PROCESS

Process

Involving communities in the actual making of public artworks gives priority to process. Process in making artworks is the way in which an artwork is devised and made. A process designates choices, perhaps a journey, discussions. It is not a clean pre-designed path. Process suggests that at certain stages there will be choices or options for the path to change or the work to change shape. Process is related also to the idea of art practice. That an artist develops their work through research and making. In large public art commissions process is decided and organised before the artwork is commissioned. When large amounts of money are involved, the stakeholders need to know what he outcome will be. This makes the practise more object-based and the final object usually takes precedence over the process.

using process or more than one process to make public artwork has benefits and these are development and time.

1
Development
A process will often involve conversations, research and exploration. This deepens the outcome of the artwork. the more people involved in the process also produces a greater connection with community. The downside of more process is that it makes it more difficult to come to a conclusion and through process differing opinions will be discovered. It may be more difficult to make the best decisions or find the truth, or gain consensus. But process is a valuable part of every artwork.

2
Time
If there are more developmental processes used to make an artwork, we are hoping that there would be the time to do them. and indeed if appropriate amounts of time were available then the processes might even have time to develop and then to have an aesthetically pleasing conclusion also. Deadlines are the death of the ability to do thorough developmental work and to conduct the artwork to the best of its ability. But we live in a world of deadlines.

the ideal?
time is money!
just imagine though if you had the time and energy to begin a project and to do the research, then the development with the community without time constraints, so that the work had time to reach its conclusion with all the process that was thought or felt necessary.

3
Practice
The other aspect to consider when thinking about process is that an artist's practice is also a process. Any artist will tell you that if they were given the time to practice, that their art would improve. An artist's repeated practice of something is also a process that yields results. If an artist practiced in public space without time and development constraints, so that they were able to pursue ideas and see how it worked, if an artist practiced in public space in the same way that they worked in a studio, it would seem that the process would yield better results.

what does better mean?
what is better public art?

NAVA define three different types of processes used for public art commisioning.
(https://visualarts.net.au/media/uploads/files/CHAPTER_3Commissioning.pdf)

• Art/Craft/Design Practitioner Commission
• Community arts Project
• Integrated Design

Community Arts Projects are described as where the primary aim of the public art project is community development. Here NAVA suggests that ,' The project should be structured so that it
allows for community input at all stages from planning through to making.'
Here we see that idea of process come into play and where NAVA also articulates that communal values will be seen to be more important than personal autonomy and that  'In this way the community will be actively determining the content and form of the public artwork.'

Aside, what was also interesting about the NAVA code for public art practice, was that they stipulated that in a community artwork that the artist should not be facilitator and artist. I found this very interesting as in my work i find it very necessary to be involved as the facilitator and artist.(I am sure there is a reason for this comment. perhaps we will write to them and find out what it is.)



organic vs aesthetic - object versus process

Aesthetics plays an important role in public art. The more permanent the work will be, the more importance will be placed on its aesthetic appeal. If the multitude pay for it then perhaps the multitude must be able to find it aesthetic. Aesthetic is also interesting because it changes every decade. Thus you will see some older public artworks and link them to a particular style or era. Aesthetic of course is not a truth or objective thing, it is often culturally formed, so its very difficult to argue that anything is aesthetic.

I was very moved recently when I came across the work of Annette Messager at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. There were rooms of her work and it was very organic. It was a reminder to me that a lot of my work is biased by my concerns of what other people will think of it and the aesthetic of the work and my concern that the audience can read it, and so it is skewed according to this consideration. The show reminded me of some of my earlier work that I made in art school which followed intuition and the material of the clay more closely.

Of course the other side of this is that there is a particular aeshetic that people generally enjoy and that is figurative work. I do a lot of figurative work with communities because everyone can understand what the artwork is about and also, they recognise it and enjoy it. I believe that  recognition is important to the audience. They need to be able to see what its all about to connect with it, and not be separated from the artwork because they can't get a handle on it. This of course raises issues. Figurative work is conservative in nature. it certainly doesn't grapple with the sorts of topics that conceptual art does, and it has a difficult relationship with contemporary art culture.

When I am commissioned to do a project, it has to be discussed, then designed, then the design and quote are delivered and when that is accepted the work must be made according to that plan. I keep the sketches minimal to allow for a bit of development as the project goes along, but in this type of work, the artwork must please. It is imperative that the meaning is well understood, otherwise it does not go ahead. The idea of letting the artwork follow its own nose is always reserved for the artwork that I do for myself, not for others. When we think about an art practice that follows its nose and also operates in public space, we can usually only use uncomissioned street art as an example.

When I apply for grants with my own proposals I have the opportunity to explore ideas more organically. One example is the 'Memories in Motion' project. This project was kept very simple and the artistic outcome was not indicated in the original proposal. In the funding application we wrote, 'outdoor public artwork. perhaps it might be  ceramic, a paste-up etc'. This freedom of not designating an outcome meant that the process of researching and making the work could take precedence. The process could be more important than the aesthetics of the final artwork.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlOesYW_i-Q
http://brimmingoutoftheframe.blogspot.com.au/p/memories-in-motion.html

The final artwork was a series of train carriages which showed the thinking of the students. It demonstrated what was important to them and let each individual make many choices as to what to make and what to show. It authentically allowed the children's voices to come to the fore.

The above illustration tries to demonstrate the idea that when you allow for the individaul choices of community members, the artwork will reflect this in its aesthetic. It will look like many voices joined together but also allow the reading of the different voices. Not everything can be aligned and perfect when you make a community artwork that allows the participants to put their own selves into it. But it is a more authentic artwork in that it speaks of a larger community, instead of the singular work of the artist.

The difference between design and art.

Laurence Weiner says that design is visceral and that art is sensual.

So he suggests that design asks us to respond emotionally, not rationally.

art being sensual would be physically pleasing and related to the senses, sound, sight, touch, smell and taste.

 Object vs process the art object and its form

Many fields of thought have expanded our idea of the art object as more than just a physical artwork and the artwork’s inability to represent only what the intended meaning of the artist.  Artworks are products of their social and political contexts. And ‘never and independent, autonomous event, public art is embedded in the political, economic and ethical considertions of cities and communities (Phillips 1995:64).’ It means something different to each different audience member and it also signifies different meanings according to context, time and place, and social and political conditions ( thwaites et al. 2002). We can imagine the art object as more than just an object in  Bourriaud’s terms;  ‘The contemporary artwork’s form is spreading out from its material form; it is a linking element, a principle of dynamic agglutination. An artwork is a dot on a line (2002:21). In bourriaud’s vision of art, the work is a ‘bundle of relations’ ( 2002:22) and might be ‘in negotiation with countless correspondents and recipients (2002:26).

0In other words. The material form of the artwork is just part of the story. Likewise Marcel Duchamp said,’the creative act is not performed by the artist alone: the spectator brings the work into contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualification  .  . (Duchamp 1959)’. The social relations created in the process might form part of it, and so do the readings of the artwork on either side of the line.

( I may remove this if it doesn’t fit in, but I might also link it in further. I think it is important)