CFP: Geographies of Public-Art Co-Production: Let Us Talk about Public Art, but Where Are the Publics?
26th–29th August, 2014
Annual International Conference, London, 26th–29th August, 2014
Royal Geographical Society (RGS) with Institute of British Geographers (IBG)
Convenors: Martin Zebracki (University of Leeds) & joni m palmer (independent scholar)
Art in public space is often surrounded by a cacophony of voices from artists, policymakers and a wide range of viewers. Where producers of public art frequently lay claims on audience effects and public engagement, we believe these claims deserve academic scrutinisation along the everyday experiences of both practitioners and beholders in consideration of reconfiguring understandings and potentialities regarding co-production—i.e., collaborations between producers and publics—in the field of public art.
This session invites scholars across disciplines as well as practitioners to critically and creatively engage with the encounters between producers and publics of public art. The questions that this session embarks upon include, but are not limited to:
* How are knowledges about public art constructed in the encounters between producers and publics?
* How are public art’s publics involved in public art from its preparation through its implementation phase and the time thereafter?
* To what extent do the everyday perceived opportunities and challenges of publics’ involvement in public-art production differ between the perspectives of producers and publics?
* How might we engage and engender multiple perspectives to create novel collaborative understandings, methodologies as well as sites for knowledge exchange toward geographies of public-art co-production?
The organisers are inviting original discussions and creative contributions attending to theoretical, methodological, empirical and/or artistic dimensions of the subject matter. If interested, please submit a 250-word abstract to Martin Zebracki at M.M.Zebracki AT leeds.ac.uk by 12 February, 2014. A special journal issue might follow this session, so we appreciate if you indicate any interest therein in your submission document. Please contact the organisers should you require any more information about this CFP.
Martin Zebracki (M.M.Zebracki AT leeds.ac.uk) and joni m palmer (Joni.Palmer AT colorado.edu)