Public Art and Public Outcries

When placed in public spaces art seems to invoke much stronger feelings than in a museum. An intelligent way to use this can be seen in Fellipe Dulzaides’ play with perception Double Take. What could have been just another installation suddenly seems very interesting when it’s displayed in a public space.

Double Take is sponsored by transnational corporation Clear Channel, a fact that has created controversy in the Californian art community. The critics are basically saying that this is not “real street art”. The notion of the artist as pure and clean, untainted by the need for money, seems pretty old, in my opinion. Even artists have to eat, don’t they?

A group of Austrian artists, on the other hand, seem to feel that “more is more”. Instead of small talk they are outright shouting their message over large billboards across Vienna. The most controversial of the boards depicts French president Jacques Chirac having an orgy with president Bush and the queen of England. Earlier today the billboards were taken down due to political pressure.

Though the Austrian billboard pieces are pretty funny in a Beavis and Butthead-sort of way I personally prefer the more subtle approach as shown by Dulzaides.