Sculptures, fountains, murals, memorials, statues you can climb on, screens you can watch. Public art is created in a variety of forms and can be found in communities around the world.
Public art can be moved around, but sometimes it’s created specifically for the place where you’ve found it. It can be temporary or permanent. Sometimes it’s so small that you might not see it as you walk by. Or it can be oversized, a giant statement that makes you wonder, “why is this here and what does this mean?”
“Asking yourself questions is a great way to make sense about art,” explains six-year-old Brixton in this KQED Art School video in San Francisco. Who is the artist? How was it installed? What does it remind you of? What is it called?
“Does it look different in daytime or nighttime? Is it related to the stuff around it? What is it made with? Is it permanent or temporary? Are you supposed to interact with it? Does it refer to the community? Did the neighbors help make it?”
Along the way, Brixton visits Cupid’s Span by artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen, Ruth Asawa‘s origami-inspired fountain Aurora, and Andy Goldsworthy’s Spire in the Presidio.
Watch these related art videos next:
• Six Forgotten Giants, Copenhagen’s hidden scrap wood sculptures
• Marta Minujín’s ‘Parthenon’ of Banned Books, an installation in Kassel, Germany (2017)
• A peregrine falcon mural time-lapse for The Audubon Mural Project
• Giant sculptures along North Dakota’s Enchanted Highway
• Making Florentijn Hofman’s Feestaardvarken (Partyaardvark)
• Japanese manhole covers, a factory tour
• Chandelier Tree: Silver Lake’s twinkling neighborhood gem
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