think public art.
More Art engages in a constant critical reflection on the role and boundaries of public art and socially engaged practice. Underlying every one of our projects is a profound desire to expand the traditional scope of public art beyond aesthetic considerations and into the social sphere. Amid the current debate over the realistic implications of the concept of “art as social practice” we believe that to produce works that both challenge viewers and engage the community, while addressing important and contentious topics, often boils down to finding a balance between art and praxis.
Because we are always looking for new ways to achieve this difficult balance, we often organize talks and panel discussions to foster a lively and rigorous debate on the topic and develop a theory of public art adapted to the present. It is thus in the spirit of conversation that we would like to share with you recordings of our panel discussions as well as a number of books, articles, and talks by other art practitioners and critics who continue to inspire our work.
VIDEOS
Abraham Lincoln | panel discussion
Kimsooja | panel discussion
BOOKS AND ARTICLES
More Art in the Public Eye
Our first book, More Art in the Public Eye, details More Art’s history, offering critical insight into the ever-growing field of socially engaged public art by demonstrating how the committed collaboration of artists, community members, and cultural producers can meaningfully impact our collective futures.
Artificial Hells
By Claire Bishop
Artificial Hells is the primary historical and theoretical overview of socially engaged participatory art. Claire Bishop examines key moments in the development of a participatory aesthetic, over the course of the last two hundred years.
The Accidental Playground
By Daniel Campo
This publication explores the inspired landscape that was created by individuals and small groups who occupied and rebuilt an abandoned Brooklyn waterfront. This book is a fascinating account of reclamation of public space and DIY creative planning.
Artistic Citizenship: : A Public Voice for the Arts
Edited by Mary Schmidt Campbell and Randy Martin
This anthology edited by Mary Schmidt Campbell and Randy Martin, is an invaluable resource that deals with how people in the creative arts participate in civic society.
Art and Revolution
by Gerald Raunig
This text extends the poststructuralist theory of revolution to the nexus of art and activism. Art and Revolution describes and contextualizes artists’ engagement with revolutionary moments over the last one hundred and fifty years.
Beautiful Trouble
Assembled by Andrew Boyd with Dave Oswald Mitchell
This publication edited by Andrew Boyd and Dave Oswald Mitchell, features ideas for action and discourse by ten groundbreaking organizations and over seventy troublemakers. It’s a vital and comprehensive resource for those interested in civic activism.
The Citizen Artist
Edited by Linda Frye Burnham and Steven Durland
This publication explores the contemporary artist as a social activist, and examines the contemporary relationship between artists and the public space. Compiled with articles and interviews, in High Performance Magazine from 1978 to 1998.
Critical Issues in Public Art
Edited by Harriet F. Senie and Sally Webster
This anthology explores the role of public art in creating a national identity by exploring such critical issues as monuments and memorials, sculpture and architecture, urban design, patronage and public art, controversy, and public response.
Education for Socially Engaged Art
By Pablo Helguera
Pablo Helgura believes that education is fueled by progressive ideas. This concise and very useful resource is drawn from empirical experience and extensive research, providing a curriculum and framework for thinking about the complexity of socially engaged practices.
One Place After Another
By Miwon Kwon
Miwon Kwon writes a critical history of site-specific art since the late 1960s and a theoretical framework for examining the rhetoric of aesthetic vanguardism and political progressivism associated with its many permutations.
Museum Inc.
By Paul Werner
This publication by Paul Werner, is a succinct expose from an inside perspective of new arts conglomerates who are deeply connected to corporate culture.
Not Here, Not Now, Not That!
By Steven J. Tepper
An insightful publication exploring how public debate over art can spur community involvement and participation in civil society. Tepper examines the context of the diverse and wide range of public outcry over films, books, paintings, sculpture, clothing, music, and television.
The Last Bohemia
By Robet Anasi
This publication provides a unique primary account of Williamsburg Brooklyn’s waterfront shortly before rapid gentrification took place. After the decline of manufacturing, the area indeed became a haven for neighbors to create and reclaim the abandoned space.
The Power of Place
By Dolores Hayden
This publication is a democratic and inclusive interpretation of the places in which most of us live and work. Hayden fuses history and the environment to highlight the history of Los Angeles, particularly focusing on displaced communities and activism.
What We Made
By Tom Finkelpearl
Tom Finkelpearl observes activist, participatory, and communal aesthetic experiences being created within the contemporary art scene. Conversations by key practitioners and theorists present case studies and references critical for those interested in community arts projects.