PUBLIC ART ART of the city A global search to find the planet’s most outstanding public art culminates in an awards ceremony, exhibition and conference in Auckland in early July. GET VED INVOL 2015 International Award for Public Art Exhibition and Conference – July 1-4 Register at: iapa2015.nz Conference: The University of Auckland Exhibition: Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki Main pic: The Labyrinth and Cabins of Argelaguer: for more than 20 years outsider artist Josep Pujiula has created a series of towers, bridges, tunnels and cabins in Catalonia, Spain. Top: Kunlé Adeyemi, Makoko Floating School: a prototype floating structure, built for a water community in Lagos, Nigeria. Above: Gap Filler, The Pallet Pavilion: a temporary community events venue built from 3000 pallets by volunteers in post-disaster Christchurch. T he power of public art as social commentary, or as a medium to communicate public defiance, hope, or political activism, is the focus of an exciting Auckland event. Co-hosted by Elam School of Fine Arts, The University of Auckland and Shandong University of Art and Design, China, the 2015 International Award for Public Art (IAPA) aims to reimagine public space and promote culturally diverse, socially responsive public art. This is the first time a New Zealand university has worked with partners in China to explore ideas of art and urbanism. The 2015 IAPA conference Cities in a Climate of Change: Public Art and Environmental and Social Ecologies reflects Elam’s engagement in the civic questions around art and our cities. Bringing together leading international experts and participants, the conference will provide a forum for new ideas about how public art can work. Presentations and workshops will focus on art’s relationship to urban development and city renewal, particularly in the case of disaster recovery. An exhibition of case studies featuring the top 32 international projects will be at Auckland Art Gallery during the conference. Projects as diverse as a floating school, an experimental sexual politics initiative in India, and a post-earthquake pavilion for Christchurch are finalists for the award. 2015 International Award for Public Art finalists will present their work during the first day of the Cities in a Climate of Change conference, before the announcement of the winner at a dinner on July 1 at Auckland Art Gallery. The inaugural award (2013) was won by Venezuelan artist and architect Alejandro Haiek Coll for the Tiuna el Fuerte Cultural Park, an inventive and community focused redevelopment of an abandoned parking lot in Caracas. 18 element Speakers Alejandro Haiek Coll Venezuelan working as far afield as Christchurch. Coll’s work specialises in the resuscitation of inactive landscapes – including those thrown into turmoil by natural events. Below: Alfredo Jaar, The Geometry of Conscience: a memorial to the victims of the Pinochet military rule and dictatorship in Chile. Bottom left: Jasmeen Patheja, Talk to Me: a project emerging as an artistic and political response to the widespread harassment of women in India. Bottom right: Jon Rubin and Dawn Weleski, Conflict Kitchen: a restaurant and a socially engaged project serving cuisine from countries the USA is in conflict with. Owen Hatherley British architecture, regeneration, and popular culture critic. Author of A New Kind of Bleak, contributor to Building Design, Frieze and the Guardian. Mary Jane Jacob Professor of Sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Shifted her workplace from the museum to the street to become a leading figure in the field of socially engaged art and the discussion around public space. Philip Tinari Director of the Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art, Beijing. Recently named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Bruce Sheridan NZ born Chair of Cinema Art + Science at Columbia College, Chicago. Focused on creativity as fundamental, with particular emphasis on improvisation and collaboration. Pan Lusheng President of Shandong University of Art and Design and director of the Institute of Design, China National Academy of Arts. Lewis Biggs Chair, Institute of Public Art. Formally Chief Executive of Liverpool Biennial and Director of Tate Liverpool. Curator of Folkestone Triennial 2014 (UK) and Aichi Trienniale 2013 (Japan).