Markham presents international virtual public art summit

MARKHAM, ON – October 9, 2020 – This Fall, the City of Markham is partnering with ART+PUBLIC UnLtd to present a nine-week world-class virtual public art summit: Becoming Public Art: Working Models & Case Studies for Art in Public. 
 

Thirty-two international artists, curators, art consultants, architects, cultural planners and urbanists will present a broad range of perspectives that shape public art making today. Framed by current discussions happening at the intersection of contemporary art, public realm issues and urbanism, the summit features working models and case studies that address the challenges and opportunities faced by those navigating this constantly evolving field. 
 

Sessions will be held every Tuesday from October 13 to December 8, 2020. Admission is free and open to the public. Registration is required. 
 

The summit will kick off with a keynote presentation by internationally celebrated artist Ken Lum, co-presented by Canadian Art, and will examine the role of public art and consider the present as a “monuments moment” brought about by unprecedented changes to public life and public space by a global pandemic. 
 

Subsequent sessions will examine collaborations, the civic role of the artist, public art in urban planning, access and accessibility, indigeneity, site-specificity, temporary public art projects, and digital public art. 
 

Learn more about the virtual public art summit at markham.ca/PublicArt. 
 

Be a part of the conversation by using #MarkhamPublicArt 
 

Resources: 
 

• Summit Schedule

Session 1: Keynote Presentation by Ken Lum 
October 13 
Co-presented by Canadian Art 

In this special presentation, internationally celebrated artist Ken Lum lays out the key points that public artists, or persons interested in public art, need to consider regarding the role of public art in society today. The keynote considers how public art is called upon to perform as a so-called public good, while at the same time it has become instrumentalized by administrative language. Lum presents these key points as an index of terms essential for every public artist to know. Lum will also speak about this moment as a “monuments moment” brought about by the unprecedented change to our collective existence under a global pandemic, which catalyzes a re-examination of public space and the institutions that govern it.

Ken Lum is an artist born and raised in Vancouver and currently based in Philadelphia. His work has been exhibited at documenta 11, the Venice Biennale, Shanghai Biennale, Carnegie International, Whitney Biennial, and the Vancouver Art Gallery. He has produced public artworks in cities from Rotterdam to Burnaby, including his Monument for East Vancouver (2010) on Clark Avenue in Vancouver. Lum was recently awarded the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2020), the Gershon Iskowitz Prize (2020), and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2017. He is co-founder of Monument Lab(External link) and is the Marilyn Jordan Taylor Penn Professor in the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania and Chair of the Department of Fine Art.

Session 2: Collaborative Process 
October 20 
Featuring: 
Jennifer Marman & Daniel Borins 
James Khamsi, Director, DCSK 
Stephen Richards, Streamliner Fabrication 
Stefan Pilipa, Lead Fabricator, Punchclock Metalworks Inc. 
Moderator: 
David Turnbull, Director of Public Art & Conservation, Edmonton Arts Council

How to establish a collaborative process between the artist, architect, and fabricator, with a shared view to outcome? What is the role that collaboration plays in facilitating complexity? How to push the boundaries of what is possible from a design, engineering, and art-meaning perspective?

Session 3: A Civic Role for Artists 
October 27 
Featuring: 
Carolyn Bowen, Manager, Watershed Planning, City of Calgary 
Shirley Levy, Chief of Staff, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs 
Moderator: 
Michèle Pearson Clarke, visual artist and Photo Laureate, City of Toronto

How to integrate the artist into the city infrastructure? Can the artist act as an urban problem solver? What is the civic role of the artist?

Session 4: Art and Urban Planning 
November 3 
Featuring: 
Ellen Blumenstein, Artistic Director, Imagine the City, Hamburg 
Moderator: 
Brenda Webster Tweel, Stantec 
Respondents: 
Parvathi Nampoothiri, Manager, Urban Design, City of Markham 
Richard Fournier, Manager, Parks & Open Space Development, City of Markham

What is the role of culture and art in the development of future cities? What can and should it be? How to embed public art within the process of urban planning? Can it become an integral part of the process?

Session 5: Accessibility 
November 10 
Featuring: 
Paul Amenta, artist and founder of SiTE:LAB 
Christopher Smit & Jill Vyn, co-founders of DisArt 
Devon Ostrom, curator, artist and advocate 
Moderator: 
Kevin Buist, independent curator and writer

Who is public art, and public space, for? Who is included in the conversation and experience that public art creates? What does it mean to use the idea of “access” as a creative catalyst?

Session 6: Placemaking and Public Art 
November 17 
Featuring: 
Native Art Department International (Maria Hupfield and Jason Lujan) 
Mary Anne Barkhouse, artist 
Moderator: 
Dr. Julie Nagam, Associate Professor at University of Winnipeg and Artistic Director of Nuit Blanche Toronto

How to address indigeneity in the process of placemaking? How to bring the conversation about land rights into public art practice through an indigenous perspective?

Session 7: Site-Specificity and Public Art 
November 24 
Featuring: 
Maggie Groat, artist 
Paul Wong, artist 
Randy Niessen, Public Art Program, City of Calgary 
Moderator: 
Annie Wong, artist

What does site-specificity mean if we think about “site” as an ever-changing condition? Urban sites are in flux, with changing geographies and demographics, how can this be addressed in public art practice? How to cultivate conversations about the site’s past, present, and future?

Session 8: Temporary Programming 
December 1 
Featuring: 
Rina Greer, public art consultant 
Jayne Wilkinson, Editor-in-Chief, Canadian Art, with Yan Wu, Markham Public Art 
Ilana Altman, Co-Executive Director, The Bentway 
Tairone Bastien, Curator, Toronto Biennial of Art 
Kari Cwynar, independent curator and Curatorial Advisor, Evergreen Brick Works 
Moderator: 
Janine Marchessault, Curator and Prof. School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design, York University

Is it possible to achieve monumental projects within a short-term time frame? Is “now” the opportunity in a changing program? Are temporary public art projects the best solution in a constantly changing world?

Session 9: The Digital Turn in Public Art 
December 8 
Featuring: 
Marc Boutin, MBAC 
Jon Isherwood, Bennington College VT, Digital Stone Project 
Ben Rubin, artist, EAR Studio Inc. 
Moderator: 
Mitchell Chan, Studio F Minus

There has been an increasing interest in the use of urban screens, digital fabrication, and data visualization in recent years. What is the digital as a public space? How does it relate to other public art practices? What are the opportunities, and also the challenges?

Related links:

• Markham’s public art collection 
• Markham’s Public Art Master Plan: 2020-2024 

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