Ixia

Art & the Public Sphere journal – Volume 1. Number 2 has been published. The journal includes articles by Mark Hutchinson, Gretchen Coombs & Justin O’Connor, Angela Harutyunyan and Malcolm Miles; an interview with Vito Acconci by the Freee art collective; and various reviews. Click here to view the Contents.

A call for papers for Volume 2. Issues 1 & 2 is now out. It will be guest edited by Martin Zebracki & Joni M Palmer. This double issue will explore Art and Geography. Art is a burgeoning phenomenon in the public sphere of Western cities, and emcompases a range of issues from geographical levels of the body to international development.This issue welcomes papers that may engage with one or more of the following critical questions, or related relevant matters. By whom and for whom, and from which rationales, is public art made in time and space? And, more particularly, what does this imply for urban identity, socio-spatial inclusion and exclusion, and sociocultural sustainability?

Click here for the full Call for papers.
New deadline: 1st June 2013

Contact: martin.zebracki@wur.nl and joni.palmer@colorado.edu

Click here to subscribe to Art & the Public Sphere.

Click here for more information.

SUMMARY: The Cultural Olympiad masked a significant fall in the size and value of the public art sector in England. In addition, the sector experienced a loss of younger workers, including younger artists, as well as officers within local authorities.

During autumn 2012, ixia undertook its second public art survey. The findings of the survey have been compared to those from 2011 and this has enabled us to begin to identify and examine trends relating to the public art sector in England. However, it has to be stressed that both surveys revealed a sector that is fragmented. Public art encompasses a variety of disciplines and organisations including arts, planning, local authorities, development, regeneration, health and education. As a result, there are a wide range of work contexts that include: self-employed, which applies to the majority and comprises artists and public art consultants; full-time and part-time public art employees; full-time and part-time public art employees who have some involvement with public art; voluntary workers; and students.

Having correlated the survey’s sample with known population distributions, ixia’s databases and other data sources, ixia has been able to make a number of observations and estimates.

Click here to read more.

During autumn 2012, ixia organised three free briefing events on public art, cultural well-being and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The speakers were the planning barrister, Ian Dove QC of No5 Chambers, and the cultural commentator, John Holden. The events were supported by No5 Chambers and DLA Piper.

The events addressed two issues:

1. the relationship between cultural well-being and public art;
2. the implications of the inclusion of cultural well-being within the NPPF on the provision of public art via the planning system.

Click here for more information and to download the papers which were the basis of Ian’s and John’s presentations.

ixia’s Public Art and Self-Organisation events, which were held in London and Leeds earlier this year, were both recorded for use on ixia’s websites.  These recordings are now available online. Use the links below and scroll down to the bottom of the pages to hear audiofiles of the morning and afternoon sessions.

Click here for Public Art and Self-Organisation, Leeds.

Click here for Public Art and Self-Organisation, London.

ixia has launched its annual Public Art Survey – a key tool in helping to understand the public art sector in the UK.

ixia’s annual Public Art Survey is a key tool in helping to understand public art in the UK. The first survey, in 2011, revealed a sector worth at least £56m with a fragmented but active workforce of around 1,250 people in England alone. With funding mostly linked to the planning system and the development sector, how have things changed in the last 12 months? What effect is the recession having? Are there unexpected areas of growth?

We are interested in your views and experiences, whether you are directly involved with, used to be involved with, or simply have an interest in public art. The survey will take between 3 to 15 minutes to complete, depending on the extent of your involvement with public art.

Please share the following link with anybody you know who has an interest in public art: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PUBLICARTSURVEY2012

Whilst the survey’s primary focus is the UK, we also want to know what is happening around the world.  All subscribers to ixia / Public Art Online’s e-list will receive a summary of the survey’s findings at the same time as the media.

To complete the survey, please click here.

ixia has commissioned and published the following new essays on Public Art Online which look at public art in the contexts of health and regeneration:

• FcNK by Clive Parkinson explores the relationship between art in the public realm and well-being. He investigates public art’s sometimes superficiality and its occasional potential to question societal norms.
• Public Art and the Art of the Public — After the Creative City by Jonathan Vickery is a short study which aims to assess the current situation of public art in the UK within an urban cultural policy context.
• The Past and Possible Future of Countermonument, also by Jonathan Vickery, looks at the frameworks of thought and practice of ‘countermonument’.

ixia has published an updated guidance document: Public Art – A Guide to Evaluation: 2nd Edition 2012. This document has been edited in light of a number of the 2010 Coalition Government’s policies, which signal areas of change that will impact on public art in England.

Click here for more information about ixia’s guidance documents and Evaluation Database.

On Monday 23rd January 2012, members of the House of Lords questioned the government on the inclusion of culture within the NPPF. The government confirmed that the issue was under consideration.

This followed on from the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee stating, on 15th December, that it sees ‘a compelling case’ for the inclusion of ‘a cultural dimension as part of the social pillar of the definition of sustainable development’ within the NPPF.

Click here to watch the House of Lords debate on the Parliament website. The discussion begins at 14.59.54 according to the video timer. Click here to read the written transcript of the debate.

For more information about the NPPF on ixia’s website, please click here.

Public sector cutbacks and the wider economic downturn are fuelling a general pessimism in the public art sector, although there remains significant optimism amongst many of the more established artists.

Nearly 700 people participated in ixia’s Public Art Survey 2011. Of these, 500 work in the public art sector in the UK. However, our sample sizes for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are too small to be confident in using the data, so the key findings concentrate on public art in England.

The survey is the first of its kind, and deals with a fragmented public art sector that can be difficult to define. The sector encompasses a variety of disciplines and organisations including: arts, planning, local authorities, development, regeneration, health and education. As a result, there are a wide range of work contexts that include: self-employed, which applies to the majority and comprises artists and public art consultants; full-time and part-time public art employees; full-time and part-time employees who have some involvement with public art; voluntary workers; and students.

Having correlated the survey’s sample with known population distributions, ixia’s databases and other data sources, ixia has been able to make a number of observations and estimates. Click here to download the Summary.