Art in public

Public art is an art genre in which the concept, function, and form of the work are created through public discourse and for the general public. The works of public art are there for public access and often appear in public spaces, serving as a powerful avenue for the artist to express to the general public.

Essentially, public art engages the viewer outside of traditional exhibition halls, museums, and art galleries. It appeals to the masses through interventions, ideas, actions, performances, and visuals. Today’s public artists look to redefine cardinal concepts such as social engagement, collective identity, social contract, and community.

African Renaissance Monument, 2010, bronze, 49 meter (161 feet), Ouakam suburb, Dakar, Senegal feat

The African Renaissance Monument – Africa’s most controversial statue

Sculptures, Statues / 12 minutes of reading
This 49 meters tall bronze statue is located on top of the Collines des Mamelles – one of the twin hills – in the Senegalese capital Dakar. It overlooks the Atlantic Ocean just outside the city in the Ouakam neighborhood. The African Renaissance Monument was designed by renowned Senegalese architect Pierre Goudiaby Atepa following …

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Lin Yilin - Safely Maneuvering across Lin He Road, 1995, performance, Guangzhou, China feat

Lin Yilin’s performance – Safely Maneuvering Across Lin He Road

Performances, Video Art / 4 minutes of reading
Lin Yilin Lin Yilin needs no introductions in the world of performance art. As one of the most well-known Chinese artists, Yilin has made a name for himself for his contemporary interventions and performance pieces that often criticize China’s extreme urbanization, modernization, commercial globalization, as well as its geopolitical conflicts. Lin was born in Guangzhou, …

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Xu Zhen’s In just a blink of an eye – Defying the laws of physics?

Performances, Sculptures / 5 minutes of reading
Have you ever seen one of those perfectly timed photos that capture the exact moment someone begins to fall on their bum? With modern technology, it is not hard to capture that “perfect moment”. However, capturing that “perfect moment” in a live performance is nearly impossible; unless you are Xu Zhen. Chinese artist Xu …

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Katsuhiro Otomo - Kinka Doji Riding the Waves Accompanied by Fujin and Raijin, 2015, ceramic relief, 8.7 x 2.8 meter, installation view, Sendai Airport, Japan feat

Katsuhiro Otomo’s mural at the Sendai Airport – Riding the Waves

Ceramics / 3 minutes of reading
Katsuhiro Otomo’s relief Katsuhiro Otomo, the creator of Akira, the 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk action film, is one of the most well-known manga artists, animators, screenwriters, and film directors in the world. Though he is best known for his manga series and film adaptations, Otomo crossed over into the sculpture world when he was asked …

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Wesley Meuris – Memento, 2012, 500 x 1000 x 1000 cm, installation view, Central Burial of Borgloon, Belgium feat

Wesley Meuris’ Memento – A place to leave your worries behind

Architecture, Sculptures / 3 minutes of reading
Memento is a circular pavilion that was created by Belgian artist Wesley Meuris. This beautiful white pavilion is located on the outskirts of the little Flemish town of Borgloon. Being situated directly on the slope, Memento overlooks the central graveyard found in the medieval city that has been nicknamed Central Burial by …

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Vincent Ganivet’s monumental Catena Containers in Le Havre

Sculptures / 3 minutes of reading
Le Havre – Catène de containers The Catène de Containers is a sculpture created by Vincent Ganivet in 2017. To build the monument, Ganivet made two archways of containers to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the French city Le Havre. The containers, which were stacked up to 30-meters high, are easily distinguished by the various …

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Shen Ting Tseng Architects - Floating Pavilion, 2016, installation view, Taipei Fine Arts Museum plaza feat

A floating pavilion in Taipei – By Shen Ting Tseng Architects

Architecture, Installations / 2 minutes of reading
The Floating Pavilion The Floating Pavilion was a temporary structure exhibited at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum Plaza, Taiwan, in 2016, as the winning design in the annual competition to build pavilions at different spaces in the TFAM complex. The pavilion was designed by Shen Ting Tseng Architects to add vitality to the plaza, which …

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João Filgueiras Lima’s Bahía exhibition center – A brutalist classic

Architecture, Brutalist architecture / 4 minutes of reading
As far as Brutalist architecture goes, the Centro de Exposições da Bahía Building, more commonly known as the Exhibition Center of the Administrative Center of Bahía, is a perfect example. Designed in 1974 by Brazilian architect João Filgueiras Lima, more frequently known as Lelé, this amphitheater was designed to accommodate at least 50 individuals. …

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The Miguel Lerdo de Tejada Library & Vladimir Rusakov’s impressive mural

Murals, Paintings / 3 minutes of reading
The Miguel Lerdo de Tejada Library is an impressive feat of architecture, but even more impressive is its large-scale mural, covering 2000 square meters. The library, one of Mexico’s most important resources for financial records and heritage book collections, houses psychedelic frescoes that tell the story of revolutionary scenes throughout history. Mexicans …

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Torres de Satélite, Mexico City feat

Torres de Satélite by Luis Barragan – What you need to know

Architecture, Sculptures / 10 minutes of reading
The Torres de Satélite or Satellite Towers are a collection of sculptures installed in the Ciudad Satelite district of Naucalpan in Mexico State, a few kilometers outside Mexico City. They are considered among Mexico’s first large-scale urban sculptures. The monuments were conceived in 1957 by the famous Mexican painter Jesús Reyes Ferreira, …

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Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin – NOT a chapel

Architecture, Church architecture, Modernist Architecture, Stained Glass Windows / 10 minutes of reading
For everyone with an interest in design, Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin is a great feast for the eyes and has a pretty interesting story behind it. Austin is a 2715 square feet (252 square meters) building on the grounds of the Blanton Museum of Art. The story behind the building goes that in 1986, Douglass …

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Joseph Beuys’ ambitious plan to plant 7000 oaks

Environmental Art, Installations, Video Art / 5 minutes of reading
7000 Oaks 7000 Oaks is an environmental artwork created by German artist Joseph Beuys. The artist proposed a plan to have 7000 oaks trees planted across the Germany city of Kassel, each tree accompanied with basalt stone, 4 feet high above the ground. Joseph Beuys’ objection was for the project to extend throughout the world …

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