Now You See It, Now You Don’t: The Value of Temporary Art in Public Space
For many (especially in the art world) the term ‘public art’ conjures disdain and a sense that precious public money is being used to purchase an oversized object that has little or no connection to the community amongst which it sits. While this is not always the case, there is a strong perception that public art is generally bad art.
The first in a series of lectures that aim to challenge that perception, Now You See It, Now You Don’t, will instead explore the value of temporary art in public space. Through examining four case studies and interviewing Brisbane-based artist Caitlin Franzmann who has staged several projects of this nature, this session will unpack the creative, social, and economic benefits of projects that have a limited lifespan in urban context.
Jenna Green Bio:
Artist, curator and arts writer Jenna Green has spent the last decade working within the construction industry and fine art sector. Combining her passion for art with her background in design, Jenna balances a career in public art facilitation with her art practice and art writing. Currently working freelance, Jenna is based in Brisbane.
With an art practice developed over the past six years, Jenna has worked collaboratively with Propriety Limited (Pty Ltd), as well as individually. Involved in several group shows such as the 29th Gold Coast International Ceramic Art Award (2014), Self (2016), and New World City (2014), she continues to increase her exposure nationally. Having just completed her Honours body of work that responds to the concept of the creative industries, Jenna is drawn to the tensions and opportunities that exist at the juncture of art and commerce.
Jenna has had the pleasure of working with public art facilitators, John Stafford and Jodie Cox (CREATIVEMOVE), Urban Art Projects, gallerists Jan Murphy and Sophie Gannon (Contemporary Editions), Spiro Grace Art Rooms, and a collection of other esteemed artists and galleries as a freelance curator, designer and writer. Specific artists she has worked with and continues to work with include, Donna Marcus, Sebastian Di Mauro, Robert Andrews, Laura Jones and Karen Black and many others. She is currently working on a publication for The Laundry Artspace.
Marisa Georgiou Bio:
Marisa Georgiou is an inter-disciplinary artist, critical writer, and student of embodied performance strategies, interested in atmospheric sensation and our relationship to ‘nature’ in connection to wider feminist/postcolonial discourses. Through her performance practice, she explores the space between uncultured and cultured embodiment, alternative ways of Knowing, and their expression in the urban/natural landscape.
Marisa completed her Bachelor of Fine Art (Hons) in 2015, where she researched the potentials of an ethical visual approach to Landscape, in video and installation mediums. This year she has presented and published this research for LEVEL ARI and Critical Animals Creative Research Symposium. She regularly exhibits in galleries, artist-run-initiatives and alternative venues in Brisbane and interstate, and has an upcoming solo exhibition at MOANA Project Space, Perth.
Marisa’s words have been featured in local and national publications including Artlink, Common Ground Journal, and Panoptic Press, and she has written for both commercial and artist-run spaces, such as Spiro Grace Art Rooms, The Hold Artspace, Seventh Gallery and others.
Caitlin Franzmann Bio:
Caitlin Franzmann explores contemporary art’s potential to instigate change by way of critical listening, dialogue and self-empowerment. In reaction to the fast pace and sensory overstimulation of contemporary urban life, she creates situations to encourage slowness, mindful contemplation, and social interaction in both galleries and public spaces. These situations include conversation-based works and immersive sonic spaces such as wearable listening sculptures, architectural interventions and audiowalks.
Caitlin originally trained as an urban planner and in 2012 completed a BFA at Queensland College of Art. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Institute of Modern Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Canberra Contemporary Art Space and torna, Istanbul, and has participated in festivals such as OtherFilm and Electrofringe. Caitlin is Co-director of LEVELari, a Brisbane-based collective focused on generating dialogue around gender, feminism and art.
p+a+p Bio:
people+artist+place is a Brisbane-based arts initiative, designed to challenge community perceptions of art in public space. p+a+p facilitates dynamic contemporary art projects that are accessible and critical in equal measure.
In 2017, p+a+p. will launch with a series of three lectures on art in public space, facilitated by Brisbane Free University. For each lecture, we will look at interstate and international case studies to unpack the creative, social, and economic benefits of such projects in public space, and proceed to invite an artist who has worked in such a way to speak about their practice.
This year will also see a small collection of projects facilitated by p+a+p., that see an artist/artist collective produce work beyond the gallery and in collaboration with a community/business/venue. Our intention is to provide artists mentoring and support to realise their work to a high standard, and in community context.
COVER IMAGE: 9000 Minutes, Field Theory, Victoria Market, 2016.
