Research Plan Debbie Qadri
This is an information site about a project I am doing in the Western suburbs of Melbourne.
It is a little action research project that relates to research that I will be undertaking as part of a phd with Victoria University in 2015.
The main gist of the project is that I will be working with communities to develop and make their own public artworks. I am aiming to do this in the City of Brimbank, as it is nearby to where I live and I have a few contacts with organisations and Council which will assist with the conversations needed to get these projects off the ground.
Below is the plan which gives the aims and context of this endeavour.
In 2014 the first of these artworks was made. The overnewton cylinder was made with twenty Yr 8 students of Overnewton College and assistance from Susan Jennison and the Keilor Historical Society. Click on the link below to see how this project unfolded.
http://communityandplacepublicartworks.blogspot.com.au/p/concrete-structures-to-work-on.html
_________________________________________________________________________________
Putting community and place into permanent public art
The artist will research and develop a model of making public art that authentically uses community and place as the grounds for the artwork. Three expressions of this model will be demonstrated, through the artist making public artwork that responds to place, the making of a series of public artworks alongside communities and applying for Public art tenders using the model.
____________________________________________________________________
1. The artist works with communities to make new artworks in public space which utilise the model of community involvement and serve as examples.
2. The artist will make applications for Council public artwork tenders using the ideal model of putting community and place into public artworks. ___________________________________________________________________
CONTEXT:
As park of my work as an artist I often make ceramic murals with communities and many of these are permanent artworks. When applying for public art tenders for councils I find myself wanting to include the community in making the artwork and also knowing that my tender will be less likely to succeed if I do this. Current Public Art Policy stresses community involvement as being vital to the process, but not many Public Art outcomes involve the community as makers of the artwork.
Below is a great quote from Rob Garrett that sums up the thinking behind community engagement in Public art processes.
‘. . . . public art processes can profoundly engage local communities, which results in people having an active stake in the public places that they live and work in. This is an empowering dynamic which can transform people into public citizens and enable greater cultural connectivity between people.’
Rob Garrett (http://www.robgarrettcfa.com/content/2013/08/01/q-a-on-public-art-policy)
One of my questions is how this is metered out in the final artwork?
What does engagement mean, and why is it often minimalised and difficult to manage?
Is it possible to make permanent public artworks with the community and have them recognised as good public artworks?
What tensions exist between the process of public art tendering and making, and the idea of community involvement?
Research will involve the following:
• Making public artworks with communities
• Looking at the public artwork policies of Councils.
• Responses to the public artworks which are made as part of this research will be documented. How are they received by the public, how is the surrounding landscape cared for before and afterwards. Evidence in the media and interviews with people to devise what they mean to local residents.
• Finding examples of artworks in public space that have been generated or made by local communities.
No comments:
Post a Comment