Monday, November 1, 2010

Sphere of the unknown.


How's this for an innovative approach to thinking about public art installations?
The concept is best understood as an 'interactive' dry stone structure - a sculpture that is evolving and can be rebuilt again and again in an ongoing interaction between the audience and the creator.

The artist is committed not only to its conception and creation but also caring for his or her work over the duration of its 'life' in the park. This is not normal maintenance. This is adaption.
In that it is created of random common stones merely laid in a certain arrangement, the material in the sculpture like that in a dry stone wall can be reused and relaid. The few that go completely missing are simply replaced.

The structure yields and transforms within a larger definition of what art is. - There is growth and decay, injury and healing taking place throughout the work. It absorbs the impact of time, weather and even public mischief as part of an artistic/holistic event. The influences upon it are not resisted as much as assimilated.

Decomposition is the 'plot' of the composition. Part performance art, the work is interpreted not just through the artist, but through the hands of the participants who's desire to change or even deface it. The art merges into something else and our understanding of what the piece represents is broadened. This is a 'sphere' of public art that deserves to be explored.