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This thesis explores the concept of public art within a Swedish state agency called Public Art Agency Sweden through ethnography conducted at their virtual meetings from the fall of 2020 to the beginning of 2021. With the analytical tool of assemblages, the concept of public art is explored in terms of becoming and contestation through looking at policies within the agencies in relation to employee’s everyday endeavours. I suggest that this gives an insight into the intersection between ideas and practices within a state agency that strives to make public art a meaningful contribution and integral part of Swedish society under the premisses of the Swedish national cultural political goal. As such the contribution of this thesis is analytical attention to public art in broader governance discourses within an area of the state and culture.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Blake Belanger / Anticipating a thirty five percent population increase over the next thirty years, the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) developed the Creating Sustainable Places: A Regional Plan for Sustainable Development in Greater Kansas City (CSP) as a comprehensive strategy to guide the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Region (KC Metro) to grow sustainably into the future. The Rock Island Corridor (RIC) is one of six key corridors identified by the Smart Moves Regional Transit Vision Alternatives Analysis to be redeveloped with the first phase extending seventeen miles from Downtown Kansas City, MO to Pleasant Hill, MO. Phase one will include a mixed use trail and commuter rail line with the second phase planning to extend the mixed use trail to Windsor, MO; becoming the primary link between the KC Metro and the 238 mile long Missouri Katy Trail State Park. Reactivating the RIC, having zero gateways and untouched for thirty years, suggests the corridor communities will require a true collaboration to develop the gateways as destinations at the proposed commuter rail stations. Involving an artist(s) with the interdisciplinary professionals during the entire gateway development project will allow public art to be more successfully integrated into the proposal from the onset. Proposing collaborative gateway design process guidelines, with background information on public art and the collaborative process, will guide the corridor communities in creating a destination for the RIC and the individual communities “achieving the shared vision of creating more vibrant, connected and green centers and corridors” (MARC CSP 2011, 1). Raytown, Missouri is used as an example demonstrating the materials which should be discussed during the initial design meeting in the collaborative gateway design process between the Consultant Team and the Design Advisory Council. Thinking of the RIC as an alternative transit amenity, establishing a collaborative design process and a general understanding of its components will allow for a true collaborative process to develop a destination for the community, the RIC, and KC Metro. Including public art in the collaborative design process will encourage more community involvement, potentially fostering a greater sense of ownership in the gateway, and personal investment in the community; engaging the residents to establish the foundation for a sustainable community capable of developing socially and economically over time.

Jenny Holzer has not always held her present post as a reigning figure in the world of contemporary art. When juxtaposed with the simplicity of her first text series, Truisms (1977), her recent work is increasingly more complex. Yet clearly there are qualities which have remained vital to the core aspects of Holzer?s concepts regarding art, particularly that it is intended to be seen by many, pondered over, and deciphered by the general public. She has proven herself capable of exhibiting work in a wide variety of mediums so as to address more acutely an extensive array of cultural issues. In order to remain true to her ideals while adjusting to new spaces and an ever shifting social landscape, Holzer has retained, above all, a devotion to utilizing clear, direct language. Other details in Holzer?s imagery have changed: simple black and white texts printed on posters led to more complex textual displays which employed light, color, and other various mediums (such as marble, skin, and bone, to name a few). Audiences have been winnowed away to a more select group of ?art? cognoscenti who seek out her texts, rather than the original street viewers who were caught abruptly off guard by the appearance of Holzer?s texts in public places. Rather than authoring her own texts, Holzer now also culls writings from various poets or utilizes documents from government archives; installations have grown more intricate and complex as they have moved from outdoor to gallery and museum spaces. Nonetheless, Holzer still elicits reactions to her work today that are as strong as the feelings borne towards her early works. In fact, some of these newer projects may even be more emotionally difficult to bear, as they continue to engender dialogues about issues most viewers would rather ignore because of their uncomfortable nature. This paper serves to explore the ways in which Holzer?s work has successfully matured, addresses the mechanisms by which her texts achieve their potency, and enumerates the similarities and differences between the various series Holzer has created through her career up to her Redaction Paintings (2005-2007).

Constructed in successive stages beginning in 1935, the Moscow metro was designed to be the foremost transportation system in Stalinist Moscow as well as a symbol of socialist might and a metonym for the future socialist society. Soviet officials heralded the metro as an underground palace promoting the values of socialism, and the artwork therein was meant to reflect these values. When Sverdlov Square station opened in 1938, it was decorated with bas-sculptures in the newly sanctioned socialist realist style; the artist, Natalia Danko, chose to depict pairs of male and female folk dancers from seven of the largest nationalities of the Soviet Union. Her sculptures celebrated an idealized view of folk culture that sought to glorify the Soviet state by reflecting ideals such as the joy of every day life and the friendship of the peoples. This thesis employs semiotics to reveal the ambiguity with which viewers may have read these signs, and to demonstrate the polyvalent nature of artistic production. Semiotic theory is useful in order to show how the official discourse of Socialist Realism could be both contested and reinforced through public art. The thesis contends that the Moscow metro, one of the superlative Soviet projects of the 1930s, can be understood as an ambiguous space where meaning was open to diverse interpretations.

This thesis critically analyzes the dynamics wherein the artistic field- the art world per se possessing both &#039 / glocal&#039 / and &#039 / universal&#039 / attributes- has been constructed as an autonomous field within the discourses produced about art. The research focuses on some of the moments during which the field, as becoming an &#039 / institution&#039 / inside the framework of modern state paradigm, has been imbricated and freed from social history by designating some of the fundamental arguments about its epistemological, historical and structural qualities and it shows how &#039 / autonomy&#039 / has been a stake of struggle. The narratives about how &#039 / commodification of culture&#039 / and &#039 / autonomy of the field&#039 / proceed in the &#039 / West&#039 / and in Turkey are discussed in comparison in this ethnographic study that is realized by Constructive Grounded Theory and carried out by centering a group of art professionals living in Istanbul.

This thesis critically analyzes the dynamics wherein the artistic field- the art world per se possessing both &#039 / glocal&#039 / and &#039 / universal&#039 / attributes- has been constructed as an autonomous field within the discourses produced about art. The research focuses on some of the moments during which the field, as becoming an &#039 / institution&#039 / inside the framework of modern state paradigm, has been imbricated and freed from social history by designating some of the fundamental arguments about its epistemological, historical and structural qualities and it shows how &#039 / autonomy&#039 / has been a stake of struggle. The narratives about how &#039 / commodification of culture&#039 / and &#039 / autonomy of the field&#039 / proceed in the &#039 / West&#039 / and in Turkey are discussed in comparison in this ethnographic study that is realized by Constructive Grounded Theory and carried out by centering a group of art professionals living in Istanbul.

Neglected areas are everywhere. They are seen as foreclosed homes, commercial properties, rundown lots and even small spaces like broken signage and over-sized potholes. My investigation, Abandonment ex-plores how graphic design can be used to identify neglected areas and add meaning that challenges exist-ing perceptions of these areas. This becomes a way to suggest revitalization without actually redesigning a specific space. Abandonment matches carefully designed phrases, inspired by first hand research of community members, with neglected urban environments of Atlanta. The camouflaged environmental graphics, created by means of DOT signs, chalk drawings, and blackboards recontextualize environments to softly build curiosity, activate new thinking, and potentially spark reinvention. Perhaps if citizens ques-tion these neglected spaces, they may begin to imagine new purposes for these spaces and reclaim them? The investigation is thoroughly documented and will continue to mature over time. To follow the project online, visit urbanartatlanta.com.

Constructed in successive stages beginning in 1935, the Moscow metro was designed to be the foremost transportation system in Stalinist Moscow as well as a symbol of socialist might and a metonym for the future socialist society. Soviet officials heralded the metro as an underground palace promoting the values of socialism, and the artwork therein was meant to reflect these values. When Sverdlov Square station opened in 1938, it was decorated with bas-sculptures in the newly sanctioned socialist realist style; the artist, Natalia Danko, chose to depict pairs of male and female folk dancers from seven of the largest nationalities of the Soviet Union. Her sculptures celebrated an idealized view of folk culture that sought to glorify the Soviet state by reflecting ideals such as the joy of every day life and the friendship of the peoples. This thesis employs semiotics to reveal the ambiguity with which viewers may have read these signs, and to demonstrate the polyvalent nature of artistic production. Semiotic theory is useful in order to show how the official discourse of Socialist Realism could be both contested and reinforced through public art. The thesis contends that the Moscow metro, one of the superlative Soviet projects of the 1930s, can be understood as an ambiguous space where meaning was open to diverse interpretations.

Thesis (Masters) -- Simmons College, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (l. 64-66)