Christina Leary- Authenticity of Commissioned Art in Placemaking

December 1st, 2017
Christina Leary- Authenticity of Commissioned Art in Placemaking
Outside Article: Markusen, A., & Gadwa, A. (2010). Creative placemaking. Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts.
Creative Placemaking is a method used by city planners, nonprofits, private businesses, etc. in order to attract people to their respective city or “place.” Placemaking is something we talk about here at CNU in the Center for Community Engagement. Freshmen year a group of students tour through Tennessee looking at three distinct places. My year it was Nashville, Memphis, and Chattanooga. This year I returned with the freshmen and noticed an interesting part of placemaking: commissioned street art.  At first I thought this aspect was only going on in memphis because I spent a summer there and was able to see it more clearly but I began to notice this is common in a lot of cities. In terms of it making a place aesthetically pleasing, it works well. However, questions in my mind began to form in terms of the authenticity of the art.

I think a part of the street art element gets lost when one begins to commission the work. Is it even street art anymore? I ask this because the city, nonprofit, or private business is still designating a place for the artist to paint or do their work where street art in the past has been characterized by it being done in public space. Now people are beginning to own the section of the wall where the art was painted and furthermore how many restrictions were put on the artist to paint a specific type of work? Is the artwork free? I think it can be free but in placemaking the authenticity of street art is at a greater threat. It is a strange thing when government starts to embrace art, which has had a long history of social protest.

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