Message
October 1, 2007 -
A message from the Steel Yard
In late 2006, the Steel Yard’s Urban Furniture program (one of a kind, custom- produced street amenities designed and built by RI artists) was contracted by the Olneyville Housing Corporation to produce a series of tree guards and garbage cans for Olneyville. We hired independent artists to produce these amenities, including Lu Heintz. As artists for hire, individuals who work on these projects are contracted to create and sell work to the Steel Yard and we, in turn, re-sell this work to a public client. In this case, the client was OHC, acting as fiscal agent for the Olneyville Merchants Association. After the cans were produced, the client took issue with the content of Lu’s set of four garbage cans, feeling that they were not the product they had contracted for and that certain elements of the design content were not fully representative of their community. The Steel Yard felt obligated to uphold the client's right to reject the product but also felt a strong responsibility to the artist we hired. The artist saw this as a rejection of her work and as a form of censorship. In reflecting on our process, the Steel Yard realized that the cans’ inclusion of text demanded a higher form of approval than we typically undertook. While we could not undo this mistake, we were committed to resolving the issue and facilitated multiple conversations and negotiations that included the Steel Yard, the client and the artist and her spokesperson.
In the end, we were unable to arrive at a mutually agreeable compromise. We upheld the client's right to reject the product while also protecting the artist and her work by pulling the set of cans from the larger order and keeping them at the Steel Yard. It was our belief that if sold to the client, the cans would not be installed. We worked with the artist closely throughout this process and, after puling the cans and in collaboration with Lu Heintz, began to plan a public forum to address some of the issues this experience raised for us because they seemed significant to our community and to our work as a non-profit.
We found ourselves considering new questions about the role of public art on our city streets, individual artists' ability to speak for communities, and the ultimate location of ownership in work done for hire that has an ultimate public purpose. It also served as a reminder of the power of artistic expression in general. In a community where artists are often vocal opponents of sub-standard urban conditions and various political, social, and economic inequalities how does this unique relationship between public and personal expression find a voice that is fair and balanced?
On Tuesday, September 25th at 6 PM, the Steel Yard invited the public to participate in the public forum which we called The Artist and the City: Politics, Public Art and Community. Lu’s cans were exhibited at the Steel Yard for two weeks prior to the event. The forum was structured to present this experience from the perspective of its main stake holders and then use that as a jumping off point to consider the larger questions it has raised for the Steel Yard community, those who buy (and thereby publicly show) our Urban Furniture, and for the ultimate consumer of this relationship: the general public. Our interest was in addressing the role of the artist as activist and community member and in exploring the ways that these roles may be used to open dialogue, promote new ideas and promulgate change. We were interested in having a spirited, engaging event that would encourage audience participation and will strengthen the process of public collaborations between artists and cities.
The forum drew an impressive audience of more than one hundred. Over a period of three hours, Olneyville residents (many of them also artists) and representatives of neighborhood non-profits and businesses aired their grievances with the process to date and shared their desires for the future of Lu’s cans. Almost none of the evening’s discussion focused on the larger questions of public art and the role of artists in community that we had hoped to cover. The Steel Yard was critiqued for the architecture of the forum, for the panel participants selected and for choosing to host the forum at their site. The Steel Yard was asked about and confirmed their interest in seeing the cans installed in the public realm, providing the location was one that made sense for Olneyville-not simply for those in the room that night. A number of specific locations were suggested, one invitation was extended and the artist asked that the cans be donated to a community non-profit. Steel Yard Executive Director Drake Patten told the audience that any final decision made would be taken up with the Steel Yard’s staff and board but invited forum participants to sign up to be involved in further conversations regarding the future of the cans.
In the days that have followed, people continued to discuss issues surrounding the cans on blogs, listserves, via email, in person and by telephone. Some people told Steel Yard staff that they found the atmosphere of the forum to be such that they felt unable to speak publicly about their own concerns and questions. We tried to document these comments and concerns while we (as an organization) also tried to unpack what we learned at the forum, debriefed on the process and began to identify the lessons learned over the many months leading up to the forum. We also began to plan how we could best respond to the multiple voices heard to date as well as those who may still want to be heard.
Not discussed the night of the forum was an invitation made by the Dirt Palace to Lu to place her cans in the Palace’s window for the month of October. Prior to the forum, the Steel Yard agreed to loan the cans to Lu and join her in exhibiting them accompanied by mutually agreed upon interpretive content and opportunity for response and comment from the public. We did not hear back from her. Four days after the forum, Lu installed the cans and a collection of documents related to her experience of the process in the Dirt Palace window. Although we would have preferred to be involved in the installation and its content, we look forward to hearing the public’s response as shared through comment cards available at the window. We also hope to add more voices through this online opportunity for conversation. By following this link , we invite you to comment on the cans as public art/street amenity, weigh in on their possible future location, suggest new location possibilities and/or reflect generally on the story of the Olneyville cans. We look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you,
The Board and Staff of the Steel Yard
www.thesteelyard.org
View the ongoing online conversation here: Can conversation
or E-mail us to be added to the conversation.
The Steel Yard is a program of the Woonasquatucket Valley Community Build, a 501(c)3 © 2004
In late 2006, the Steel Yard’s Urban Furniture program (one of a kind, custom- produced street amenities designed and built by RI artists) was contracted by the Olneyville Housing Corporation to produce a series of tree guards and garbage cans for Olneyville. We hired independent artists to produce these amenities, including Lu Heintz. As artists for hire, individuals who work on these projects are contracted to create and sell work to the Steel Yard and we, in turn, re-sell this work to a public client. In this case, the client was OHC, acting as fiscal agent for the Olneyville Merchants Association. After the cans were produced, the client took issue with the content of Lu’s set of four garbage cans, feeling that they were not the product they had contracted for and that certain elements of the design content were not fully representative of their community. The Steel Yard felt obligated to uphold the client's right to reject the product but also felt a strong responsibility to the artist we hired. The artist saw this as a rejection of her work and as a form of censorship. In reflecting on our process, the Steel Yard realized that the cans’ inclusion of text demanded a higher form of approval than we typically undertook. While we could not undo this mistake, we were committed to resolving the issue and facilitated multiple conversations and negotiations that included the Steel Yard, the client and the artist and her spokesperson.
In the end, we were unable to arrive at a mutually agreeable compromise. We upheld the client's right to reject the product while also protecting the artist and her work by pulling the set of cans from the larger order and keeping them at the Steel Yard. It was our belief that if sold to the client, the cans would not be installed. We worked with the artist closely throughout this process and, after puling the cans and in collaboration with Lu Heintz, began to plan a public forum to address some of the issues this experience raised for us because they seemed significant to our community and to our work as a non-profit.
We found ourselves considering new questions about the role of public art on our city streets, individual artists' ability to speak for communities, and the ultimate location of ownership in work done for hire that has an ultimate public purpose. It also served as a reminder of the power of artistic expression in general. In a community where artists are often vocal opponents of sub-standard urban conditions and various political, social, and economic inequalities how does this unique relationship between public and personal expression find a voice that is fair and balanced?
On Tuesday, September 25th at 6 PM, the Steel Yard invited the public to participate in the public forum which we called The Artist and the City: Politics, Public Art and Community. Lu’s cans were exhibited at the Steel Yard for two weeks prior to the event. The forum was structured to present this experience from the perspective of its main stake holders and then use that as a jumping off point to consider the larger questions it has raised for the Steel Yard community, those who buy (and thereby publicly show) our Urban Furniture, and for the ultimate consumer of this relationship: the general public. Our interest was in addressing the role of the artist as activist and community member and in exploring the ways that these roles may be used to open dialogue, promote new ideas and promulgate change. We were interested in having a spirited, engaging event that would encourage audience participation and will strengthen the process of public collaborations between artists and cities.
The forum drew an impressive audience of more than one hundred. Over a period of three hours, Olneyville residents (many of them also artists) and representatives of neighborhood non-profits and businesses aired their grievances with the process to date and shared their desires for the future of Lu’s cans. Almost none of the evening’s discussion focused on the larger questions of public art and the role of artists in community that we had hoped to cover. The Steel Yard was critiqued for the architecture of the forum, for the panel participants selected and for choosing to host the forum at their site. The Steel Yard was asked about and confirmed their interest in seeing the cans installed in the public realm, providing the location was one that made sense for Olneyville-not simply for those in the room that night. A number of specific locations were suggested, one invitation was extended and the artist asked that the cans be donated to a community non-profit. Steel Yard Executive Director Drake Patten told the audience that any final decision made would be taken up with the Steel Yard’s staff and board but invited forum participants to sign up to be involved in further conversations regarding the future of the cans.
In the days that have followed, people continued to discuss issues surrounding the cans on blogs, listserves, via email, in person and by telephone. Some people told Steel Yard staff that they found the atmosphere of the forum to be such that they felt unable to speak publicly about their own concerns and questions. We tried to document these comments and concerns while we (as an organization) also tried to unpack what we learned at the forum, debriefed on the process and began to identify the lessons learned over the many months leading up to the forum. We also began to plan how we could best respond to the multiple voices heard to date as well as those who may still want to be heard.
Not discussed the night of the forum was an invitation made by the Dirt Palace to Lu to place her cans in the Palace’s window for the month of October. Prior to the forum, the Steel Yard agreed to loan the cans to Lu and join her in exhibiting them accompanied by mutually agreed upon interpretive content and opportunity for response and comment from the public. We did not hear back from her. Four days after the forum, Lu installed the cans and a collection of documents related to her experience of the process in the Dirt Palace window. Although we would have preferred to be involved in the installation and its content, we look forward to hearing the public’s response as shared through comment cards available at the window. We also hope to add more voices through this online opportunity for conversation. By following this link , we invite you to comment on the cans as public art/street amenity, weigh in on their possible future location, suggest new location possibilities and/or reflect generally on the story of the Olneyville cans. We look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you,
The Board and Staff of the Steel Yard
www.thesteelyard.org
View the ongoing online conversation here: Can conversation
or E-mail us to be added to the conversation.
The Steel Yard is a program of the Woonasquatucket Valley Community Build, a 501(c)3 © 2004