'2013 Ways to do Public Art'
Various Participants at Cape Town City HallWhat are the different forms of public art and what does it mean to bring these into being? These are some of the questions the 2013 Ways To Do Public Art exhibition hosted by the City of Cape Town in partnership with the Visual Arts Network of South Africa at the Cape Town City Hall hopes to answer.
The exhibition runs from 17 June to 6 July, 10h00 – 17h00 daily (except Sundays) and showcases emerging trends in creative work in the public realm from across the country. The exhibition, coupled with a public programme of events, aims to provide a meaningful and innovative context for public discussion and debate regarding the future of public art practice and policy in both Cape Town and the country more generally. The event opens on 15 June at 18h00.
The Mayco Member for the Directorate of Tourism Events and Marketing, Grant Pascoe says: “The City of Cape Town is proud to host this important exhibition and dialogue forum. We are committed to public art and creative expression in the city. World Design Capital 2014 will, in addition, bring many opportunities for beautifying our city. For this reason, the City is embarking on the development of a Public Art Regulatory Framework (PARF) which will create an enabling environment for public art promotion.”
While the project will feature work developed through VANSA’s Two Thousand and Ten Reasons To Live in a Small Town project, this exhibition also includes parallel work being done by other individuals and organisations that seek to extend the parameters for public arts; experimenting with new forms of process and outcomes that can change the way people think about the role of art in public life. The public programme of workshops and discussions running alongside the exhibition will bring together citizens, artists, curators, urban planners, architects, development practitioners and public officials. In addition public art professionals from around the country will share experience and lessons learnt in engaging with policies and practice around the commissioning of public art through local government. This dialogue will be fed into discussions on the development of the Public Art Regulatory Framework being developed by the City of Cape Town.
The project has been commissioned by the City of Cape Town from the Visual Arts Network of South Africa, working in collaboration with the Durban-based creative collective dala, the African Centre for Cities (University of Cape Town), the Contemporary Art Development Trust (Cape Town).
The Public Programme:
Exhibition Open
17 June - 6 July 2013, 6pm, Cape Town City Hall, 2nd Floor.
Details: Go here.
Africa Centre for Cities Walkabout and Seminar on Public Culture/Practice
18th of June 2013, 15h00 – 16h30
Details: Go here.
Public Panel Discussion: Public Art meet the Public
22nd June 2013, 13h00 Cape Town City Hall, 2nd Floor
Details: Go here.
17 June - 02 July













