You can’t put that there…the Public Art dilemma

Is an over-sized milk crate better than a bronze of another eminent white male? Multi-million dollar commissions make public art an increasingly polarising topic.
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Concept sketch for Hany Armanious’ Pavillion, courtesy the artist and City of Sydney

With the announcement last year of the allocation of three major commissions – the first of three under the City of Sydney’s $9.3 million City Centre Public Art Plan – the thorny questions of what constitutes consultative selection and what defines appropriate community engagement are raw topics.

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Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina