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Going Public

2001

Video projection (duration 5:00 looped)

 

Going Public is a video that serves as both an homage and a critique of public art.

The homage is to the chosen artists, all of whom have had some influence on my own ideas on art in public. The video using a style similar to ‘candid camera’, depicts people interacting with works by (Vito Acconci, Joesph Beuys, Daniel Buren, Alexander Calder, Dan Graham, Richard Serra, and Lawrence Wiener).

In the video you see people tripping over, walking into, and falling from various sight specific public art works.

The critique is that placing work into the public sphere never fully works in the way that the artists intended it to.

Going Public is a work within the spirit of the Ad Reinhardt quote about sculpture: “Sculpture is something you bump into when you back up to look at a paintingGoing Public considers the problematic nature of public art as a literal incursion into the everyday world. The video depicts accidents befalling people in their encounters with works by Vito Acconci, Joesph Beuys, Daniel Buren, Alexander Calder, Dan Graham, Richard Serra, and Lawrence Wiener. The video has the tenor of the TV show Òcandid cameraÓ: eliciting laughter at others misfortune and confusion. The work suggests that the full scope and functionality of public art as conceived by the artist is of nothing compared to how the work actually exists within the public realm. .”