Public art and public transit

Posted on August 27, 2008 at 9:09 am by Karen Smith

During the Metronauts event in Toronto in April 2008, one of the ideas that caught my attention was the possibility that public transit vehicles and the public transit system more broadly can be considered as a potential space for cultural activities.

Shortly after Metronauts Toronto, I came across an example of public art on public buses which seems to bring to life this possibility. In Winnipeg in the spring of 2008, artist Cheyenne Henry launched Trans Regalia, which is described on the Arts Building Community website as “an act of Indigenous cultural and political reclamation.” The site describes that in this artistic intervention,

Artist Cheyenne Henry reclaims the public transit system in Winnipeg to launch education about urban Aboriginal issues into the public sphere. People dressed in traditional Aboriginal regalia step onto city buses and share personal stories of reclaiming their culture and identity in an urban context. The lines between participant and performer are blurred as both become viewer and viewed, sharing a common experience, a bus ride into Winnipeg’s core. This act of transit reclamation opens possibilities for dialogue and understanding in the inner city.

Although I was not in Winnipeg to experience Henry’s art first hand, I feel that her work raises a number of important questions surrounding the meaning of the term public in relation to art and transportation. In reference to art, the term typically refers to work which is supported by public agencies to reside in outdoor space (or at least outside of galleries) to reach a broad cross-section of society [1]. Public art in Toronto can be said to include the 190 city owned pieces such as sculptures and Nuit Blanche, Toronto’s “free all night contemporary art thing.” In the Toronto and Hamilton areas, the transit systems are also publicly supported. The transit system however also provides an infrastructure which physically connects a community. Henry’s work encourages me to think of our transit system as a network and a space for both community and for dialogue. Both public art and public transit can provoke us to think of the public good and what we wish to collectively address and overcome.

[1] Finkelpear, T (Ed.). (2000). Dialogues in Public Art. MIT Press. 2000.

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7 Comments

  1. Karen, great post! I think that art can do a lot to address what people sometimes experience as an in-human and uncomfortable experience of public transit. A serious commitment to public art in public transit can produce added value in the minds of users and customers by activating their minds and hearts.
    This contrasts with that feeling of being passive consumers in a metal tube, a captive audience for advertisers. Advertising generates important additional revenue for transit operators, but there are other sources of value that can be tapped through careful attention to the aesthetic and cultural value of the experience of public transit.
    Public value drives public support, and can provide the political basis for ongoing public investment.

    GravatarComment by Mark Kuznicki — August 27, 2008 @ 9:37 am

  2. A few years ago, I went to an exhibit that extolled the virtues of art on the TTC, and how it could be economically feasible as well.

    I’m not sure if all the data is still valid, but the exhibit PDF is worth reading just to get an overview of what can be done.

    GravatarComment by Sameer Vasta — August 27, 2008 @ 9:46 am

  3. I was just in Berlin. There were some beautiful prints of paintings intermixed with the usual advertisements among the subway posters.

    We should do the same or more here in Toronto. Often, one sees blank spaces in poster slots on buses or the subway. We could easily fill those with beautiful prints as a first step in engaging everyone on a cultural and aethetic level.

    GravatarComment by Leo Petr — August 27, 2008 @ 10:27 am

  4. For anyone interested, besides the owned public art pieces, there’s many more sculptures in Toronto. (make sure to check out the locations)

    GravatarComment by Rafal Dittwald — August 27, 2008 @ 11:00 am

  5. A book I recommend is “Art in the Underground”. It shows how art can be a part of every aspect in a transit system, from the stations, to the vehicles, to even the route maps. I believe it is on sale right now at Pages.

    GravatarComment by Laurence Lui — August 27, 2008 @ 11:45 am

  6. I’d like to see more art in and around parking lots–public space that would otherwise be large expanses of unsightly asphalt.

    The Region of Niagara has an outdoor public art program that is sponsored by local businesses and engages local artists. What a great way to recognize the positive contributions that public art makes to our neighbourhoods and communities! Public art brings art into everyday life, energizes public spaces and arouses society’s thinking and imagination.

    GravatarComment by shawn905 — August 27, 2008 @ 2:58 pm

  7. I will definitely be taking a look for “Art in the Underground” and going through the links and programs posted above. It all looks very interesting.

    GravatarComment by Karen Smith — August 27, 2008 @ 3:09 pm

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