A Visual Art Project for Public Participation: A Means of Communicating About Art

Leonardo, Vol. 14, No. 3. pp. 196197. 1981 Printed in Great Britain. 0024-4Y4XiX 1:030 196412 $02.00/0 Pergamon Press Ltd. A VISUAL ART PROJECTFOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: A MEANSOF COMMUNICATING ABOUT ART Dierk Engelken* 1. The Bundesverband Bildender Kunstler (the organization representing artists in the Federal Republic of Germany) conducted a 13-week project at the open-air Horticultural Festival in the summer of 1979 in Bonn. The project took the form of open-air ‘studios’ (‘Ateliers im Freien’) occupying an area of more than 500 m2 in the midst of the city park called Rheinaue, on the green bank of the river Rhine. Teams of visual artists, writers, musicians, dancers and actors worked with visitors to the Festival in the Ateliers (Fig. 1). I shall limit myself here to the visual-art Ateliers. A report on the project was presented at the 9th International Congress of Artists of the International Association of Art (IAA) in October 1979 at Stuttgart, Fed. Rep. Ger. 2. The painters and sculptors endeavored to communicate to the visitors the aims and the processes used in making art objects by involving both adults and children in dialogues and as active participants in the work done in the Ateliers. They were encouraged to express themselves freely on subjects such as conservation of nature, ecological processes, landscaping, etc. These subjects were appropriate for those attending a Horticular Festival. The following basic ideas of the Project were conveyed to the visitors: (1)The execution of an art object requires an initial conception. It was to be arrived at jointly by the contributing artist and each participant, since an artistic imagination is possessed in varying degrees by nonartists that needs only to be awakened. (2) The process of execution demands a readiness to recognize unforseen artistic possibilities and to take advantage of them. Each participant was to make an effort to recognize and to take advantage of them as a joint activity with the contributing artist. The aims of the Project were: (1)to draw attention of participants in the Ateliers and of on-lookers to the Horticultural Festival as a rich source of subjects for artistic expression and (2) to provide each participant with a meaningful artistic experience, one that is not gained by passive on-looking. (Stress was placed not on *Painterand sculptor, Kurfiirstenstr.48, 5300-Bonn 1. Fed. Rep. Ger. (Received 19 March 1980) the final object but on the process of conceiving and making it.) The Ateliers were conducted under the shelter of net fabric tents, sculptures enlivened by the wind (Fig. 2). The white tent was a striking spot on the green lawns; it attracted the attention of visitors. Views of participants at work are shown in Figs. 3 and 4. 3. #en I started to organize the ‘Ateliers in Freien’, I was in a state of optimism. But on proposing the Project to the organizers of the Festival and the city administrators of Bonn, I learned how little they were able to think imaginatively. At first they feared that it would be a meaningless distraction for the visitors. Nevertheless, after much discussion, the Project was accepted and, at the end, I believe the authorities had become just as enthusiastic about the Ateliers as the contributing artists and the visitors. Not all that was produced in the Ateliers was valuable or beautiful in a traditional sense. But exclamations like ‘This is the best part of the whole Festival’ confirmed the soundness of the idea of open-air ‘studios ’. The participants were able to talk freely to the artists about producing artworks and about how these artists live. Shyness of participants was usually overcome . Undoubtedly, some who had little or no previous exposure to art-making became a bit more sensiFig . 1. An artist discussing ecological aspects of his artistic work. (Photo: C . Pfingsten, Bonn. Fed. Rep. Ger.) 196 A VisualArt Projectfor Public Participation 197 Fig. 2. Tent shelter, as a wind sculpture, being assembled. (Photo:C. Wngsten, Bonn, Fed. Rep. Ger.) Fig. 3. Visitorsplayfully at work. (Photo: E. Haisch, Berlin, Fed. Rep. Ger.) Fig. 4. An artist and a child learningfrom each other. (Photo: C . Pfingsten,Bonn, Fed. Rep. Ger.) tive not...