Public Art as Reconciliation
Last time, I posited that Public Art is cultural conflict. Today, I suggest that it’s also cultural reconciliation.
Public Art is a manifestation of an entrenched struggle for rights of cultural authorship. Eventually, though, that struggle has to be resolved. Someone wins, and someone loses. Or, a truce is declared. A (hopefully) lasting peace is brokered.
Public Art is a manifestation of that resolution as well. The treaty is signed abstractly, and the Art is the transubstantiation of that treaty. Belligerents put aside art and agree on certain terms. The agreement takes shape as sculpture, or architecture, or monuments. We all agree on what our culture is, and Public Art becomes the seal of that covenant.
By engaging with the culture around you, you agree to the terms of the cultural treaty as well. Do you disagree? Then make Art that says so. Start the war anew. Break the treaty. You, as cultural author, owe nothing less.
