Public art as a sociological phenomenon of the urban artistic environment

U Bingxian Graduate Student, Saint Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design 46 Voznesensky Avenue, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad Region, 190068, Russia 363147396.@qq.com

Introduction

Since ancient times, art has served as a tool for organizing urban spaces. Contemporary art is no exception in this sense. In the twentieth century, art, breaking through the gloomy walls of museums, broke free, giving artists the opportunity, using the latest technologies, to embody the most daring ideas in objects that took original forms and images. The exit of art from the incubator of the art museum to the streets and squares, parks and squares, hospitals and libraries was a necessary step that brought the artist closer to the world of the urban social environment, which made art a part of society. So the traditional art was replaced by public art, which changed the views of artists on the potential of urban space.

What do we mean by public art? Art historians interpret this term in different ways. From the point of view of F.V. Fedchin, public art as one of the types of contemporary art can be viewed from the standpoint of a broad and narrow approach. On the one hand, public art is a combination of heterogeneous phenomena of modern urban art. In other words, public art in a broad sense is works of art placed in the urban artistic environment and become public domain. The narrow definition of public art is reduced to works of art that function outside the exhibition space, i.e. outside an art gallery, museum, exhibition hall, etc. ^{[1, p. 199]}. In this regard, according to A.O. Kotlomanov, "a whole complex of artistic forms falls under the category of public art, starting from traditional public monuments or landscape sculpture and ending with attempts to conceptualize the specifics of space in terms of its artistic, historical and social qualities" ^{[2, p. 205]}.

Researchers call public art both "a special art of exposure in the open air" ^{[3; 4]}, and "an alternative to an art museum" ^{[4, p. 124]}. But we would focus on the definition given by a group of researchers during a discussion on November 25, 2009 in Nizhny Novgorod, on which M.E. Weitz focuses his attention: "Public art is a form of existence of contemporary art outside the artistic infrastructure, in public space, designed to communicate with the viewer, including the unprepared, and to problematize various issues of both contemporary art itself and the space in which it is presented" ^{[5, p. 96]}.

Let's pay attention to the fact that public art necessarily functions "in public space". But what should be understood by public space?

Public space is a publicly accessible territory in the city space, which is regulated by municipal law and order and is subject to state administrative and territorial laws. Public spaces can be boulevards, embankments, bus stops, parks, squares, squares, etc. ^{[6, p. 3]}. Public spaces are the main epicenters of public life ^{[7, p. 18]}. According to E.A. Kartseva, "the specificity of public spaces is that they are located in the area of intersection of interests of various social groups – not only the authorities and city managers, but also residents of different ages, as well as the creative community – artists and experts" ^{[8, p. 47]}.

Yu.V. Kuramshina believes that "art objects placed in public spaces gradually acquire the meaning of "points of social attraction" that construct the identity of the city and transform it into a creative environment" ^{[9, p. 98]}.

It should be noted that public spaces where public art projects are presented are not always intended for the demonstration of art objects. But the creators of such projects, placing their works in the spaces of city squares, squares, parks, embankments and even wastelands, first of all, appeal to the feelings of the widest audience, including ordinary people who do not have a high level of art history knowledge. "One of the tasks of public art," writes I.E. Weitz, "is that by presenting their works outside the walls of the usual gallery and museum spaces, their authors want to expand the territory of contemporary art and make it accessible to a large number of viewers. Thus, any passerby can become an audience of public art" ^{[5, p. 96]}

Since the second half of the twentieth century, public art objects have become an integral part of many cities around the world - especially those where one can observe the process of cultural revival, involving the development and rehabilitation of the urban environment through cultural projects ^[10]. Sculpture, painting, graphics and other genres of art adapted to the urban artistic environment have made the art of public art, in fact, a unique and, in many cases, a unique form of interaction between administrative structures, citizens and urban space. 

1. Public art in the historical and cultural context

Public art as a specific sphere of functioning of contemporary art originated in the USA. The sixties of the twentieth century were marked by the initiatives of the authorities of large and small American cities to return their citizens seeking a measured, quiet life outside the city bustle to urban centers that were falling into decline, in connection with which a number of laws were passed obliging developers engaged in urban planning to purchase and install works of art in urban neighborhoods. It was at this time that the first works of public art in the style of classical modernism appeared on the streets and squares of American cities: the Chicago sculpture "Untitled" by Pablo Picasso (1967); the sculpture by A. Calder "La Grande Vitesse" ("High Speed"), installed in Grand Rapids (Michigan) in 1969, etc. ^{[11, p. 235]}.

Despite the fact that abstract sculptures dominated public art from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies, already in those years artists working on public projects were aware of the positive role of art that had invaded the public life of both megacities and small towns. And since the late seventies and early eighties of the twentieth century, public art objects have become part of the modern urban environment and begin to fit into the broad context of visual art that exists in alliance with urban design and the national specifics of the region.

The first person who began to develop his art projects in connection with the surrounding space was Klas Oldenburg, an American sculptor of Swedish origin. So, in 1978, fulfilling an order for the city of Salinas, California, the artist creates a giant figure of a garden hat, which, on the one hand, acts as a symbol of the local hot climate, and on the other, resembles a hat thrown by a cowboy at a rodeo at the moment when it flies to the ground. The idea to create this composition arose from Oldenburg during a visit to a local hat shop. Drawing attention to the wide range of hats sold for farmers, ranchers, as well as for women who work in the garden, the artist realized that hats are necessary in the climate of Salinas, which means that it is necessary to perpetuate this important wardrobe item for the townspeople.

The art project, called "Hats", is located in a park area on the outskirts of the city, bordered by tall eucalyptus trees and stables adjacent to the stands of the California rodeo, where thousands of people gather in July to have picnics and listen to music.

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Klas Oldenburg. Hats. 1978.

A year later, Klas Oldenburg receives an order to design a sculpture for a park in the university town of Freiburg im Breisgau on the Rhine in west Germany. Once upon a time there were small front gardens with flowers and vegetable beds, which were grown by local residents. One of the most important things of a gardener is a hose for watering, which led the artist to the idea of creating an art object in the form of a watering hose, which would become a kind of monument to the past of this small town and its inhabitants who left this place under the pressure of civilization ^[12].

Of course, the project that Klas Oldenburg conceived required the involvement of specialists from other fields. First of all, a pipe was needed. The only plant that could produce it turned out to be the plant in Muhlheim, which produced fragments of the gas pipeline connecting Europe and Russia. Especially for this project, an engineer at the factory has developed a special method of bending pipes to prevent deformation. Thirty sections of carefully formed and fitted pipes were delivered to Freiburg im Breisgau. In the spring of 1983, a sculpture called "Garden Hose" was assembled and painted on site. The installation of the sculpture alone took about a month ^[12].

Klas Oldenburg. Garden hose. 1983.

So, one of the key features of public art is its connection, dispute or dialogue with the place, which is carried out in a socio-cultural context. In this regard, it is important to understand that public art is not just an installation of a work of contemporary art in a public space. Any art object must create a meaning that comes from the place and for the place in which it exists. The artist develops a project for a specific place and urban landscape ^{[13, p. 64]}.

In 1981, a giant steel sculpture by the American master of public art Richard Serra was installed on Foley Square in New York under the name "Inclined Arch", or "Overturned Arc". This composition, which was a curved metal plate with a length of almost 37 meters, made a lot of noise.

Some American critics of that time (for example, M. Branson) saw a reference to ships, cars and trains, as well as to the role that the steel industry played in American life ^{[14, pp. 263-265]}. As the viewer moved around the blade, the balance between sculpture and space, between sculpture and the viewer, was constantly changing, which, according to R. Serra, was supposed to teach Americans to interact – even against their will – with a work of art in the environment.

But the American townsfolk did not understand the artist's plan and demanded to remove the sculpture from the square. The fact is that the clerks, hurrying to work, had to bypass this work of art, thereby losing precious time. And, after several years of public hearings, court proceedings and numerous publications in the media regarding the legality and appropriateness of the Arc, on March 15, 1989, the sculpture was dismantled ^{[15, p. 3]}. Richard Serra considered it inappropriate to move it to another place. The "Overturned Arc" was created specifically for Foley Square, and could not exist in isolation from the place intended for it: "the elegant arc of the blade perfectly combined with the decorative design of the square itself and hid the monotonous grid of Manhattan streets" ^{[14, p. 263]}

R. Serra. The overturned Arc. 1981.

In the late 1990s, thanks to increased funding, the number of art objects in the UK increased. At the same time, it is important to note that many works of "place art" were often located not in large metropolitan cities, but in more promising areas from the point of view of culture, industry and politics. As an example, consider the sculpture "Angel of the North", created by Anthony Gormley in 1998.

This steel sculpture is 20 meters high, weighing 208 tons and with a wingspan of 54 meters, which creates a "hug feeling", is considered the largest angel statue in the world. The sculpture is located above the building of the bathhouse in the old coal mines in Gateshead, in the north-east of England, on a hill that reminded E. Gormley of the "metal mound". Like the "Overturned Arc" by R. Serra, the work of the English master emphasized "the triumph and visibility of the industry" ^{[14, p. 267]}. The location of the culture, emphasizing the "spirit of the place", contributed to the success of the monument with the public, who still makes a "pilgrimage" to this small British town to see the "Angel of the North" with their own eyes.

E. Gormley. Angel of the North. 1998.

In 2017, a piece of public art called "Carrying Light" appeared in Helsinki. The author of this art object, created in honor of the 78th anniversary of the beginning of the Finnish Winter War in 1939, is Finnish artist Pekki Kauhanen. As a material for his creation, he used durable steel, the service life of which is designed for at least 500 years. The total height of the sculpture is 10 meters: the base is 3 meters, and the figure towering above it is 7 meters. The sculpture weighs 6 tons.  This kind of war memorial, located on Kasarmitori Square in the center of Helsinki, stands in front of the main building of the Ministry of Defense of Finland. The place for the installation was chosen by the Military Commissariat of Finland ^{[16, p. 32]}.

The monument is a bullet-riddled Finnish soldier, in whose hands there is no weapon. A figure standing on a huge ball is illuminated from the inside. The main character of this composition is light, which, according to the author's idea, breaks through the darkness. There are more than three hundred holes in the pedestal on which the soldier stands. Looking into them, you can see photos (105 photos – according to the number of days of the Finnish War). The photos are inserted in such a way that they can be replaced with others if future generations of Finns decide to do so.

In Finland, this monument is very revered, considering it the best work of public art. And indeed, if we talk about digital technologies and lighting effects, this art object can be called such. But the ideological component of this monument raises questions. Therefore, the world cultural community is still very reserved about this sculpture. 

Pekki Kauhanen. The light carrier. 2017.

In the early 1990s, the social engagement of art began to gain strength in the Western world, which was reflected in the coverage of social and political problems of society - such as unemployment, military conflicts, terrorism, racial discrimination, etc.

Thus, the topic of racial discrimination is successfully solved in the public art monument to former South African President Nelson Mandela. This object called "The Long Way to Freedom", dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of the arrest of the African leader, was installed in 2012 in the province of Kwazulu-Natal (South Africa).

This work is a composition of 50 steel columns-plates with a height of 6.5 to 9.5 meters, which simultaneously symbolize both the prison bars and the anniversary itself. From a distance, the rods, which are formed by means of digital technologies in Mandela's profile, look like spears thrown by someone's brave and strong hand and stuck into the ground. The stunningly talented sculptor Marco Cianfanelli managed to achieve such a visual effect when the profile of a man who gave the best years of his life to the fight against apartheid emerges from oblivion. A small alley, designed by architect Jeremy Rose, adjoins the monument from the north. In the very center of the alley – at a distance of 35 meters from the sculptural composition – there is a memorial plate.

M. Cianfanelli. A long way to freedom. 2012

This monument, which is one of the most significant works of modern public art, highlights important issues of national and racial identity for society, the actualization of which is extremely necessary in modern urban spaces.

The meaning of such public art works, according to O.A. Kotlomanov, lies "in the maximum approximation of art to the viewer, in the direct involvement of the public in the artistic process, when a person, regardless of his cultural background, gets the opportunity to fully perceive a work of art outside the museum or gallery" ^{[17, p. 96]}.

However, in recent years, a number of foreign critics have expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Public Art ("public art") is gradually turning into Private Art ("private art"). James Wines notes that what is now happening in public art is "shapeless pieces" resembling "waste products". Most of the so-called "works" in large and small cities of Europe and the USA, according to the American architect and constructivist sculptor, are random objects of "private interiorization of art thinking" that "disguise themselves as public art, polluting urban space" ^[18].

2. Public art in the socio-cultural paradigm of modern Russia

Considering public art in the aspect of social significance, it is impossible not to touch upon the formation of this type of contemporary art in Russia. Unlike the Western world, public art occupies a rather modest place in the space of Russian cities, which is due to the specificity of the perception of art by the Russian public outside museums and galleries. Therefore, for many years in Russia, the concept competing with Western, primarily American, public art was monumental and decorative art. Instead of large-scale abstract sculptures that filled the squares of American cities, monuments filled the public space in the USSR. Researchers believe that "the school of Soviet monumental and decorative art has made a significant contribution to the development of the concept of "environment" important for public art ^{[13, p. 62]} - not as a special form of settlement, but as a complex socio-cultural phenomenon that provides an individual with opportunities for self–determination. The monument in Russia was the very art object that defined the individuality of the city, created its image, revealed the peculiarities of national and cultural traditions. However, monumental sculpture, as well as, in general, all works of monumental and decorative art, cannot be attributed to public art, since public art is a practice associated primarily "with the logic of the development of postmodernism and modern art" ^{[13, p. 62]}.

However, starting in 2005, art objects began to appear in public places of Russian cities, the introduction of which into the urban environment often caused shock among the population, who believed that there could only be monuments on the streets. But, despite the ambiguous attitude of the public to such works of modern art, at the end of the 2010s, Russian business and the administrations of Russian cities became seriously interested in public art, which resulted in the installation of works of a new format.

In Russia, public art often lives in spaces where people do not come for art at all - in hospitals, schools, offices, parks. An example of this is the public art projects of Marina Zvyagintseva. One of these projects was placed in 2015 on the territory of the children's Morozov hospital. This project was called "Game Communications" and it was a huge cardiogram of colored and transparent tubes filled with toys.

M. Zvyagintsev. Gaming Communications (2015)

Marina Zvyagintseva, an artist and pioneer of domestic public art, introducing her projects into an unusual "environment" for them, establishes communication between contradictory and heterogeneous spaces - between a hospital and a city ("Game Communications", 2015); between stones and a person trying to find the key to them ("Time Cells", 2013); between a megalopolis, a stone jungle, and a vacation for which it is not necessary to leave its borders ("The sea of the sleeping area", 2014), etc.

On July 12, 2016, Marina Zvyagintseva's installation "Eternal Warmth" appeared on the facade of the Public Library in Norilsk. The artist melts permafrost by means of modern art in one of the harshest cities in the world. Her project is an image of a heating system placed on the facade of the central city library building, only instead of batteries there are bookshelves connected to "pipes" through which the lines of Russian poets of the XX century "flow" in a running line. ^[19]. This project showed that Russian works of public art, unlike their Western "brother", seek, first of all, to fill the cultural vacuum, filling the empty space with meanings available for intellectual development and emotional experience.

Currently, public art exists in various forms in Russia. But sculptures are the most popular among the population, although their appearance and role are far from traditional. Creating sculptures, and most often sculptural groups, artists use materials such as steel, glass, plastic, etc. instead of the usual bronze, and abstract forms, everyday things or ordinary people become the subjects of their creativity. Thus, over one hundred and fifty monuments have been installed in Yekaterinburg, among which the most interesting art objects that fit into a certain type of urban environment are the "Monument to the Invisible Man", "Monument to Passengers", "Monument to Lovers". These art objects may not call for thinking about something global, but they definitely find a response in the heart of every citizen ^{[20, p. 7]}.

Yu. Krylov and A. Kokoteeva. Monument to passengers.  2006.

Currently, public art is only developing in Russia. Unfortunately, the full potential of this art movement is not fully used. In provincial cities, if art objects are installed, then only in residential areas or on the outskirts of the city. At the same time, they are not always clear to the viewer. But public art is a form of modern art that can open up to people the actual problems of the world, the country and their "small" homeland.

Conclusion

Public art as a form of contemporary art is a socio-cultural phenomenon that, having become part of the urban artistic environment, reflects the problems of modern society. Of course, given the historical development of Western countries and Russia, we can talk about the specifics of public art projects, which primarily affects the peculiarities of national thinking. But, in general, if we talk about the general features of Russian and Western public art, we can distinguish the following:

1. Public art is a joint effort of the artist and the audience to transform the environment in which the public art project is implemented.

2. Public art reflects the problems of the city, district, street, and therefore the art object is tied to a place and can exist only in the space that the artist has defined for it.

4. A work of public art should encourage viewers to change public consciousness and the urban environment, provoke their civic position.

So, public art, which by now has a rather long, albeit contradictory history, occupies a special place among other genres of art. Its interdisciplinary nature allows you to penetrate into individual layers of the urban structure, districts, as well as specific places, buildings, creating an interactive space of the past, present and future of the environment in which the art object is placed.

Public art is commonly called a direction in art. But we wouldn't call it a direction. This is most likely a new paradigm of artistic thinking, which has led to the emergence of a new type of artist – an artist-researcher, an artist-thinker.