Descrição
S In the face of global economic restructuring, culture-led regeneration and development has gained a key role in strategies to deal with the urban crisis. With city authorities competing globally to foster their cities’ images, public art programmes are increasingly touted as interventions capable of achieving a wide range of social and cultural outcomes, thus helping to provide a new economic base in postindustrial settings. As a consequence, urban theorists have come to discuss public art mainly in strategic or instrumental terms. It can be asked, however, whether such a perspective is suitable to engage with the self-concerned and idiosyncratic nature of much artistic practices. Against this background, this paper attempts at exploring the specific rationality of artists who engage with the urban realm. Departing from qualitative interviews with artists working in Scotland, the relationship between artistic perspectives, on the one hand, and expectations of city authorities, on the other hand, will be discussed. By doing so, a more circumspect understanding of public art in the context of urban development can be achieved.||Com a globalização, agravou-se a crise estrutural pública. Para melhorar a competitividade urbana, as políticas de desenvolvimento local visam a uma melhoria da qualidade de vida das cidades. Nesse contexto, o potencial intrínseco às práticas artísticas é cada vez mais lembrado como estratégia. A arte no espaço público deve contribuir para fortalecer a identidade e o reconhecimento das particularidades das cidades. Pelo menos é isso que desejam os atores envolvidos na esfera política local; também as pesquisas urbanas tendem a discutir a arte pública a partir de pontos de vista racionais e objetivos. Questiona-se aqui, se essa racionalidade objetiva e instrumental seria a mais adequada para a análise da produção artística nos espaços públicos urbanos. Com esse pano de fundo, este artigo busca analisar as práticas e os pontos de vista dos artistas engajados nesse tipo de produção. A partir de entrevistas qualitativas com artistas em duas cidades escocesas, busca-se compreender como as perspectivas artísticas se coadunam ou não com as expectativas colocadas pelas políticas de desenvolvimento urbano. Dessa forma, objetiva-se ampliar a compreensão para a problemática proposta, evidenciando o potencial das práticas artísticas e os efeitos que as obras de arte podem provocar (ou não) no espaço público das cidades.
Abstract
PUBLIC ART. ON THE RELATIONS OF ARTISTS’ PERSPECTIVES AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY EXPECTATION
S In the face of global economic restructuring, culture-led regeneration and development has gained a key role in strategies to deal with the urban crisis. With city authorities competing globally to foster their cities’ images, public art programmes are increasingly touted as interventions capable of achieving a wide range of social and cultural outcomes, thus helping to provide a new economic base in postindustrial settings. As a consequence, urban theorists have come to discuss public art mainly in strategic or instrumental terms. It can be asked, however, whether such a perspective is suitable to engage with the self-concerned and idiosyncratic nature of much artistic practices. Against this background, this paper attempts at exploring the specific rationality of artists who engage with the urban realm. Departing from qualitative interviews with artists working in Scotland, the relationship between artistic perspectives, on the one hand, and expectations of city authorities, on the other hand, will be discussed. By doing so, a more circumspect understanding of public art in the context of urban development can be achieved.
