Exeter City Council has commissioned Art Work Exeter to produce an ambitious Public Art Strategy for the city. This strategy will be launched in September 2022 and will review and reflect upon site-specific artworks commissioned in Exeter to date, with a view to influencing the way forward and leading towards a clear strategy and public art policy.
We would like to find out your views on existing and past artworks in public spaces in Exeter. What works would you like to see in future in the city? How would you like commissioning of art in public spaces to be undertaken? What involvement would you like to have in this process?
When we talk about Public Art, we are considering it in these main ways:
1. Art in public places, for example: permanent statues or artworks like the Angel of the North, or temporary interventions as part of a series or festival;
2. Art as public space: when artists collaborate with other professionals and members of the public on the design, function and meaning of buildings and places;
3. Socially-engaged practice: when individual members of the public or a specific group is meaningfully involved in making an artwork or art project of any kind with professional artists.
A great resource showing Public Art in the city (currently being reviewed and updated) is the Exeter Memories website:
http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_art/art_monuments.phpFor a more technical read, there were Commissioning Guidelines published in 2017, which triggered the process for this Strategy consultation activity (document currently held by inexeter):
https://www.inexeter.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Exeter-Public-Art-Commissioning-Guidance-September-2017-18.pdf