Public art, is not the exclusive domain of visual art practices and includes all art forms and practices – performance, music, theatre, literature, architecture, street spectacle, dance, opera, multi-media, interdisciplinary practices etc. Sometimes, at its more radical or experimental, it supports a blurring of boundaries between art forms, encouraging cross-referencing and a dissolution of disciplines. Further, with increasing interest in artistic processes and the building of relationships, public art supports alternative agendas for experimentation and dialogue, whereby the art made might be considered more as a by-product of these relationships, placing an emphasis not so much on a finished artwork or site (architectural or geographic) but rather as Miwon Kwon suggests on ‘social networks or intellectual exchange or cultural debate’.
Patricia C. Philips, former editor of Artforum Magazine and currently director of Fine Art at Cornell NY gives a good description of public art and its scope –’public art excludes no media, materials, process or form, the work can be permanent or temporary, it can be commissioned through funding programmes, such as the percent for art scheme or initiated by artists requiring no sanction. With a broadening concept of public – it can happen almost anytime, with anyone and virtually anywhere…even in galleries, museums and private settings. Public art is always art’.