Public art is essentially a spatial question.  This asks what is spatial about public amidst the increasingly fragmented ideas of space and public(s) that occupy differentiated but parallel trans-local and trans-global positions.  Art can bring a visibility to the conditions at hand both far away and up close.  For the artist working in public is about developing a thought.  Turning that thought into action or thinking in action, at some point some kind of form will emerge and bring a visibility that thought process.  The challenge is how do we make this radical?

Mick O?Kelly is an artist.  He lectures in Fine Art Sculpture in NCAD. It is currently doing a PhD with Interface at the University of Ulster Northern Ireland.

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