Public Works

Gubb, Mark ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2412-7412 (2021) Public Works. University of Worcester.

Preview

Text Gubb_01.pdf - Published Version Download (28MB) | Preview

Abstract

This multi-component output consists of a selection of approaches to the creation and dissemination of art in the public realm.

These works were realised across a six-year period (June 2014 to August 2020) and incorporate multiple forms – permanent public works (‘Alight’, Cardiff, and ‘Wassail’, London), public performance (‘God So Loves Decay’, Luton and L.A., ‘Metal Militia’, Berwick-upon-Tweed, ‘It All Began with Richard Burton’, Whitstable), and site-specific graphic works (‘Even in Exile’ album cover, ‘The Murenger and Other Stories’ book cover).

This diverse approach to ideas of site and the public realm reflects my research interests in an artwork’s capacity to exist autonomously and coherently outside of any additional framework for its designation as an artwork.

From a practice-based research perspective, a key question these projects examined was:

How can an artwork co-opt the physical surroundings in which it is sited in order to intensify the viewer experience and extend its dialogues beyond that of simply being considered an artwork?

The key methodology was in the creation and the dissemination of the works and artistic objects themselves – through this process a physical space was created in which the identified research question could be examined, individually, and then collectively as part of the wider portfolio.

In submitting these works as a multi-component output, it provides an accurate reflection of my interest and research in to working in this way. I am equally interested in permanent public works – how they function, their relation to architecture and people’s use of the space, their ability to engage in a wider narrative – as I am in the transient use of space or the co-option of recognisable sites; the shorthand of understanding this can create for an audience, that extends beyond a visual arts audience, when introducing a work in to that site or space.

Actions (login required)

View Item