Constructing Public Memory or “Opportunities for Relatedness” through Art and Culture-led Urban Regeneration

• In Event: Visual Rhetoric in the United States and Eurasia: The Interplay of History, Memory and Place

Abstract

Arts councils and departments of culture, in both the U.S. and Europe tell policy makers that the arts are not only valuable in themselves, but for their contribution to the economy, urban regeneration and social inclusion. However, both artists and policy makers debate whether public art produced under social arts policy can deliver on expectations. Critics of art policy often use the Millennium Dome of the Greenwich Peninsula to illustrate a failed large-scale project that lacked cultural vision and only attracted half the forecasted number of visitors (Mirza, 2006). Supporters of large scale public art projects cite Chicago’s Millennium Park as a crowning achievement of urban planning. Perhaps some of the debate over the success of a public art project stems from flawed research methods used to measure social impacts—attempts at measuring the “unmeasurable.” One of the most recent and controversial urban regeneration strategies is West Bromwich’s The Public designed by Will Alsop, a £40 million community arts centre in England and one of the largest of its kind. The Public is an interesting case in terms of public memory because though it is an arts center of international attention it seeks to 1) include local community art exhibitions and craft demonstrations, 2) celebrate West Bromwich's history with displays about local parks and memorials and cinematic footage of past events and 3) explore ways in which The Public can further help local groups.
This paper focuses on The Public to examine the ways community arts centers play a role in constructing and maintaining public memory and identity through visual expression. It also attempts to measure the impact of culture-led transformation, not through traditional methods of statistical social evidence, but from a perspective of urban regeneration or healing. The paper argues that if a community wishes to create an environment of visual expression in order to “lift the spirit” attention must focus on “opportunities for relatedness.”

Authors

• Kelly Martin, North Carolina State University

• Victoria Gallagher, North Carolina State University