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Must public art be boring?
Public art has been on Waco’s brain lately. Stroll by the river downtown and you’ll see a rotating collection of eye-catching modern sculptures, courtesy of the Waco Cultural Arts Fest and businessman Clifton Robinson. Robinson’s cow-and-cowboy series, called Branding the Brazos, is under way, with the first bronze sculptures now ready to go in at the Texas Ranger Museum.
Then there was — or wasn’t — the giant Ranger. In the end, the sometimes uncivil debate that scuttled the 70-foot concrete Texas Ranger on the Brazos hinged on aesthetics, of what public art is supposed to do. It’s not a discussion most communities are used to having; we lack the language for it, beyond words like “ugly” or “too big.” The question will come up again, though. City leaders said no thanks to the giant Ranger but said they want more public art as downtown develops.
So I’m interested in hearing what people expect from public art. What should it convey? A sense of awe for authority? Civic bling? A decorative afterthought like the classic modernistic blob in an office park plaza? A community’s dignity, the solemn remembrance of things past? Perhaps beauty, if we can agree on what that means? What about fun? Can serious public art — the expensive creations that help define our public spaces — also function as a toy?
I thought about this on a trip to Fort Worth this weekend with my church’s youth group. First stop was the Botanical Gardens, where we contemplated koi in the Japanese garden and picnicked next to a blooming tulip tree. It was an intoxicating spring-like day, and before the picnic the teenage boys among us romped into a field with a soccer ball.
There was a piece of abstract metal art sticking up out of the field, with a hole in the middle. The boys wasted no time in making a contest of who could send the ball through the hole, like “The Ballgame” of ancient Mexico. There was much self-congratulation and merriment after one of them made the goal. I reminded them that in the Ballgame, the victor was sacrificed to the gods.
Later we swung by the Kimbell Art Museum and paid our respects to Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Rembrandt, Cezanne and Co. Then we went across Arch Adams Street to the Vortex, a Richard Serra sculpture that the Modern Museum of Art installed a few years ago.
Now, Serra is a heavyweight in the abstract art world, a High Modernist, whose metier is huge pieces of steel. In this case, it’s seven tall twisted, rusted pieces, coming together to form a septagonal hole 67 feet in the air.
Did he mean his sculpture to become entertainment? I don’t know, but there we were with a dozen other strangers lining the walls inside the sculpture, like gnomes in a hollow tree. With them we clapped, snapped, sang and collectively lost our right to be taken seriously. It turns out the work is a fantastic echo chamber. We drummed the heavy steel with the fleshy part of our fists, making the whole sculpture ring and roar like thunder. (For the record, it seemed sturdy enough to take such treatment and seemed to invite it).
Is this disrespectful to the work of art? I don’t think so. Why settle for merely seeing art from behind velvet ropes when you can also feel it and even hear it? Not to dismiss Monumental Art, but here’s a proposition: Public art that encourages adults to act like kids for a moment is successful public art.
Here are a few more examples of fun public art.
The first two are in San Francisco. The Aeolian Harp creates “music” by means of wind passing through large metal slats.
The nearby Wave Organ creates similar natural music with the action of waves on pipes.
Here’s a variation: The water organ, or hydraulophone, which allows people to play songs by pressing their fingers over water jets. Video included.
Thoughts on non-boring public art?
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Derek Tonkin
March 18, 2008 3:15 PM | Link to this
I think they should’ve built the Ranger statue but make it so that you can go up to the top and look out (his hat would be the observation deck). This way you could justify its height and the resulting view of Central Texas (and especially downtown) might change some folks opinions.
By Fred
March 18, 2008 5:01 PM | Link to this
Non-boring Art in Waco? How about giant Phallic Symbols on top of our Baylor Baptist Churches? Wait a minute; the Baylor Baptist Churches already have giant Phallic Symbols……they’re called Steeples.
By michael
March 18, 2008 8:09 PM | Link to this
how’s this for unboring. put the dangerously coiffed head of pharoah on top of the 70-foot ranger. his picture is on the front page of today’s trib. now that’s entertainment.
By C.T.
March 18, 2008 10:09 PM | Link to this
Any art that is placed in Waco, down town are any where else in Waco, should be recognized as art by the majority of the people, one should not, and I emphasis this, one should not, have to stand on ones head to see if it is art, are to figure it out just what it is. Also, the tax payers should not have to pay and maintain it, with tax money…
By Scott Baker
March 19, 2008 12:36 AM | Link to this
Great topic, J.B. Public art will always be conversational and controversial if it is to qualify. Art of any kind will push aesthetics if it is to be considered modern. That’s not to say weird for weird’s sake, but I can’t see populating our public areas with objects that “the majority of the people” recognize as art. The majority of the people aren’t artists. That’s what makes artists valuable to a society. They can push aesthetics that help us appreciate beauty, open our minds, engage our imaginations, and think more deeply. Remember, Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” caused a riot at first hearing, but seems a tame classical masterpiece by today’s standards.
As for the Serra piece, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that he actually had very little “planned” for it. That’s a great part of the fun of public art: seeing how the public will interact with it. It sounds like you certainly appreciated it in your way.
As for the Ranger statue, it really doesn’t belong in a discussion of public art because it doesn’t classify. At its proposed size, it wasn’t art so much as it was iconography and advertising. The evidence is in the question, “Why make it so large?” So it could be seen? No, it could be very clearly seen at half its size. To commemorate the Rangers? No, commemoration isn’t reliant on the size or else our cities would all be full of giant statues of something. Can you imagine Dallas building a 70 foot JFK on the grassy knoll? Of course not.
After all, its proponents stated all along that their intention was to “get people off the highway to stop at the museum.” That’s advertising, not art. Serious cities don’t need such gimmickry. Is there a 70 foot David Bowie next to the Alamo? And yet people still manage to find their way there. The Rangers would be much better served by a public grounds with multiple well-thought out and thoroughly planned artistic commemorations. Public grounds that were beautiful and pragmatic that drew people with their aesthetics, not their relative comparability to “The World’s Biggest Ball of Yarn!”
I very much look forward to Branding the Brazos and wish it much success. We are planning a sculpture garden to sit next to the Hippodrome as part of our renovations as well. I’m thrilled to see what other people come up with.
Whatever we do with public art in Waco, I hope that it has an air of locality and uniqueness to it. It shouldn’t be something that you could find in just any city in Texas. I hope that local artists participate as much as possible and seek out such opportunities. I hope that local property and business owners make room for those artists as well. It really will add more value than just the sum of its parts to our community.
By j.b. smith
March 19, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this
Scott, maybe you meant Jim Bowie. Though a 70-foot David Bowie (Ziggy Stardust phase, let’s say) next to the Alamo would certainly draw tourists and might qualify as absurdist art.
What do you have in mind for your sculpture garden?
By Hal
March 19, 2008 12:41 PM | Link to this
Great topic! I lived in Dallas for 20+ years and used to love to go to Northpark to see the art collection. It took me a while to appreciate it, but it was a world class collection of the owner. Also, I didn’t think much of the JFK Memorial until I took the time to walk inside it. Talk about powerful! Sometimes it takes time to educate people.
By Scott Baker
March 19, 2008 1:39 PM | Link to this
That’s hysterical! I was clearly up too late typing those comments. Although, I agree, I’d be all about a 70’ David Bowie. Dang… now I can’t get Labyrinth out of my head. And that’s not a good thing.
As for our sculpture garden, we haven’t committed to anything yet, although I’m currently favoring a series of metal abstractions of dancers. Whatever we choose, it will certainly have a performative aspect to it. I’ve also got a surprise planned for in front of the building.
By Louise
March 20, 2008 8:57 AM | Link to this
Chicago also has great examples of public art downtown and along Navy Pier. It is wonderful to create your own experience with these life-size and larger pieces.
By Fred
March 21, 2008 5:15 AM | Link to this
Chicago art indeed. The original Painted Cows (like the ones at the MCC Art Center) came from the city of big shoulders…..Chicago.
By mikey
March 21, 2008 11:23 AM | Link to this
Yeah, Yeah, more art in downtown Waco. Give the 10,000 homeless people down there something to pee on.
By goinsouth
March 21, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this
HeeHee, mikey has a good point, to expand on that maybe we could have a statue of a little homeless boy peeing in a fountain like the one in Europe. Maybe one of Freds Chicago cows taking a dump on the lawn at City Hall. Now thats art.
By Fred
March 21, 2008 6:34 PM | Link to this
Yes indeed; the cow deficating on Waco City Hall. Kind of like the way Waco City Hall has deficated on the citizens of Waco in their great cover-up of crime in Waco and the lack of Police protection from the small and weak Waco Police Department. For a medium size city, Waco is infested with high crime and Waco City Hall does nothing to help Waco’s crime victim citizens.
By Publius
March 23, 2008 10:51 PM | Link to this
Fred,
What would you have the Waco PD do? I know you’d like them to be more proactive, but what specific suggestions do you have?
That said, I’d love to see more public art in Waco. But I don’t know whether it must be boring. Typically, you see either statues of civic leaders or bizarre abstract art. So of course, I like the Branding the Brazos proposal.
I also like the developer’s idea of creating an I-35 bridge which resembles the historic suspension bridge.
By Fred
March 24, 2008 6:19 AM | Link to this
Publius: What can Waco City Hall and Waco Police do? Other cities (like Austin and San Antonio) have saturated their cities with Police Officers. Waco has the same number of Officers that it had twenty years ago. You would be shocked at the number of Officers (actually on the street) on any given day in Waco. Guess? Would you believe 15 to 20? For a city the size of Waco……15 to 20 (in the whole City). Other cities have obtained Federal Grants and have formed special crime attack units (going after drug dealers, Crack houses, Burglar patrol, gang attack units etc…..Waco has not. Waco PD shows up after the crime occurs to collect the data. Data collectors…..that’s Waco PD. Other cities hire civilians has data collectors….not Waco. If I were a criminal, I would thrive in Waco. Shame on Waco City Hall. Waco City Hall knows all this but they do nothing. Waco City Hall distorts, manipulates and hides the actual crime rate.
By 666
March 24, 2008 10:59 AM | Link to this
And, the tax payers have to pay how much, again???
By mikey
March 24, 2008 4:17 PM | Link to this
Waco PD had a special unit at one time called the Neighborhood Narcotics Enforcement Team. The Drug dealers were on the run big time that summer. But, when the goverment funding ran out the Team was disbanded. They were GOOD though. We need them now. Fred things are happening but they can only happen 1 at a time. Drive by Lottie St. and Hillsboro Dr. things are quiet for a change. This summer will tell the tale.
By Fred
March 25, 2008 5:16 PM | Link to this
Natural art? I was on the Waco Downtown River Walk Easter morning and saw a bit of natural art on display. In the middle of our lovely Waco Riverwalk (near Indian Springs) was a great big pile of human feces left by one of our poor Downtown Waco Homeless. Big pile of human crap on the River Walk…..thank you Mission Waco. Downtown Waco deserves the Homeless urinating and leaving “deposits” all over Downtown. It freshens up Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce. Happy Easter Waco.
By freds helper
March 26, 2008 7:52 PM | Link to this
Mr.Robinson! Perfect example of white Waco money doing things for only white people on the west side of the river.
By FedUpWithFred
March 26, 2008 7:55 PM | Link to this
Are you sure that you weren’t looking into a mirror, Fred?
By mikey
March 26, 2008 8:18 PM | Link to this
Maybe we could ask Mr. Robinson for funding of a statue of Martin Luther King Jr. to be placed in MLK Park. Could East Wacoans accept that be his olive branch? How about it Fred & Freds Helper? Can peace be made?
By Scott Baker
March 27, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this
Now that’s the kind of thinking that will lead to positive change, mikey. I love attempts to bridge gaps. Bravo!
But I take issue with earlier comments that suggest that the West side of the river is the “white” side. There are folks of every kind and color over here. You can’t be interested in both drawing lines and healing divisions.
By mikey
March 27, 2008 11:35 AM | Link to this
You are right. Look at the west side of the river from Jefferson to Herring, From University Parks Dr. to 18th St. (Known to Waco P.D. as the “Combat Zone”). Lord knows those people need help also.
By Fred
March 27, 2008 5:09 PM | Link to this
When Bob Hope visited Waco back in the 80’s he said that Waco’s lone sky-scraper (the ALICO building) was like a giant finger flipping-off the rest of the world. That’s Waco alright…..the FY town.
By NotFred
March 27, 2008 5:53 PM | Link to this
Please do not feed the Fred.
By Derf
March 28, 2008 8:56 AM | Link to this
like the applause Bob Hope [resumable got druign his visit, Fred I applaud you and your mouth. Kudos on attempting to accomplish nothing while typing more inane words on the internet than any actual productive human could hope achieve. you’ve gone above and beyond in exposing yourself as insignificant. Keep up the great work. Freedom of speech is our most important ally, it helps us identify the idiots…
By Scott Baker
March 28, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this
By the way, I’ve heard that Bob Hope quote attributed to Steve Martin and a few other people as well. The truth? It didn’t happen.
So, J.B., what have you learned about public art through all of this inspection?
By Constant Derailments
March 28, 2008 4:10 PM | Link to this
Surely someone at the Trib is internet-savvy enough to block Fred’s IP addresses so that he can’t derail every single comment string on www.wacotrib.com.
How can this man have such an empty life that he has time for this?
By Fred
March 28, 2008 7:40 PM | Link to this
Hey Waco…….Fred is in your head! You too Scott and Derf. And Waco’s water still tastes horrible. I must say that I do admire Derf’s mirrored point-of-view. And the obnoxious blogs shall continue.
By Scott Baker
March 29, 2008 11:50 PM | Link to this
J.B.? What are you hearing about public art these days? Learned anything worth sharing?
By Fred
March 30, 2008 7:02 AM | Link to this
Waco is a true masterpiece in….ugly art. It’s rather just and fitting that as people pass thru Waco on IH35 they see the junked-out, half-sunk, ugly old riverboat stuck in the mud of a polluted Brazos River. Paint peeling and falling apart piece of crap stuck-in-the-mud with No Tresspass signs. Welcome to Waco…..city of natural UGLY.
By 747
March 31, 2008 9:14 PM | Link to this
i dont think a IP censor is warranted because even though i wish fred was wrong hes right on and even politer than the baylor students and visting students vulgar opinons on the ghetto(waco proper) and thats not even including greater waco suburbanites of hewitt etc. harsh take on wacos mental vagrants,drug traffic,slum lords and the tweeker/crakhedz that victimize people and property
By 747
March 31, 2008 9:15 PM | Link to this
i dont think a IP censor is warranted because even though i wish fred was wrong hes right on and even politer than the baylor students and visting students vulgar opinons on the ghetto(waco proper) and thats not even including greater waco suburbanites of hewitt etc. harsh take on wacos mental vagrants,drug traffic,slum lords and the tweeker/crakhedz that victimize people and property
By Scott Baker
March 31, 2008 9:25 PM | Link to this
We shouldn’t measure the level of discourse against the lowest common denominator. Other people saying uglier things is no reason that we should stew in filth and consider that it could be worse. Waco has much that could be improved upon just like every other city on Earth. We also have some very wonderful attributes that should be enjoyed and celebrated. I have lived in Washington, D.C., New York City, Dallas, Tel Aviv, and other places and while I’m yet to find paradise, I’m also savvy enough to know that no city is as bad as Waco is made out to be.
Now back to the subject at hand, what have we learned from this discussion that can help us add to the quality and quantity of public art displays?