Public Sculpture Opinion Poll
Public spaces are meeting points for both the powerful and the powerless. Governments or businesses select art pieces to be shown in public spaces and the public's response is generally one of passive gossip or direct attack.
The Public Sculpture Opinion Poll was a direct inquiry into the placement of one sculpture in Chicago at the intersection of Grand and Western Avenues. The sculpture, a large configuration of welded utility poles and paint, was officially "donated" to the city of Chicago by a neighborhood Chamber of Commerce masquerading as a neighborhood community group.
Temporary Services started a public dialogue about the sculpture -- why and how did it get there? Clipboards were hung at each corner of the busy intersection, with pens and pieces of paper. The paper had the question "What do you think of this sculpture and why do you think it was placed in this neighborhood?" on the top, along with three small photos of the sculpture itself printed along the bottom.
Members of Temporary Services returned to the clipboard sites twice daily for six weeks, collecting responses and replenishing the clipboards with more printed pages and pens. After the end of six weeks, over 1000 responses were collected ... positive, negative, and all over the place. The responses were then compiled into a booklet and traveling exhibition which has been shared with the City of Chicago's Department of Public Art as a more democratic and populist option for gathering opinions about public space.
Read more about this topic: Temporary Services
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