...it is impossible to know the true number of works that exist...
August 12, 2014 2:52 AM Subscribe
The Public Art Archive is a free database of publically visible and accessible works of art, primarily in the United States.
It currently contains 8605 works of art, by 3578 artists. For an idea of what's there, they also produced an overview map
What a great road-trip planning tool!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:30 AM on August 12, 2014
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:30 AM on August 12, 2014
We have more public art around here than you can shake a granite penis at; I should look into contributing some pictures.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:32 AM on August 12, 2014
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:32 AM on August 12, 2014
Very nice site, and very nice presentation in the last link.
(I know another one of those overview maps too, it's called the Ingress Intel Map. Of course, it also includes stuff like random plaster bowl of fruit in front of an embassy in DC, every. single. building. on each university campus around ("Shuttle Facility," "Physical Plant"), every Zipcar branch everywhere (I think they had an arrangement in the beginning), and murals that have been painted over two years ago (the parent company isn't very rapid at responding to corrections), but so many people wouldn't have known of that Kermit statue in the middle of a park near my town, I would never have guessed a Toledo suburban church would have this totally incongruous huge Atlas statue in front of it, and I would never have walked a block out of my way in frigid Chicago weather last winter to go look at that one mural in an El station. So I guess it balances out.)
posted by seyirci at 6:33 AM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
(I know another one of those overview maps too, it's called the Ingress Intel Map. Of course, it also includes stuff like random plaster bowl of fruit in front of an embassy in DC, every. single. building. on each university campus around ("Shuttle Facility," "Physical Plant"), every Zipcar branch everywhere (I think they had an arrangement in the beginning), and murals that have been painted over two years ago (the parent company isn't very rapid at responding to corrections), but so many people wouldn't have known of that Kermit statue in the middle of a park near my town, I would never have guessed a Toledo suburban church would have this totally incongruous huge Atlas statue in front of it, and I would never have walked a block out of my way in frigid Chicago weather last winter to go look at that one mural in an El station. So I guess it balances out.)
posted by seyirci at 6:33 AM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
Too bad the site's listing submission process is cumbersome. I might take the time later to submit some listings for Ithaca, but filling out and submitting an Excel spreadsheet template is just annoying. I understand they don't want crap or spam listings but they could have a review process that just involved a web form that requires mod approval to make new listings live.
Anyhow, looking up one of my favorite local muralists, Roti, I see that his mural in Atlanta was condemned by a local politician, defaced, and then destroyed by city crews (even though it had been approved by the city in the first place). Pathetic. Dude should stick to Ithaca!
posted by aught at 7:13 AM on August 12, 2014
Anyhow, looking up one of my favorite local muralists, Roti, I see that his mural in Atlanta was condemned by a local politician, defaced, and then destroyed by city crews (even though it had been approved by the city in the first place). Pathetic. Dude should stick to Ithaca!
posted by aught at 7:13 AM on August 12, 2014
It looks like they only take submissions from artists and owners of the art. "you must be a professional artist who has completed and installed public artwork, or an administrator of an established public art program in any of the 50 United States or Canada."
I wanted to submit that statute of a boy and a fox across the street from me.
posted by interplanetjanet at 7:18 AM on August 12, 2014
I wanted to submit that statute of a boy and a fox across the street from me.
posted by interplanetjanet at 7:18 AM on August 12, 2014
It looks like they only take submissions from artists and owners of the art. "you must be a professional artist who has completed and installed public artwork, or an administrator of an established public art program in any of the 50 United States or Canada."
Ah, too bad. But I'll definitely pass on the link to my local arts council to share with the artists involved.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:39 AM on August 12, 2014
Ah, too bad. But I'll definitely pass on the link to my local arts council to share with the artists involved.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:39 AM on August 12, 2014
It looks like they only take submissions from artists and owners of the art.
Ah--that explains why the works represented there are such a weirdly ill-assorted jumble. I can understand the desire to prevent spam and joke-submissions and so forth, but looking at the entries for areas I know well it also seems largely like proof of the overall value of more genuine wiki-like endeavors. Yeah, you get noise, but if you were using this to try to plan even a day's outing to see the most interesting public art in, say, L.A. you'd end up missing most of the really interesting stuff and seeing some pretty oddball pieces.
posted by yoink at 9:16 AM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
Ah--that explains why the works represented there are such a weirdly ill-assorted jumble. I can understand the desire to prevent spam and joke-submissions and so forth, but looking at the entries for areas I know well it also seems largely like proof of the overall value of more genuine wiki-like endeavors. Yeah, you get noise, but if you were using this to try to plan even a day's outing to see the most interesting public art in, say, L.A. you'd end up missing most of the really interesting stuff and seeing some pretty oddball pieces.
posted by yoink at 9:16 AM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
They missed a branding opportunity when they didn't call it the "Public Artchive"
posted by blue_beetle at 12:38 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by blue_beetle at 12:38 PM on August 12, 2014
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posted by oceanjesse at 4:48 AM on August 12, 2014