Public Art Now Conversations is an exciting new online event exploring the changing landscape of Public Art now and in the coming decades, June 24-26, 2021.

Technological University Dublin and the Grangegorman Development Agency are delighted to invite your attendance as part of Public Art Now Conversations; a structured programme of six online conversations led by Irish and International practitioners.

As a varied set of art practices, public art provides opportunities for collective participation and self-expression, historical reflection and community dialogue. It contributes to our social, spatial and political topologies by proposing new social models, enhancing physical infrastructure and engaging with design. As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, now more than ever we collectively face unprecedented social and environmental challenges. The recent Covid-19 pandemic as well as our present geological epoch of the Anthropocene, unchecked globalisation and resurgent nationalistic forces provide new contexts through which to consider public arts’ role in society. Within this context, Public Art Now Conversations will explore how public art responds to the complexity of our cultural and natural environments and how current policy and theory support these actions.

The development of the new TU Dublin, campus at Grangegorman informs our considerations of Public Art, and acts as a barometer for thinking critically about the relationships between Public Art practice, policy and its publics. As such, Public Art Now Conversations is structured by three key themes;
- Public Art: Processes and Politics
- Public Art in the Anthropocene
- Ecologies of Space and Place

Participation in this online event is free of charge but must be booked in advance through Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/public-art-now-conversations-tickets-145905600579

For more information see publicartnow.eu or email us at publicartnowtudublin.ie

TIMETABLE

Thursday June 24 
Conversation 1. In, Out and With: Public art and the contexts of site. (11.30GMT)
Chaired by 
Dr Brian Fay (TU Dublin) 
     
Panel: 
Alexandra Carr (artist) 
Garrett Phelan (artist) 
Jennie Guy (artist and curator) 
 
Conversation 2: Public Art and Policy (14.30GMT)
Chaired by:  
Dr Ciarán Benson (Grangegorman Public Art Working Group) 
 
Panel: 
Sinéad O'Reilly (Head of Local Arts, Arts Council of Ireland)  
Dr Ailbhe Murphy (Director, Create; The national Development Agency for Collaborative Art) 
Ruarí Ó Cuív (Public Art Manager, Dublin City Council) 
Nora Ceciliedatter Nerdrum (Curator at Koro – Public Art Norway) 
 

Friday June 25 
Conversation 3: Public Art in Practice; roles and responsibilities of the artist (11.30GMT)
Chaired by:  
Barbara Knežević (TU Dublin) 
Mary Cremin (Director Void Gallery, Derry) 
 
Panel: 
Eva Rothschild (artist) 
Alice Rekab (artist) 
David Beattie (artist) 
 
Conversation 4: Public Art and Environment; Mapping Sensing Hacking (14.30GMT)
Chaired by: Dr Glenn Loughran (TU Dublin) 

Panel: 
Dr Ros Gray (Goldsmiths, University of London) 
Alex Braidwood (Iowa State University, artist) 
Stephanie Hessler (curator, writer) 
 

Saturday June 26 
Conversation 5: Theories of Public Art (11.30GMT)
Chaired by: Dr Connell Vaughan (TU Dublin) 

Panel: 
Dr Marnie Badham (RMIT, Melbourne) 
Dr Eleonora Belifore (Loughborough University) 
Dr Elisa Caldarola (University of Padua) 
 
Conversation 6: Public Art; Public History: Monuments and Commemoration (14.30GMT)
Chaired by: Dr Niamh Ann Kelly (TU Dublin) 
Panel: 
Dr Harriet F. Seine (City College New York) 
Dr Cher Krause Knight (Emerson College, Boston) 
Timothy W. Ryback (Historian, Director of Centre for Historical Justice)