition. The objective is to provide references for education departments and institutions at all stages and to offer theoretical assistance for improving the effectiveness of art education.

Public art and private wealth: the controversial collaboration between the National Museum in Norway and Fredriksen Family Art Company Ltd

ABSTRACT There has been much discussion in the US and European media about the evolving relationship between wealthy private art collectors and underfunded public art museums. This paper examines the public debate regarding the ten-year loan agreement between the National Museum in Norway and the Fredriksen Family Art Company Limited. The agreement was exposed to harsh criticism from actors within the art world when it became known to the public in June 2019. Based on an analysis of newspaper articles from when this was a hot topic in the public debate, we investigate the dynamics of the debate and seek to understand why it became such a contested issue. This study shows that the Norwegian culture based on egalitarian values and high tax moral, and a long history for the state to subsidize the arts and culture, are important reasons why the collaboration became as controversial as it did.

Painting the Way Forward: An Ecological Cultural Visual Analysis of Anti-VAW Public Art in Rural Ecuador.

Despite efforts within Ecuador to combat violence against women (VAW), the country still claims some of the highest rates of violence in the Americas. In this study, we complete a cultural visual analysis of anti-VAW public art in a small Ecuadorian city. Visual data is examined and interpreted by way of the social-ecological model (SEM). Specifically, our analysis considers how murals engage with the depiction of (a) VAW, (b) agentic responses to VAW, and (c) the different layers of the SEM. Our analysis identifies four specific strategies for constructing public art messaging to help achieve freedom from VAW.

Attribution of Character "Jian Xiaocong's" Infidelity in Junils' Narrative

"The Boy Who Sings Love Songs, Please Don’t Be Sad," published on July 1, 2010, by Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House, is a work of author Junils. This book narrates the obsessive love story of Jian Xiaocong. "Infidelity" traditionally refers to words or actions deviating from principles or exceeding established boundaries. In modern context, it typically denotes the act of one or both parties in a committed relationship or marriage engaging in intimate relationships outside their vows to fulfill emotional or sexual needs. The emergence of infidelity is linked to the concept of marital contracts. Jian Xiaocong had been in a three-year romantic relationship with He Wangchuan, whom she met in college. He Wangchuan was known for his strong personal abilities, academic excellence, and a stable, well-paying job post-graduation. His heart was solely devoted to Jian Xiaocong, making him an ideal marital partner. Yet, Jian Xiaocong chose to engage in an affair with Shen Zixiong, ending her three-year love story with He Wangchuan. Her situation was not one of enduring the tribulations of being cheated on. Nor was it a case of psychological warping caused by monetary influence or the pressures of a male-dominated society on women. The emotional bond she shared with Shen Zixiong was more about the undercurrents of desire hidden beneath personal secrecy.

공공미술을 둘러싼 공동체의 담론

The purpose of this paper is to show that the controversial discourse over the existence of Richard Serra's public art works, “Lifted Arc”, over the past seven years, had a profound influence on the changes in public art. Public art was divided into location and aesthetic aspects, and the cause of the failure of “Lifted Arc” was found in each of them. The cause of the locational aspect is related to the understanding of “public”, where the place of life and the physical place intersect, and the aesthetic aspect is due to the conflict between the artist's free expression and public taste. When pursuing a desirable form of public art through the above, first, publicity is not limited to physical places, but is made up of the participation and intervention of people living there, and second, the aesthetic achievement of public art can be obtained from the discourse of interaction rather than from the aesthetic experience itself. This public art as a “discussion venue” symbolizes cultural democracy that guarantees freedom and equality in that art creates a place for the pursuit of meaning.

Adapting Visual Thinking Strategies as a Tool for Evaluating the Impact of a Work of Public Art

This article presents the development and application of an approach for evaluating audience response to and meaning-making from large-scale public murals, created as part of an art-science-community engagement project. The project adapted Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) facilitation, a common technique in visual arts education, with a focus group style interview to investigate if the murals generated the intended meaning-making among members of the communities they depicted. We piloted a VTS-centered focus group discussion with three groups of community residents in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. Thematic coding of observations in the discussion groups suggest that a VTS-centered focus group is an effective approach to evaluate audience meaning-making by prompting slow looking, protracted discussion, and offering a structure for discussion that keeps the facilitator from shaping topics of conversation. The affordances and limitations of this approach as a tool for research and evaluation of learning through public art and exhibitions is discussed.

The mimesis of everyday experience The influence on John Dewey’ Thought in American socially engaged art


 
 
 The text aims to analyze the concept of “mimesis” as an artistic practice of transformation of the ordinary within the so-called “socially engaged” and “community-based art prac- tices” in the United States since the 1990s. As a theoretical reference, the text explores the concept of experience expressed by the American philosopher John Dewey in his Art as Experience (1934), subsequently taken up by various curators and artists such as Mary Jane Jacob, Mark Dion and Pablo Helguera.
 Since the 1990s, within the world of contemporary art a social and participatory trend has developed founding its place of action in the urban space and with marginalized commu- nities as active participants. Given the collaborative attitudes, these actions soon took the name of practices moving away, even in a theoretical way, from public art and from any other type of authorial intervention in the public space. In the 2000s the critical discourse moved to the field of the value of social action (Kester, Bishop), or how to judge or not the artistry of a process that does not produce authorial works, has no spectators and takes place outside the artistic system proper. This is because these practices are based on an interdisciplinary theory which, moving from pedagogical and activist foundations, found in the thought of John Dewey its first moment of conjunction with artistic theory to the point of being recognized as a direct source for several artists and curators who worked between the 90s and 2000s. The geographical centre of this discourse is the United States as the role played by progressive education formalized in the early 1900s laid the foun- dations for an educational model that has also permeated artistic practice.
 
 

Graphic design and public art: a comparative study in message communication

This article aims to reflect on the concepts of public art and graphic design. To facilitate their understanding, the framework is made from general to particular with meanings of the concepts: art, public art, design and graphic design. Consequently, conclusions are developed on these, seeking to analyse and reflect on their differences and similarities, namely, how they communicate their message.

Nearby art: A new type of public art practice in the Pearl River Delta, China

With the development and transformation of contemporary Chinese urban areas, the production mechanism, place, and form of expression of urban public art are rapidly evolving. At the same time, urban planning is accelerating the disappearance of the urban “nearby” as a buffer zone and innovation space. Taking the Pearl River Delta region in China, and in particular, the historic city of Guangzhou and the immigrant city of Shenzhen as examples, this paper analyzes how urban groups perceive the nearby environment through the action of art through the evolution of urban culture. This paper proposes “nearby art,” a term that refers to the art form in which urban individuals or small groups from different backgrounds subtly target social issues and practice locally in complex urban surroundings. The concept of nearby art is based on the examination of trends toward diversification in public art. First, groups with different backgrounds have been playing a unique role in public art. Second, the places where public art is situated has extended to diverse and mixed urban spaces. In addition, diverse ways of interacting with public art have enriched the forms of expression of public art. Through nearby art, both creators and participants can better reflect on their present situation in life and rebuild social relations through interaction. This kind of art is increasingly becoming an important part of residents’ daily lives as it creates a more visual and fluid life esthetic. Simultaneously, it is constructing and disseminating narrative elements within urban culture by uncovering and integrating the diverse cultural content.

Exegi monumentum: monuments of Jews in public spaces in Budapest as texts (1880–1944)

ABSTRACT The late 19th and early 20th centuries were a period when artistic endeavours, aimed at expressing a national identity, were thriving in Hungary. The Jewish minority of Budapest also found it important to be present in public spaces. A couple of years after the emancipation of Hungarian Jews, the first statues of Jewish personalities appeared on the streets of Budapest. Who were these statues dedicated to? Who were the artists commissioned, and who paid for them? What were the invisible texts beyond reading the statues as texts? What happened to the public monuments during the Second World War? This paper aims to respond to these questions as a part of a research project mapping Jewish interventions in public art in Budapest.

Rethinking project boundaries in architectural practice: attempts at ‘giving back’ in recent work by LMN Architects

ABSTRACT Project boundaries force architects to work with resources that are insufficient to meet all possible interests, raising questions of distributive justice. In settler colonial contexts, these mingle with questions of restorative justice, prompted by demands to repatriate Indigenous land and life. To foreground how questions of justice arise and are engaged with in contemporary architectural practice, I explore recent work by LMN Architects, an interdisciplinary studio active in complex scenarios with many different interests. LMN is based in Seattle, an area Native Americans inhabited long before the first European settlers. Focusing on two projects in the area – the Mukilteo Multimodal Ferry Terminal and the Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion – I analyse how LMN seeks ways to involve the Coast Salish tribal communities: from programming and design; over siting, spatial organisation, and integration of public art; to material selection, sourcing, and beyond. This analysis allows understanding the studio’s attempts at ‘giving back’ in relation to their ambition to leverage a project’s opportunities beyond the boundaries of its site. Throughout their work, LMN adopts expansive notions of who is affected – by extending whose interests to meet – and what resources to distribute – by reconsidering who is invited to contribute and how invitees may benefit from that contribution.

Паблик-арт в историческом городе: визуализация локального культурного кода

The article analyses public art within the framework of the cultural approach – as a form of visualization of the city’s cultural code. The author examines the variants of public art comprehension existing in the Russian academic discourse and identifies the two most common approaches to the interpretation of art in the public space. According to the first approach, public art is interpreted as “commissioned” art, which is an instrument of the state’s ideological policy, and is therefore evaluated negatively. According to the second approach, public art is understood in a less evaluative and more meaningful way, emphasizing the variability of artistic practices existing within it, their focus on communication with society, participation of residents and reflection of locally significant meanings. The article emphasizes the commemorative functions of public art and comprehends its role in the actualization of the city’s cultural memory and representation of urban identity. The author explores what historical, cultural and mythological narratives are depicted on the murals in Veliky Novgorod, created within the framework of the All-Russian Street Art Festival “Pages of History” (2019– 2023). The article proposes to categorize Novgorod murals into the following thematic groups: 1) genius loci; 2) historical subjects; 3) myths and legends; 4) cultural heritage; 5) natural objects; 6) modern heroes. Art in Veliky Novgorod’s public spaces, especially located in typical Soviet districts, serve to individualize the urban environment and create new points of attraction for the city dwellers. Murals have become part of new excursion routes that run both through the symbolic city center and the city outskirts. The author argues that the subjects represented on the murals are authentic for Veliky Novgorod, contribute to the formation of local identity, enhance the imagery of the urban environment and emphasize the uniqueness of the Novgorod cultural landscape.

Research on the Multimodal Integration of Visual Communication Design and Public Art in Digital Perspective

Abstract With the rise of digital media, the visual design of public art has gradually added multimodal interactive experience from purely conforming to information communication. Starting from the multimodal integration of public art visual communication design, this study takes several groups of public art landscape projects in a certain region as research objects to explore the relationship between the multimodal visual design of public art landscape and its public satisfaction. Firstly, the evaluation standard for public art visual communication design is constructed. The sample visual communication design is analyzed using the semantic difference method and then combined with the factor analysis method to provide a comprehensive evaluation. Based on determining the satisfaction effect indexes, the AHP method is used to assign weights to each index. Finally, the satisfaction effect results of the sample visual communication designs are obtained. After utilizing the result equation, the relationship between public art visual communication design and landscape satisfaction effect is explored. The overall appearance of public art visual communication design is presented better, and the impact of multimodal fusion visual communication design is especially prominent in samples 3, 2, and 10. The satisfaction effect of the sample visual communication design is also more satisfactory, with 70% of the sample landscapes scoring above 1.5. Meanwhile, the study verified the positive and significant influence of public art visual communication design on the satisfaction effect of landscapes. The theoretical basis and methodological exploration for the multimodal integration research of public art can be provided by this study.

Public Art Design Practice under Visual Communication Design

Abstract The expansion of visual communication design in public art makes the scope of visual communication wide. This new art form reflects the cross and integration of disciplines but also makes the form of public art in our life richer, and people can get more beautiful enjoyment. Research on the fractal algorithm in the escape time algorithm studied the Julia set in different function conditions of the fractal graph of the change and the function of different indices of the joint. The fractal graph obtained a colorful, more tense structure. Subsequently, it is applied to public art design, and after testing its performance, the fractal design of visual communication is combined with the IPA model to explore the practical effect of the fractal design in public art design. The results show that the improved fractal algorithm proposed in this paper increases the pattern generation rate from 61.5% to 92.6%. The fractal dimension measurement of 15 typical batik patterns shows that more than 85% of the batik patterns have an average value of more than 15000.

Immersive public art and humanistic city image building in the digital era

Abstract The evolving times, along with the advancements in science and technology, have led to a transformation in public art. The emergence of digital media public art, which plays a crucial role in shaping the city’s image, has brought art to life. This paper utilizes virtual reality technology and digital media technology to create an immersive public art space. The CAVE system creates an immersive effect, while Kinect and Unity3D scene docking enable interactive effects. We design a questionnaire to gather data on the public’s experience of immersive public art in Shenzhen and their perception of the city’s image-shaping. We then explore the relationship between the two using structural equations and correlation analysis. The results reveal a strong correlation between the perception of immersive public art experiences and the shaping of urban images, with an average correlation of 0.795. The influence of immersive public art’s sensory experience, interactive experience, and cognitive experience on humanistic city image shaping was significant (P<0.05). Additionally, awareness of immersive public art had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between the two. This paper lays the foundation for creating immersive public art spaces and provides valuable reference ideas for shaping a humanistic city image.

Research on Public Art Planning in Macao from the Perspective of Urban Cultural Communication

Public art is not only beautifying the urban environment, but also a medium of urban cultural communication. Urban public art in Macao constitutes a beautiful landscape. Still, there are some problems in its planning and construction. According to these problems, combined with the relevant theories of urban cultural communication and the actual situation of Macao, through field research, this paper summarizes several basic characteristics of urban public art in Macao and proposes the planning process of urban public art in Macao.

The Communion of Digital Media Art and the Aesthetics of Smart City Public Art in an Interdisciplinary Context

Abstract The integration of digital media art into the public art design of the smart city can enhance people’s participation and sense of identity in the art design of public space and maximize the attractiveness and cultural connotation of the city itself. Based on this, this paper builds a fusion technology framework mainly based on digital projection technology and digital interaction technology, proposes an interactive projection technology integrating digital projection and Kinect, and combines the dynamic scene image splicing and alignment fusion technology to realize the interaction between the user and the digital scene. In the case analysis of Qianjiang New City, the number of visitors reached 31.55 million in 2022. The evaluation score of landscape facilities in the public evaluation of architectural landscape is under 3.5. The overall evaluation grade is only “general,” and the evaluation mean value of the degree of intelligence of landscape facilities is only 3.089. The comprehensive evaluation satisfaction of the digital landscape includes multimedia landscape, architectural landscape, and landscape facilities, and the average value of the evaluation of the degree of intelligence of the landscape facilities is only 3.089. The satisfaction value of the multimedia landscape, landscape of buildings and structures, and water landscape in the evaluation of satisfaction is 4.36, 4.159, and 4.027, respectively, which reaches the level of “good” satisfaction, while the satisfaction value of landscape facilities is 3.479, which is less than 3.5. The satisfaction level only reaches the level of “general.” The satisfaction value of landscape facilities is 3.479, which is less than 3.5, and the satisfaction level is only “fair.”

Practice Reform of Public Art Design Majors under the Blended Teaching Mode

Public art design is an interdisciplinary field that requires both students' comprehensive knowledge level and practical abilities. The application of blended teaching mode has changed the problem of traditional teaching mode being single. By integrating online and offline teaching resources and advantages, students' learning interest and creativity can be effectively stimulated, and their practical and innovative abilities can be improved. Therefore, universities need to actively carry out practical teaching reform, promote the application of blended teaching mode in practical teaching of public art and design majors through optimizing course design, establishing online resource libraries, organizing teacher training, and conducting diversified activities.

Decorative arts to borrow at home: a unique story of a specialized collection of images in a French public art library

A Parisian public library specializing in decorative arts, the Bibliothèque Forney is considered one of the first public lending art libraries in France. From the library's opening in the nineteenth century to the year 2000, readers could borrow art images to use as models or sources of inspiration. Today a selection of art plates are still freely accessible. The history of this unique service highlights the librarians’ efforts to meet the evolving needs of researchers looking for easily accessible art; their work to keep up with modernity; and their efforts to add value for their users.

Research on comprehensive evaluation & development of aesthetic education based on PCA and CEM model.

Aesthetic education, conveyed through public art courses, serves as a vital form of humanistic literacy education. It represents an effective approach to fostering innovative and creative thinking among college students. In order to effectively analyze the aesthetic education work of 46 universities, an aesthetic education index evaluation system is constructed, involving indicators including faculty strength, curriculum setting, teaching management, artistic practice, and teaching support. The secondary indicators corresponding to the five indicators are statistically analyzed, and a comprehensive evaluation analysis of the current development status of aesthetic education in 46 universities in Anhui Province is conducted by combining theoretical analysis with empirical analysis. Based on principal component analysis, an integrated evaluation model for the development of aesthetic education in universities in Anhui Province is further constructed. The model designed quantifies the influence weight of each aesthetic education index on the development of aesthetic education in Anhui Province, and forges a theoretical basis for determining the precursors of rapid development of aesthetic education in Anhui Province. Additionally, a novel approach is introduced to gauge the progression of aesthetic education within universities in Anhui Province, considering the dispersion of aesthetic education index data across the province. The comprehensive evaluation model for the development of aesthetic education in Anhui Province exhibits an overall declining trend. Hence, it is suggested to utilize the maximum value of the first derivative of the comprehensive evaluation model as an indicator of the imminent rapid development of aesthetic education in Anhui Province. On this basis, the probability equation of sustainable development of aesthetic education in Anhui Province is defined. Overall, the research results lay a theoretical foundation for the development of aesthetic education in Anhui Province.