PUBLIC ART - ART COMMUNITY PROJECTS

RE: “Controversial Creation” – Monday Magazine - March 5^th 2009

It was very nice to see the article in Monday Magazine today, thank you.

I have never had a chance to speak with “longtime artist and instructor Bill Porteous, who has sat on the City’s public art project advisory committee for many years” therefore it was very informative for me to find out what he thinks.

“The reason I’m on these committees is I bring a certain knowledge and expertise and perspective,” says Porteous. “If a person is building a bridge, the public might get to vote on where it is, sometimes, or what colour it is, but they don’t get to decide who builds it or how it gets build, because if they did, I wouldn’t drive over it. Engineers, their opinion is weighted by nature of what they do, and the same is true of artists.”

Interesting? Engineers and artists… very odd analogy. I do not know which educational institution has delivered this idea to Mr. Porteous but I think, he is fundamentally wrong.

We trust engineers for their mathematical knowledge, precision and technical education.

But even general perception of art is closer to imagination, fantasy, sense of beauty, talent etc

Mr. Porteous continues: “Why am I doing it? Because I have an interest that not only do we get public art, but we get the highest-quality public art that is available to us.”

I am not sure that there are too many people in Victoria who share Mr. Porteous’s opinion.

Does it mean that the public is a bunch of uneducated people who can not distinguish art from a piece of garbage?

I googled “Bill Porteous art” to look what did the longtime artist Bill Porteous create. I hoped that it would explain to me what gave Mr. Porteous such confidence in making the decisions in our behalf. Take a look at his work: Bill Porteous Art Work

Maybe it comes as a surprise but we also read, we travel around the world, we visit museums, exhibitions and galleries. We do not need to rely on someone’s judgment and we are capable to make our own decision.

There are a few pieces of art by Illarion Gallant in Victoria:

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“Metal Tree” by Illarion Gallant at Fort and Foul Bay

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“Manholes” by Illarion Gallant on Douglas Street

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The avocados with sticks, Illarion Gallant, Grand Pacific Hotel

In September 2009, the City decided to refund my money, thank you.

November 16, 2008, I filed with the City of Victoria the request for access the records related to public art projects:

Bastion Square Art Project and Save On Food Memorial Arena Art Project.

I asked the city to provide me with all 21 art proposals which were filed for the Bastion Square Art Project,

I also asked for all 36 art proposals for the Arena Art Project.

The City charged me a fee of $254.50, claiming that my request is not related to the public interest.

In January 2009, the City provided me with the documents excluding the artists contact information, stating that the artists who made the submission, probably do not want to be exposed to the public. Does not make sense to me…but as soon as I get their permissions I will publish their art works.

I appealed the decision to charge me $254.50

Please leave me your comments if you think that information about public art is related to the public interest. Your comments would help me to win the appeal and get my money back. 

Thank you.

Since 1993, the City of Victoria has the Public Art Policy, which they use to select Public Art in public places. (Here is a link to the documents)

In brief, the Policy is designed to give a power to the city staff to appoint a jury who makes it decision behind closed doors without any public involvements.

“The Purpose of the Public Art Policy” actually states:

The Purpose of the Public Art Policy

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Do you think, that we, as taxpayers, have a right to participate in Public Art selection, through open and democratic process and choose an artwork, which we actually like, “Whereby citizens can be involved in the design of their public enviroment” in reality?

 

There are two major art projects which brought a lot of controversy – the Save on Food Memorial Arena Public Art and a new Bastion Square “Commercial Canoe”.

See below more info about those projects.

What is your position in regards to the Public Art Policy?  Does the Policy need to be changed to order to include public opinion during the selection of Public Art?

     

The Policy also states about the selection of the works of art that:

 

Selection of the Works of Art

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Selection of the Works of Art

It basically means that the city (jury) would help lesser-know artists to achieve their goals.

Did it happen with the Arena or the Bastion Square?

Does not look like…..

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The unfortunate thing, in my opinion, is that some people on the Public Art Advisory committee still think that we, as the Public, do not understand what “Art” is and what “Art” is not. They think that ONLY the “professional” artists know what “Art” is, they have been chosen to educate us.

 

It does illuminate the fundamental principle of Art – freedom, freedom of expression and freedom of choice.

 

The history has taught us some lessons. How many artists died poor and unknown? How many of them did “the world” proclaim as geniuses later?

 

What is next?  The “professional” will tell us which books we should read, what kind of misic we should enjoy…? But, I guess, the first of all it is money issue, public money and substantial amount of money…