Here's a sneak preview of the Leeds Public Art Map made in collaboration with the Leeds Public Arts Officer, which you'll hopefully see embedded in the Leeds Art Gallery website and elsewhere very soon. We've had lots of interesting conversations over the last six months about what constitutes the 'public' and 'art' of public art and how best to determine and collate the knowledges that surround these interventions into the social sphere. Hopefully this map represents a template which will be edited and added to, documenting also what is lost, temporary and still in production. I'd be very interested to see what you all think, there's a link to the full version at the bottom of the map.
View Public Art in Leeds in a larger map
Fantastic project Rebecca....really excellent, there is a huge variety of 'artworks' here, including 'standard' members of the 'tight-trouser school' of sculpture (Ben Read's classification, not mine) and urban benches....which usefully blur the boundaries.....does it have/will it have, an interactive user-generated content participatory element?....(a kind of graffitisation of your virtual public realm....?)......
ReplyDeletebut anyway, as a 'map' it's great!
mark
Thank you for taking a look, I certainly would like the map to be completely open source (I'm not sure about graffitisation, though I hear it's even better than museumisation) however, the Council are mistrustful of unmediated content so we've compromised on a third way, which makes use of a function of the software allowing the controlled invitation of 'collaborators' (sounds subversive) who are then able to add and edit, although anyone will be able to add comments. We met today with other departments and interested parties (including Ben Read - great quote!) who might take on this role, and it was fascinating to see the variety of definitions and categories at work. There was some lively discussion about the general exclusion of architectural ornament, memorials and monuments as unauthored objects, which heritage and conservation were keen to see represented in conjunction with the listing process. I think the map can accommodate leaky distinctions in a productive tension, it'll be interesting to see what happens when it's released into the wilds of the www.
ReplyDeleteHi Rebecca - just happened upon this, it looks like a very interesting project (and sounds like your negotiating LCC collaboration very well!) Just a thought, I wonder whether we might run a Leeds Art Walk dedicated to following the map - maybe it would be something you'd like to lead on behalf of Pavilion. Could be a nice way to bring members of the public into the debate around public art ... Gill
ReplyDeleteHi Gill, that sounds great. It might be interesting to show some of the more esoteric, hidden and recent pieces - so many of which I wasn't aware of even having lived in Leeds for quite some time. My email address is fin3rjw@leeds.ac.uk, perhaps we could arrange to meet and discuss some possibilities?
ReplyDeleteRebecca