Temporality and Public Art Author(s): Patricia C. Phillips Source: Art Journal, Vol. 48, No.4, Critical Issues in Public Art (Winter, 1989), pp. 331-335 Published by: College Art Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/777018 Accessed: 07/11/2010 11:19 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=caa. 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Public art is about such dynamic encountered in contemporaryculture.this dynamic interplay of personal and ence of enduring objects has become as public identity. potential ideas and freedoms. its texture. spontaneous eruptions uninformed by. shifting differences that comof a 35mm camera. and the temporary require aggressive assimilation. unavoidable forces but because they suggest mmutability is valued by society. public art is treated as if it were a productionof fixed strategies and principles. public life embodies such is redefined not just by the conspicuous contradictions. what endures fully engaged in the world as with one's across generations-is often no longer own psychic territory. For the Venice become emblematic not of what is Biennale in 1986. Although it is at an exploratorystage. change and value into high ment. nile and the ephemerality of projected indeed. and a large tank for several startlingly predictable and constantly hours onto the base of the 600-year-old surprising. change. challenge for each person is to uphold and acquiescent age in which the pres. The private assume its place as historical artifact can offer some quiet refuge. acquisitive. but very little about the philosophical questions a public art may raise or illuminate. but public life has passions and priorities. As Richard Sennett and others have campanile in the Piazza San Marco. It is always mercurial. Public art has been too often applied as a modest antidote or a grand solution. persuasively and unmistakably felt in made invulnerable to time.2 the private is a human conand politics. Discussions of public art frequently consider specific communities but rarely the public at large." -Loren Eiseley' ture and legacy of the public process and the interest in public art production were separate entities. Public art requires a more passionate commitment to the temporary-to the information culled from the short-lived project. and concerns turn to more observable. and to be as with some certainty. Besides providing a critique of tourism suggested. and constructive reappraisal. the other. desperate own perpetualness. but it permits art production to simulate the One Winter1989 331 . not because they are grim. In retrorequirements for stability and preserva.the United States. Krzysztof Wodiczko shared by a constituency but of the projected a collaged photographicimage restless. and. These developmental ideas about the expressed or communicated by the same symbols. What is substan. To life in most societies throughout time. Public life is both grenade. or even about whether the idea of a public art requires significant intellectual inquiry and justification in the first place. Simultaneously. The then there is a self-contradicting longing reality of ephemerality is perhaps most that this fresh spontaneity be protected.and TemporalityPublic Art By Patricia C. and perhaps unaware of. its compleexpectation. ultimately. be discovered in the synapses. There is a desire for a steadfast art Coming to grips with the temporary that expresses permanence through its does not require a fast. more easily calculable issues. The temporary not only has a certain philosophical currency. articulation. And tually connect. but rather as an endorsementof alternatives. Phillips sions of indeterminacy. Much has been said about the failures or successes of public art. This proposal is offered not as an indictment of or indifference to permanent public art. some conand as concrete evidence of a period's stancy of routine.natives that occur between. Wodiczko's project offered dition. both ciety has a conflicting predilection for strong lessons and substantial ideas can an art that is contemporary and timely. I think that the problem is that public art has sought to define itself without assembling all of the data and before entertaining all of the complex and potent variables it must accept and can express. It issues. disappearing and reemerging in a most unpredictablefashion. adjustments of political transition and The late twentieth century has civic thought but by the conceptions of thrown these questions of time and private that serve as its foil. be the most quixotic idea light. It is as if the litera"Life is never fixed and stable. The relief. rather than perceived as a forum for investigation. It is an accelerated.embrace of absolute relativity. so. In both private and have overrun most cities and towns in public life the phenomenologicaldimen. in order to the vast public landscape.stimulating and always difficult nature tial-what is coveted and depended on of this important dialogue. and how it is to be distinguished (or not) from other creative enterprises is to support more shortlived experiments in which variables can be changed and results intelligently and sensitively examined. The visual environment trans. and change and temporality.flexible. there has been a discernible public tion. a gun belt with a pose and enrich it.spect.public frequently run parallel to the poses as rapidly as the actions of the current enthusiasms for public art that mind and the eye. discrete phenomena. to embrace the often quixotic as time itself. The notion of public may. but the public is invented-and a potent dialectic on the ambivalent re-created by each generation. and concepral and circumstantial context. the alterthat responds to and reflects its tempo. Clearly. to the events and occurrences that constantly define and transform experience. It is public because of the kinds of questions it chooses to ask or address. This is. S. for its popularreception. public art is not public just because it is out of doors. ~ it may occur in nontraditional. or in some identifiable civic space. . . People return cyclically to annual public events even when these seem empty and reflexive. X : ^^^Si. time is perhaps the most crucial and the least frequently addressed. fE:E . temporal conditions of the collective. for its sensitive siting. it may cause confusion. 0 ::?? S :-: f7DiC.tl --i 0 X 1 : .3 Stephen Jay Gould explores the dual nature of time in Western thought: temporality is expe- rienced both cyclically and consecutively.f:: . Inc. .. t00 : 0 :: . These opposing conceptions of temporality are intrinsically connected to public life-to expectations that guide actions. and civic issues. Creative Time. to study. t tW00090- Fig.ii. The public is shaped by similar coincidental and contradictory ideas. And these potent.it may stir contro. *:. Nicholas Goldsmith (architect).::' 0 -X--i ' 0 d. :.. . It requiresa commitment to experimentation-to the belief that public art and public life are not fixed. . fiii0. W. and not because of its accessibility or volume of viewers.. New York City. It need not seek some common denominator or express some common good to be public. There are many variables. The commons was frequently a planned but sometimes a spontaneously arranged open space in American towns. The Western mind relies on conceptions of time that explain both the security of constancy and continuity and the stimulation of progress and change. .' '-' 11 .fit04 8i'9000000t j . and private places. 2 more obvious circumstantial. In such an art the conceptual takes precedence over the v-. then ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:{: examined for its public art cannot be broadness of communication.' ** !/: ^ *. problematic ideas are what art has traditionally addressed through its formal and temporal manifestations. but it is potentially enriched and amended by a multiplicity of philosophical..i0 Q i00 V. Lin- 11:''\. .. often conflicting expressions. a far more difficult and obscure definition of public art. Time's Arrow. If the "public" in public art is construed not as the audience for the art but as the body of ideas and subjects that artists choose to concentrate on. they provide a fixed point of reference. 1: ' i 0 70. : a._<.. 0 0 SA04 :f \. or because it is something that almost everyone can apprehend. iEXii .. 0 fff0X-. versy and rage. it is public because it is a manifestation of art activities and strategies that take the idea of public as the genesis and subject for analysis. to try more modest projects. E. but its lasting significance in cultural history is not so much the place it once held in the morphologyof the city as the idea it became for the enactment and refreshment of public life-its dynamic. 7 . In his book on geological time. t0 .. ^'' '. 332 Art Journal ublic art is about the idea of the commons-the physical configuration and mental landscape of American public life. on this depends the enhancement of democratic values and the enrichment of life. to express what is known about the contemporarycondition. and the methods and intentions of production and criticism are less predictable. - earity enables the public to rally its strength and vision to work for improvement and revision. but it can provide a visual language to express and explore the dynamic. a flexibility of procedures for making and placing art. :000EEd d. Public art is like other art... g . ><A:? X' ^ "S X :: X 7I: i:' tfi . This proposal is conservative:a suggestion to take time. and a more inventive and attentive critical process. of course.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.^ . But public life must also accommodate the actions of progress. with Ann Magnuson (performance artist)..:. -... It requires a comprehensionof value based on ideas and content rather than on lasting forms.0F tL.. I Dennis Adams (artist). A temporal public art may not offer broad proclamations. 0 ft. more unruly. Time's Cycle..?-" idea of the research laboratory. . Podiumfor Dissent. 1985. 0 * 1 1 g . political. ::r^:I. margin0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:: al. Those responsible for the sponsorship ists who work independently to produce and production of contemporary public public art that is often unexpected. computer animation. in this vast space. or communicative is not the space of dissent. At times of conWhat is perhaps most significant and flict and war. visual narrative of Manhattan. as the work they have sponsored is good. the open green space was used frequently informed by the exceptional many other Creative Time-sponsored as another meadow for livestock to situation. landand the time of the is to support and encourage the produc.tions of the commons as the symbol.The organization began wills. 2 Cameron McNall (in collaboration with Julia Heyward. civic debate it became or Every year. It not the site. The space these productions that the idea of of the commons existed to support the public art is acquiring a tougher collage of private interests that con. choreographers. musicians. architects. It is through many of a mythical misrepresentation. more gritty. in the spring and obvious. moment of the day which was providedby the Port Authoryear defined the activities and priorities tion of temporary. Creative Time transportedthe sumIf the actual site of the commons confirmed some constancy for people. The irony of sustained institutional sup. ephemeral public art. drama. and deliberof the commons and its harmonious. In 1987.fill site at Hunters Point in Queens. autumn. untitled remains current even as the space and Associates. the structure of Art on the making. accretive project. began to organize its first publiccommon purpose and individual free art productions. Creative Time.4 The one that was ished.issue. untitled work. this legacy lobby was provided by Orient Overseas Fig. ately short-lived. Grooms and a large number of assistants worked for more than seven months inventing and constructing a rich allegorical. 3 Marina Gutierrez. Winter1989 333 . stitutes all communities. The philo. the organizations whose primary mission mer event to another. if to idly and volatilely in the commons. and other creative professionals(Fig. the organization sponsored collaborative public-art projects involving artists.real estate. Spectacolor memory of the commons are dimin. but the aesthetic summer. Their variety of productions public art activities is their temporality the institution. for the debate of issues. the commons was used to port for the most fleeting endeavors is results are resonant about Art on the Beach and so train and drill militia. The kind of ties.four experimental works were installed lightboard. On a two-acre landfill site at the north end of the Battery Park City development. 2).and the opportunity(and necessity) they graze. The projects were constructed at the beginning of the summer. when Art on the Beach lost its sandy expanse in Manhatn New York City. transition. In the early 1970s. Between 1974 and 1978. It is the field of experimentation that is pected theater of the public could be that they have tried to cultivate the remarkable.. They take the idea of the presented and interpreted. underutilized may be best understood. performance artist). Hunters Point. dancers. Art on the Beach. Creative Time's most enduring and repeated project-Art on the Beachwas an annual event begun in the summer of 1978. NY. It was physical and psychic location where commons to many different communichange was made manifest.most participatory and perhaps most enthusiastically received was Red Grooms's Ruckus Manhattan. Creative Time. The stories of pedestrians who visited the site were frequently adopted and transformed in Grooms's rowdy. the exercise of displacement has agitation. of public life. 1). and the Fig. 1989. It is in that space that the idea of by using conventional sites offered by time and its relationship to the public corporations with excess. stage where the predictable and unex.ity (Fig. One Times Square. and difficult but at 88 Pine Street. The commons was the maverick. there are two tan. In contrast these organizations. entire extravaganza disappeared by Inc. there are also artwas not the site of repose or rigidity.000-square-foot committed resolution. to articulate and not diminish the dialectic between Inc. whether all the provided for artists to be experimental. The 6. and unravelingof time reinforced and provided fresh articulathat defines "public" occurred most viv. realized in the space. performances were scheduled during the season. at times of political election or has actually challenged the site for speech alization of public art. The first site of a Creative sophical idea of the commons is based on Time production was Wall Street Plaza dissent. art would do well to follow the actual life infrequently encountered.accountability and identity. 1987. One of the organization's most inventive sponsorships is the Messages to the Public " C. stimulate wry speculations about art 334 Art Journal change and repetition must be carefully considered. there are some public art enthusiasts who seek out this changing series of messages. in others. Messages to the Public is often delivered to a public that is unfamiliar with the Public Art Fund. the artists themselves episodic. 1987.. and the Public Art Fund. there is freedom to try . sometimes unusual urban settings. The presentation of new inforannual anticipation as well as the short. is not simply the variety of art productionsthat they have brought to the streets and spaces of the city. Inc. but the majority of viewers are unprepared and arrive often by chance on site. Public Art Fund. The sites are commonly accepted public sites parks and plazas-but the Public Art Fund projects come and go. Inserted between tacky and aggressive advertisements.the balance of lived dynamics of each Art on the Beach that enabled and endorsed this kind of productive fiddling and fine-tuning. direct forum for public art but also raise questions about the rela. the encounter and experience of the audience is unregulated. New York City. Inc. Begun in 1982. But what is important about both Creative Time. Creative Time assembled the collaborative grammed by artists are temporary and teams. Beach changed: new variables were and advertising. Rushes. X C series (Fig.. In some years. Because the work is part of the urban fabric for short periods of time. examining the relationship of collabora. It is this unregulated encounter of the art and the ambiguity of its structure and content that make this series a rich. Although their sponsoredproductions are quite different from those of Creative Time. 5 Alfredo Jaar.. But it was the erality. 4 Tom Finkelpearl. Inc. the medium demands ephemselected their colleagues. founded in 1972. complex. the art becomes the dynamic variable in a series of sometimes predictable. Inc. Crossroads. Perhaps a careful analysis of each Art on the Beach would reveal much about the nature of collaboration and about the intense compression of ideas that occurs in a temporary urban site in a squeezed period of time. or with this strange convergence of art images and advertisements. 3). and not adequately analyzed forum. Also.I:: Fig. these Public Art Fund "moments" not only providea surprising. is dedicated to the temporary placement of public art in a variety of urban neighborhoodsand contexts.between the aesthetic-political agenda tive process to aesthetic production in and the pitch to the consumer. New York tionshipof public art to information and City. others were eliminated. The landscape of public art in New York City would be greatly diminished without the kind of ephemeral theater and importantdata producedby the two organizations. with the participating artists. It color works project a deliberate ambiguthus became a continuing laboratory for ity between the art moment and the ad. The Spectacolor projects protemporary work. the Public Art Fund. but the forum they have providedto explore the meaning of public art in the late twentieth century. Spring Street Subway Station. Some of the Spectaintroduced.mation must be relentless. this project makes the Spectacolor computer-animated lightboard on the north elevation of the building at One Times Square available to artists to program short (usually twenty seconds) spots that run about once every twenty minutes.Fig. 1986. . perception outlasts actual experience.it does not have to cast its message to some unmistakable but platitudinous theme that absolutely everyone will get. 27. they last until the cars are finally towed away. endowing them with an artificial. he regularly inserted posters with the current world gold prices in New York. and to make commitments that concern content rather than longevity. 1984. Public art does not have to last forever. ome ot the most fruitful. DC. In this context. The public is diverse. he moved to New York to study a common and growing phenomenon of abandonment in the city. and underwear to waiting Notes 1 Loren Eiseley. The Cycle. Some of the restraining assumptions made about public art concern where it should occur. Several years ago. The historical precedents for public art offer no template for the present or for the future." Insights/On Sites.the commons in our own lives. MA.new ideas. The mon Collaborators: The Story of Creative fact that it appeared almost spontaTime. She is a critic for Artforum and other publications. ed. throughout the installation period. enables inspired change. what ideas it can express. The Uses of Disorder. Cambridge. adjustable. liquor. These projects happen spontaneously. its adaptability to be both responsive and timely. Along the length of the uptown and downtown platforms. passengers encountered these grim. what issues it can address. but some of his strongest public work has been independently produced. Frankfurt. Washington. public art must reach for new articulations and new expectations. provocative. New public in a complex and disturbing narrative about its own complicity in world York. but about an intensification and enrichment of the conception of public. content was underscoredby the immedi4 Anita Contini. Phillips is Assistant Chairman of Environmental Design and program coordinator andfaculty member of the MA Program in Architecture and Design Criticism at Parsons School of Design. A concepsions. ironic. and critical vehicle to explore the relationship of lasting values and current events. His project asked people to over3 Stephen Jay Gould. much of this speculation is based on information and impressionsformed more than a century ago. grainy images of men who dig for gold with little hope of finding any for themselves. Tokyo. It is these rich ambiguities that should providethe subject matter for public art. Tom Finkelpearl has done short-lived public-art projects with both Creative Time and the Public Art Fund. Man. he finds old abandoned cars and painstakingly paints these rusted carcasses gold. and how long it should last. Jaar's pasted-on postersimages of a gold rush occurring in Brazil the amid abject poverty-replaced usual advertisements meant to induce people to part with their money. Winter1989 335 . Several years ago Alfredo Jaar arranged with the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the lease-holders of the advertising space on the Spring Street subway platform in New York to insert his own installation. The encounter of public art is ultimately a private experience. volatile. to be vanguard about definitions of public art. Time's come their insularity and isolation. new forms. 5). its tendency to look at society-at the public-too broadly and simply. "Alternative Sites and Uncomacy and brevity of the installation. The artist offered no explanatory or didactic text. At different sites. to enact the idea of Patricia C. the commitment to communication. format for advertising to engage the 2 Richard Sennett. and it has its origins in the private lives of all citizens. On this subway line to Wall Street. New passengers. the gesture of compassion and critique transcend the lasting qualities of the object. 1966. 1987. It is as if the act of public art. For just over a month. 4). Stacy Paleologos neously and disappeared quickly helped Harris. events. and Prophecy. variable. temporary installations of public art have come from artists on their own initiative both with and without the support or restraints of official sponsors. Time. Ephemeral public art provides a continuity for analysis of the conditions and changing configurations of public life. and London (Fig. The errors of much public art have been its lack of specificity. Time's Arrow. to accentuate the urgency of the ideas. Jaar used the frames and York. that is based on naively constructed prescriptions. But the success of this political tualization of the idea of time in public productionwas the sense of urgency and art is a prerequisite for a public life that dislocation embodied in the temporary. ambivalent iconography. Perhaps there is also the willingness to engage difficult ideas and current issues in ways that more enduring projects cannot. The temporary in public art is not about an absence of commitment or involvement. to be both specific and temporary. Jaar placed large prints of photographs he had taken of this modern-day phenomenon. who the audience is. As the texture and context of public life changes over the years. the temporary provides the flexible. sprayed-on patina of preciousness (Fig. The highly compressed and temporal circumstances are an incitement-and also a responsibility-to be courageous with ideas. the public was asked to form its own perceptions and draw its own conclu. here is a danger in a public art that is not challenged. 1970. it does not have to mark or make a common ground. created to sell magazines. It must rely on its flexibility. p. Finkelpearl began his own guerrilla project to explore and perhaps heighten some collective awareness of the attitude of obsolescence. controversial. without mandating the stasis required to express eternal values to a broad audience with different backgrounds and often different verbal and visual imaginations. That these golden wrecks disappear often quickly and always unpredictably amplifies their disturbing. new methods of production.