With a few notable exceptions, public monuments across the United States are overwhelmingly white and male. A movement is slowly growing to tell a more inclusive history of the American experience.
Artist Louis Maqhubela and his wife Tana passed away within days of one another.
Image courtesy the Maqhubela family
The master of abstract art proved that black ‘township artists’ from South Africa could become leaders of international styles.
‘Ice Watch,’ an installation by Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, put 12 blocks of ice harvested from a fjord in a clock formation in a public place in London, in December 2018.
(Sarflondondunc/Flickr)
From installations of ice to projected art generated from air quality readings, artists and designers offer powerful experiences where people become witnesses to what’s happening and what’s possible.
Members of the Japanese artist collective Me (meaning “eyes” in Japanese) launch an inflatable artwork entitled Masayume, on the occasion of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Yoshio Tsunoda/AFLO/Alamy Live News
The giant head spotted hovering over the Tokyo skyline in recent weeks is the latest in a long line of Olympic art moments. Debate and controversy are never far behind.
A woman walks past a mural in Vancouver, B.C. The power of public art is its ability to turn artistic practice into a social action.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Marissa Tiel
When public art pairs artistic expression with community engagement, it can honour the diverse communities that share public spaces and spur important conversations.
Artist Steven Shearer’s untitled billboard images of reclining and sleeping people were displayed as part of Capture Photography Festival in Vancouver but were soon removed due to complaints.
(Dennis Ha)
Examining parallels between Steven Shearer’s billboard images and religious figures of 17th century baroque art allow a consideration of how context is everything when it comes to reading images.
Monuments are good; so are civic festivals. The ‘plague column’ at Piazza San Domenico Maggiore, in Naples.
(Mongolo1984/Wikimedia Commons)
As the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of a pandemic approaches, it might be time to consider how our modern age wants to remember this plague.
Robert Jenrick: personal power to block councils over statues.
PA/Stefan Rousseau
Robert Jenrick says due process is under attack – so he’s handing himself the power to grant the final say about statues and street names.
Artwork ‘Melly Shum Hates Her Job’ by Ken Lum hangs in the Witte de Withstraat district in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, shown May 2008.
(Ken Lum/Wikimedia Commons)
A Rotterdam art centre removed its colonial-era name and is renaming itself ‘The Kunstinstituut Melly,’ to honour the city’s 30-year love affair with Ken Lum’s iconic work.
Artist Joi T. Arcand explains ‘Never Surrender,’ ‘translates a …1980s Canadian pop song into the Cree language and recontextualiz[es] the lyrics as an anthem of Indigenous sovereignty.’ Here, the image layered over a photo of a Winnipeg sidewalk.
(Noor)
Both the COVID-19 pandemic and urgent debates around public heritage and monuments shape how Nuit Blanche Toronto is seeking to engage artists and viewers in remapping cities.
Images in support and thanks of firefighters were projected onto the sails of the Sydney Opera House on January 11.
Paul Braven/AAP
Artists and entertainers have raised millions of dollars for the current bushfire crisis – so why are they still at the receiving end of so much criticism and so little funding and support?
Kaldor Public Art Project 3: Gilbert & George.
The Singing Sculpture, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 16 – 21 August 1973
Copyright: Gilbert & George
Courtesy Art Gallery of New South Wales
Fifty years after Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the NSW coast at Little Bay, the Art Gallery of NSW celebrates the long term consequences of John Kaldor’s creative philanthropy.
Can street art out of context still tell the same story?
Ben Birchall/PA Wire/PA Images
A human rights researcher documents the stories of Central American migrants leaving behind endemic poverty and high homicide rates. In limbo in Mexico, many use art therapy to express their anxiety.
The Port Talbot Banksy.
Ben Birchall/PA Wire/PA Images
Unsolicited artwork by the world famous artist can cause big problems for private building owners.
This playable tram generates different musical compositions at different speeds when viewed through a smartphone camera using an augmented reality app.
James H.H. Morgan
Melbourne has its first playable art tram – a 32.5-metre-long musical score played via augmented reality. So what’s the idea of playable trams and playable cities really about?
Trump Baby flies over Parliament Square in July during President Trump’s visit to the UK.
Andy Rain/EPA
Trump Baby is the latest in a long history of visual protests. But is this ‘cheap shot street theatre’ truly effective, or should we ask more of protest artists?
Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
PhD Candidate, School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, and Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney