Public Art, evening talk

Public Art talk
10th November 2016, 7pm – 10pm
108 East Street (next to Perry’s art shop) SO14 3HD

We are having an evening to talk about public art in Southampton. There’s been a lot of interest in public art in the city recently, with K6 Gallery taking over old phone boxes, zany zebras getting residents out there looking at work by local artists, and the Southampton Fringe commissioning and encouraging some new art interventions.

Public art is nothing new of course. It has been happening in the city for years and there were times when considerable investment was made, commissioning artists to work in the public realm on projects that had a high profile. Alex Batten from K6 Gallery has been busy collecting information about public art (post-war until now) to help Southampton Cultural Development Trust build the picture of what has happened to date in the city. Katie Daley-Yates from Host Productions is working with a space arts on a more coordinated approach to the public art commissioning that happens as part of planning permissions for new development. They will both tell us more about their work. We will also be hearing from a number of local artists that have specialised in public art and having a joint discussion about the what next for public art in Southampton.

The Southampton Pride of Place Project is in the city for the whole on November, offering an evolving gallery space to explore the identity of the city. What better time to have an evening of discussion dedicated to public art and its future?

We hope that the event will raise awareness of the support for public art in the city and explore how the arts community can come together to encourage more commissioning. This is not a ‘consultation’, this is local people coming together to explore the issue together. What comes out of it depends on what happens on the night.

This event is jointly hosted and run by K6 Gallery, The Caravan Gallery and Dangerous Ideas Southampton. You can just turn up, no need to book. Drinks will be available, although you are welcome to bring your own. It is a free event, but we welcome any donations to enable events like this to happen.