Saturday, June 4th, 9.30 – 11.15, at Università di Verona, Room 1.4
Abstract:
We propose a paper that discusses the potential of public art to deal with the crisis of democracy. This crisis has caused an aggressive (non-)discourse that characterises the disconnect between citizens and their political representatives as well as the growing gap between societal groups. While the advantaged groups air their demands publicly, the disadvantaged are verbally abused and retreat from the public sphere.
It is our hypothesis that public art that is the product of public authorship can be a counterforce to this crisis and the violence because the shared artistic process can create new ground for working together to deal with difference.
In testing this hypothesis we are lead by two questions: How much democratisation can be achieved through public authorship of art? And, what increases the positive influence of processes of public art? These questions guide us in comparing Jochen Gerz’s Future Monument and Public Bench (Coventry, England, 2004) and Pedro Reyes’ Palas por Pistolas (“Shovels for Guns”) (Culiacán, Mexico, 2008). We come to the conclusion that public authorship brings out the positive potential of difference for moving toward an aesthetic of non-violence in a democratising society as political positions are again brought into an inclusive discourse.
