The 2018 Institute for Public Art Research Network Meeting

9th-13th November 2018
Fine Arts College, Shanghai University

Meeting Objectives

The research network meeting aims to deepen the exploration of the concept of “placemaking” in public art, focusing on issues related to the "placemaking” of urban and rural areas in different cultural backgrounds, including:

1. The Operational Mechanism of Public Art in Different Cultures and Regions

Differences in cultural, social and political factors result in differences in public art practices and operation modes in different regions and cultural backgrounds. In the locality public art creation process, the different understanding of and attitude towards the public art of diverse subjects (e.g. governments, communities, the public, artists and designers), the roles they play and interactive connection between them will directly affect the result form and style of the public art. At the same time, the method and way are worth exploring as to how artists and designers use the form of art to mobilize public participation and achieve place remodelling.

2. The Cultural Locality of "Placemaking" in Different Regions

“Placemaking" has always been an important criterion for recommending and submitting to IAPA for the nominations and case studies. Judges should always keep to the criterion as to how the placemaking is defined in different parts of the world. Researchers will be invited to discuss the issues concerning the cultural locality of “place making" in their regions, such as how judges use the criterion to judge cases worldwide, whether the concept of place remodelling in Europe is different from that of the Pacific Islands, whether there is any difference in the concept of place remodelling between China and Argentina, what kind of the concept of place remodelling must be accepted by researchers and judges, and the role of governments, developers, public/communities or artist/designer.