In order to Merge Public Art one’s vision must be very vague and be open to a wide variety of possibilities when it comes to creating art. Each of the artists and commissioners I listened to this week whether it was Finkelpearl, the Commissioner of Culture in New York or Ghani a nature photographer both thought of concepts outside of the ordinary art realm. Finkelpearl worked to make art a collaborative process whether it was an artist working with construction workers or city agencies. He emphasized the importance of collaboration in social art to flow together smoothly. In my case, I am the artist and I am cooperating and collaborating with park rangers and other representatives of Eno State River Park to create art while finding new ways the park can be improved. Another key point Finkelpearl discussed which Ghani also brings up is the idea of permanent or long term art still constantly changing. The environment around the art is continually changing thus making the meaning of the art evolve as well. In some ways the art can be decontextualized and the meaning could change as a whole. While filming at the Eno State River Park, I wondered what the park looked like one hundred years ago and how the trails, quarry, and trees have been altered.
Ghani speaks more on the photography/film side of art rather than more commercial and construction art. Ghani emphasizes site specificity and landscape archeology. These two terms can represent places used over time and how capturing images can always be a long term production. Whether it was trips to the Black Forest in Germany or the Brief History of Collapses, the location of both projects are key to expressing the artists thoughts. The cities in ruin Ghani captures could relate to the woods and parks being overused and deforested.
Both artists discussed the key themes of arts meaning and permanence how location can be involved in any and all projects. As time passes art will always change in meaning as the culture and environment surrounding the art will always evolve. An interesting project or sequence in videos I have always found interesting is the time lapses in nature films of leaves changing. In the image below, a gif plays showing the colors of the leaves change over time. In a way the tree’s leaves are constantly changing. This is something I could definitely work into my project if turned into a long term or four year project that we speak of in order to capture the changing context and life of the Eno River Park.
Gif of Time Lapse of Leaves changing in Autumn
