A Search for Sustainable Public Art

Abstract

This paper explores international and Canadian public art contexts and installations within the last fifty years. Public art requires public places for installation, visibility, and democratic discussion. This text will extend its scope to include a historical overview of the divide between public and private property. In light of this, the notion of agonism will be central to my argument regarding public space, dissent, protest, critique and collaboration. As artists and philosophers recognize agonism, in art, as critical to how public art functions, this paper reviews its powers to question and contribute to ecological regeneration as urban public spaces are shrinking from growing commercial pressures. Ultimately this text will support the usefulness of artist interventions and agonism in the struggle to enhance and support the planet's ecology and discuss the crucial role public property plays in shaping our relationship with the earth.