Art in the public interest
A collection of essays on the relationship between art and the public. The concept of public art has expanded to include street art, guerrilla theatre, video art, performance art, and protest actions, as well as politically provocative sculpture and painting. Certain issues have arisen with this expansion: First Amendment rights; questions of public taste and morality; the concept of artists as agents of social change; the role of commerce and technology in art; and the appropriateness of funding of artistic expression by public institutions. Among the works discussed are: Greenpeace's guerrilla theatre; the Names Project's AIDS quilt; Tim Rollins +K.O.S's work in the Bronx; Richard Serra's "Tilted Arc"; and David Nelson's portrait of Harold Washington. This work aims to establish the groundwork necessary to address the critical interaction between art, social conscience and public policy.