There was once a time when we bemoaned the state of public art in Dallas. Now the city has gone absolutely bonkers for this stuff. In an unprecedented coalescence of a variety of public art-themed events, Dallas is about to have 106 (or so) new works of public art dropped down on its public space this weekend. And that’s not all. Over the coming month, the new Make Art With Purpose (MAP) Festival will continue to roll out new works every week or so.
So why has Dallas sudden been struck with public art fever? It begins with the Nasher Sculpture Center’s 10-for-10 Nasher XChange initiative, which commissioned 10 artists of note to create new public works to celebrate the museum’s tenth anniversary. We also have the new MAP festival kicking-off this week. It was founded by Janeil Engelstad, who splits her time between Dallas and San Francisco and chose this city as the location to launch the new festival-structured, socially-conscious public art experiment.
The biggest contributor, though, is Aurora, which is now in its fourth year and growing to boot. This year, the one-night, light-themed artist takeover of the Dallas Arts District will include 86 temporary public installations. Finally, not to be left out, the Dallas Art Fair has jumped in on the action, tapping artist Brandon Kennedy to organize an exhibition of public work by five Dallas artists in the park adjacent to the Fashion Industry Gallery on Ross Ave. (the site of the spring art fair). The exhibition promises to be the first in a year-round program of public works in the park, called PRKD.
Here’s where you can find the 106 works of public art:
NASHER XCHANGE
Here are the artists and the locations of the work, all of which will officially open this Saturday, Oct. 19. Click on the links to find out more about the individual projects.
Music (Everything I know I learned from the day my son was born) by Alfredo Jaar at the Nasher Scupture Center
Moore to the point by Rachel Harrison at Dallas City Hall
Flock in Space by Ruben Ochoa at the Trinity River Audubon Center
Black & Blue, Cultural Oasis in the Hills by Vicki Meek at Paul Quinn College
Buried House by Lara Almarcegui at 2226 Exeter Ave in Oak Cliff Gardens in Oak Cliff
Fountainhead by Charles Long at NorthPark Center
X by Liz Larner at the University of Texas at Dallas
Trans.lation: Vickery Meadow by Rick Lowe at Ridgecrest Rd. in Vickery Meadow
CURTAINS by Good/Bad Art Collective at Bryan Tower, 2001 Bryan St. – Space will be open from 2-10 p.m.
dear sunset by Ugo Rondinone at Fish Trap Lake
[For more on Lowe’s Socially Engaged Art piece for Vickery Meadow, go here.]
AURORA
The light festival is responsible for 86 of the new public art pieces, which will be literally everywhere in the Arts District and at Klyde Warren Park on October 18. Rather than list them out individually, here’s a nifty interactive map to guide you through the exhibition, and here is a complete list of artists and works.
MAKE ART WITH PURPOSE (MAP)
The Art of Sahrawi Hospitality by Robin Kahn at Main Street Garden (On view: Oct 16-Oct 20)
In collaboration with Sahrawi women from the Tindouf Camp Cooperative Union, Robin Kahn will install the Sahrawi tent from dOCUMENTA(13) and produce a series of events about how women use hospitality as a means for communicating cultural and human rights concerns.
Signage Works by Rebecca Carter at Various Locations (On view: Oct 11-Nov 4)
Working with students in Fort Wort and Mesquite,Rebecca Carter has designed signs that express messages connected to social and/or environmental themes that are relevant to the project participants. The signs will be put up throughout the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area and be produced as an on-line project for KERA Arts & Seek during MAP 2013.
HUG by Julie Troost at the Lamar Street Festival (On view: Oct 19)
Julie Troost’s H U G, An outdoor installation that spreads a message of compassion and human connection with performers embracing in public spaces. This piece was originally developed and produced in New York in response to 9-11. It will be performed on Saturday, Oct. 19, 3:30 at the Lamar Street Festival in partnership with Matthews Southwest.
Agents of Change by James Reed at Eastfield College (On view: Oct 11-Nov 11)
James Reed’s Agents of Change( AOC), a project that considers a thoughtful response to impact of climate change; Reed will work with Eastfield students on a ready made exchange platform that engages the public on issues of climate change.
Censorship and Propaganda – In the US and Abroad by Morehshin Allahyari at CentralTrak (On view: Oct 19)
How does censorship impact the information that we receive? Governmental and social restrictions in Iran, North Korea, China, and the United States are investigated in this installation/performance.
PKRD
Subject to Change at Henry C. Beck Jr. Park (at the corner of Ross Ave. and N. Akard St. in downtown Dallas). On view: Oct. 18- Dec. 21. Opening reception on Oct 18 at 6 p.m.
Via curator Brandon Kennedy:
The series opens with artists who work with found objects, simple materials, contextual shifts and the like. Subject to Change speaks to many of these issues without providing a clear direction, leaving dialogue between the artists/work/viewers and the exhibition-at-large to come in and out of the conversation. Given the lack of public space in the Dallas Arts District, I envision the PRKD project to re-imagine the possibilities of interaction and dialogue between the artist, viewer, and the public sphere.
Artists include: Jesse Morgan Barnett, Bradly Brown, Brandon Kennedy, Ludwig Schwarz, and Lucia Simek.
Image at top: Still from Connectivity BEN Q X 2 Projection / Dual, into a corner by Jeff Curtis (via Aurora)
