What is public art, what can it be and where can it take place in a post-pandemic world?
NOW everything has changed - the pandemic, social distancing, black lives matter, colonial legacy, high street shops closing, new policing bill, inequality of access to green spaces for all. We believe that artists have a valuable role to play through working visibly in public spaces to influence ways that we might re-connect, re-value and re-imagine our shared spaces
On 10th June 2021, Urban Wilderness hosted an online symposium, produced by PH Production Services at King Street Studios. We were joined by many inspirational artists and cultural producers working in public spaces to hear how they have adapted their work to meet the challenges of the pandemic. We also discussed the potential for New Rules for Public Art 2021 using the Situations 2013 New Rules of Public Art as a provocation.
You can watch the full symposium, including each of the breakout room discussions, below.
List of speakers
00:09:46 Keynote Speaker 1: Anna Berry
00:22:25 Keynote Speaker 2: Ellie Harris, Greenwich + Docklands
00:34:40 Keynote Speaker 3: Gabriella Gay
00:52:50 Breakout Room 1: Green Spaces - hosted by Charlotte Foster, with guest speaker April Lin
01:27:42 Breakout Room 2: Street Scapes - hosted by Nicola Winstanley, with guest speaker Joyce Iwaszko
02:04:45 Breakout Room 3: Installations - hosted by Cynthia Coady, with guest speaker David Bethell
02:41:08 Breakout Room 4: Hyper-Local - hosted by Carola Boehm, with guest speakers Anna Francis (02:42:40) and Daniella Beattie (02:59:55)
03:17:39 Feedback from Breakout Rooms and Close
The symposium was part of the Wastelands: Public Art Now project funded by Arts Council England, Canal & River Trust and The National Lottery Community Fund
Urban Wilderness is an arts organisation founded in 2018 and embedded in Stoke-on-Trent. Our work is situated in hyper-local public spaces where our actions disrupt established narratives and re-imagine alternative futures.
We work collaboratively with artists, communities and academics to build meaningful relationships, share power and instigate change.
Our work includes artist commissions in local green spaces Wastelands, brownfield site interventions Feral Spaces, youth-led future house building Tomorrowland, and a free-to-access, child-led festival Forest Worlds Festival.