The public procure a public sculpture

I was amused to stumble across a post about a public statue of Robocop, from the Paul Verhoeven cult sci-fi movie, set in Detroit. It was funded by fans and enthusiasts who felt the character was integral to Detroit. It is based on an accurate restoration of the suit from the first film and will be cast in bronze.

The idea started as a joke tweet to the Detroit mayor but piqued the interest of fans and became a real fund-raising effort, surpassing a $50,000 target and blossoming into a serious project that has followed the conventional process for the approval of a sculpture being gifted to the city.

Commissioning public art: getting people involved

In a longish piece entitled ‘Commissioning Guidelines’ public art online provides a useful introduction to public and community participation in art projects.

Stephen Broadbent sculpture

There’s also an interesting article on decommissioning public art. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it doesn’t all last for ever.

ESI references:

• Public art

Public art: offering value in a recession

New York’s Public Art Fund is committed to working with emerging and established artists to produce innovative exhibitions of contemporary art throughout New York City.

Current projects include Franz West’s The Ego and the Id, a 20 foot high aluminium sculpture in bright colours, and A Clearing in the Streets, a temporary structure which houses a meadow and a panoramic mural of a blue sky.

Here in the UK, the Bournemouth Echo reports that the usual war of words has broken out.

This time it involves a £25,000 granite prism installed as part of a scheme to a traffic management scheme. Not everybody was enchanted.

ESI references:

• Public art

Personalising bollards

In Geelong (Australia) the bollards have taken on the status on public art.

Personalising outdoor public spaces is possible.

ESI references:

• Bollards
• Marshalls’ Billy bollard

Urban play areas through the years

Pruned relishes an online tribute to Irish handball alleys.

A sideways look at how buildings, landscapes, and even sports and play areas, evolve over time.

ESI references:

• Ball courts
• Land art