Institute for Public Art

https://www.instituteforpublicart.org/

The Institute for Public Art (IPA) focuses on public art as a place-maker and generator of social capital, world-wide. It does this through: researching case studies; sharing information; and promoting great examples. Established in 2012 as a partnership between Public Art magazine (China) and Public Art Review (St. Paul, MN), the IPA has sponsored 5 International Award for Public Art events. The IPA's website features hundreds of researched case studies of nominated projects.

Public Art has the ability to affect people and place, increasingly attracting the attention of arts communities, academia and governments across the world. The notion of art, and the concept of public, vary widely from one region or country to another, making public art difficult to define. This presents a set of challenges for researchers and professionals in the field.

Institute for Public Art (IPA) was established in response to an urgent need to increase the visibility and dialogue of public art practices internationally. The key aims of IPA are to:

Research and celebrate the contribution of exceptional artists to public art practices and place- making across the world, and to share this knowledge to advance and strengthen the field as a whole.

Establish and maintain a global network of professionals who share an interest in public art, its creation and its consequences.

Advocate public art, and excellence in public art, through competitions, publications, websites, the media and any other means, to bring it to the favorable attention of decision makers around the world.

IPA is a network that pursues these aims by managing the International Award for Public Art (IAPA). IPA also holds research network meetings and participates in conferences that bring together researchers and professionals globally.

 

 


IPA Sample Case Study: Citygarden — Spray Plaza
2019 International Award for Public Art Commended Projects
Project Artists: Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Year of completion: 2009
Researcher: Laine Bergeson
Photos courtesy of IPA

For 15 years, a two-block swath of land in downtown St. Louis, Missouri sat vacant. The area near Gateway Mall was just idle lawn space, lacking visual interest and human activity. That all changed in 2009 with the opening of Citygarden, a three-acre park that houses large-scale contemporary sculpture (by some of the world’s most highly regarded artists) and site-specific landscaping that celebrates the region’s ecology. Commissioned by the Gateway Foundation, this sculpture garden and public gathering space, which is free and open to the public 365 days a year, has helped revitalize the downtown area by attracting visitors of all ages and socioeconomic groups.

The project’s aim, says Carol Cordani, an administrator at the Gateway Foundation, is to inspire visitors to appreciate public art and urban spaces, and to develop community. “In short, Citygarden appeals to every segment of society,” says Cordani. “It is a profoundly democratic space.

 


Citygarden: Arcs at night

 


Citygarden: Voyager Pool