Laserfiche WebLink
programs is: "work created by artists for places accessible to and used by the public" (Becker <br /> 2004, p. 4). According to this author,public art programs are, ". . . charged with the <br /> administering the development and management of public art in their communities." (Becker <br /> 2004, p.1). The fact that public art is, by definition, `public' gives it a place in the public sphere. <br /> This opens opportunities for public participation in the planning process, as well as public <br /> criticism upon installation. In this sense, public space is used as a non-physical term to mean the <br /> process of democratic speech and action, and this concept is part of the public art literature. <br /> (Benhabib, 1992; Lefort, 1988) <br /> Erica Doss (1995) studied various public art projects across the United States and <br /> observed, "Many feel marginalized by what they perceive as an unaccountable, self-referential <br /> group of experts: those in the public art industry but also city managers and politicians who <br /> claim to speak for"the people" yet seem willfully detached from real-life concerns." (Doss 1995, <br /> p. 21) She theorizes that much of the controversy that communities experience with public art is <br /> rooted in the fact that, "Americans have opted to vent their frustrations, and their inherent <br /> ambivalence about how to deal with social problems, by assailing public culture" and that public <br /> art thereby becomes "a solid, knowable target" of public criticism and distain. <br /> Indeed, the `public'part of public art has evolved over time. Initially, the term only <br /> applied to the environment in which the art was displayed and viewed. That is, art that is <br /> displayed in the public plaza, not in the corridors of museums and galleries that are considered <br /> the domain of largely the cultural elite, and not generally accessible to the masses. Hall and <br /> Robinson (200 1) have recognized the lack of public engagement in their review of public art <br /> literature and proposed that contemporary research do more to include the voice of the public. <br /> 27 <br />