Fountains Failures Futures: The afterlives of public art

A public conference by HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design at University of Gothenburg on September 28–29, 2023

Research and discussion about public art frequently focuses on conditions of emergence and production for public works. This symposium starts at the other end—thinking about the afterlives of public art with respect to processes of decline, decay, acts of reparation and reimagination, transformation and change. We are interested in questions of sustainability, custodianship, and whether “failed” public artworks can be revitalised and thought anew. What are the implications for their authorship and ownership, and what challenges does this present for commissioners, artists, architects, and urban planners? How can producers, owners and custodians of public artworks, and the communities living with these works, anticipate and accommodate complex afterlives of public art?

We also want to consider the changing terms through which futures are imagined—from progress narratives of the modern to crisis narratives of climate change—and what the implications are for commissioning public artworks and their evolution in the design of public space.

I will reply to keynote speaker Dan Karlholm on Thursday, September 28 at 4:30pm. The entire program and more information can be found on the Homepage.

Skissernas Museum – Museum of Artistic Process and Public Art, Finngatan 2, 223 62 Lund, Sweden

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