Art in Public Spaces
Integrating art into our daily lives.
Words by Grace Schrobilgen Featured Art by James Hughes, Ha Na Lee, and Lisa Woods
Art is one of the most important factors in developing a city’s cultural scene. Several local and national organizations are working diligently to increase Austin’s visibility in the realm of media arts.
On March 12 and 13, The City of Austin Cultural Arts Division and SXSW will put on an art installation to celebrate the intersection of art and technology in Austin. In addition to highlighting some of our city’s most creative people, this event will promote the Cultural Arts Division’s initiative of using art to bring the community together. The exhibition and accompanying panel discussion will emphasize the desire for urban planners to take creative spaces into consideration when allocating property for development projects.
The showcase will include several pieces that use media and art to portray powerful messages about the human condition. There’s a virtual reality piece that presents the last known locations of missing persons, a celebration of the use of technology as a device for storytelling, and a choose-your-own adventure installation that allows viewers to take a tour around downtown Austin. These pieces encompass the fields of art, technology, music, and light projections, and the universally relatable topics will make the exhibition accessible to everyone.
Kathleen Stimpert, who works for the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division, says that presenting these types of multidisciplinary topics and media in a compilation of this size will make a much greater impact than seeing them on their own. The hope is that exploring the various mediums will grant visitors a deeper look into what makes this city so special, which will then motivate them to advocate for the preservation of these forms of expression within Austin’s public spaces. Austin is the only city in the United States with a UNESCO City of Media Arts designation, and this showcase demonstrates why we are deserving of the honor. Stimpert asserted that the panel discussion will explore how Austin, and cities like it, can “bolster the arts and creative industries to strengthen participation in cultural life, catalyze economic growth, and assure the integration of culture into urban development plans—all things that are important to most citizens.”
This SXSW event is worth visiting for anyone who is in support of seeing Austin’s creative spaces preserved or is interested in browsing some amazing media art installations by local artists. Viewers will leave feeling enlightened and filled with the ambition to help Austin artists maintain their innovative spirits as our city continues to evolve.
Did you know? Austin was the first municipality in Texas to make a commitment to include works of art in construction projects.
Fun Fact: Each year, Austin hosts a temporary exhibition called TEMPO where artists are commissioned to create public installations for ten sites across the city.
Stay up to date with the other programs being offered by the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division and read more details about this event.
