An essay commenting on a small portion of Public Art in Edinburgh using New Genre Public Art as a foundation of discussion.

1. New Genre Public Art is in the Air
Posted on October 27, 2011 by Relay Zine
‘New Genre Public Art is in the air,
What does Edinburgh have to offer?’
byCatriona Black
I have lived in Edinburgh for 10 years now, as a student, a „professional‟ and as a student again. Every
August I see an influx of tourists, new students and an array of independents and galleries producing
and exhibiting. The Edinburgh Fringe, International Festival and Edinburgh Arts Festival coordinate
shows ranging from comedy, theatre, music, the visual arts and more. A perfect time to offer residents
and tourists a wider cultural view of the arts?
Edinburgh of course offers an abundance of „art‟ throughout the year from the National Galleries and
Museums, the independent galleries, organizations and permanent monuments scattered throughout the
city. Examples include, Ian Hamilton Finlay and Peter Randal Page sculptures in Hunters Square,
Eduardo Paolozzi‟s sculpture at the foot of Leith walk and the recently installed Antony Gormley
sculptures of the Water of Leith, 6 Times, not to mention the historical monuments of Scotland‟s
greats.
But what does Edinburgh offer in terms of non-traditional „public art‟, what goes beyond sculpture and
installation in the streets of Edinburgh?
Public art has extended its field in the last two decades, as acts of activism and social conscience have
integrated into the creation and production of public art. „Place‟ in terms of Public Art is no longer
cemented in location and the physical area in which the sculpture or work may inhabit. ”New Genre
Public Art” is a term coined by Suzanne Lacey in the early 90‟s as a call to re-define and question site
specificity and public production of public art.
Public Initiative art is bound in communication and community-based production of art. New Genre is
a “visual art that uses both traditional and non traditional media to communicate and interact with a
broad and diversified audience about issues directly relevant to their lives – is based on engagement.”
[1]
Monuments are built to inspire and „plonk‟ art into the everyday pathways of Edinburgh‟s residents.
Art‟s aims to actively engage with its public has recognized value in street arts such as interactive
installations and graffiti and guerilla street art. In the development of New Genre, street arts have
become more widely acceptable and given value. Eleanor Heartney argues that New Genre is not a
movement but has instead paved a way for existing art such as intervention and activist graffiti works,
which voices the concerns of the city and seeks to engage.
Edinburgh has various community arts based organisation such as ArtLink[2] and CraigmillarArts, that
socially engage and use art as a means of communication and education. “In the 90‟s the role of the
public art has shifted from that of renewing the physical environment to that of improving society,
from promoting aesthetic quality to contributing to the quality of life, from enriching lives to saving
lives”[3]
Such organizations are to be applauded as they actively engage with the particular „group‟ they intend
to help. But we must be clear that the artistic outcome or content is not entirely vital. Itis in no way to
be undervalued, but in my opinion it is more about the act of participation and education through
workshops and such like, and not about the artists expression and statement, however self indulgent
that may be.

2. It could be argued that the Edinburgh Arts Festival drives to improve the audience‟s knowledge of the
arts and offer a broad spectrum of mediums. The EAF brings much to the city and I sense the city has
become reliant on it, to provide financially particularly through tourism. The organisation branches off
into various hubs, the visual art is an area that runs with the pack. The visual arts is alive and well
throughout the year in such non-profit gallery spaces such as the Fruitmarket, Stills Gallery and
initiatives such as Big Things on The Beach.
Big Things on the Beach is an Edinburgh Public Arts Initiative based in Portabello, formed in 2003 by
a group of residents „to explore the potential of the seafront as a site for engagement with public
artworks by both emerging and established artists‟[4].
Big things on the Beach had become a staple of Portabello, Edinburgh, commissioning various „out
there‟ works to draw in the local and wider Edinburgh community. I must point out that this „public‟
run initiative makes an active commitment to encourage and engage with the community, established
on a mode of democracy and engagement.
The Garden Project of 2008 [Figure 1] had ties with the Amber Roome Contemporary Arts, as
administrators and curators who have publicity ties to the Edinburgh Arts Festival. The organisation
has the means and commercial reputation to draw the wider public to Portabello by the EAF distributed
program.
The Garden Gallery Project and Big Things on the Beach as charities epitomize the democratic nature
of New Genre Public Art. How successful they are in terms of the quality of artwork on view can be
left to opinion, as well as whether the work itself challenges perceptions. The apparent issue-specific
undertone was the collaboration between artists and residents but nothing deeper was
communicated. But the foundation of the project was a successful engagement with the residents and
collaborations with local artists.
Content vs. the Ideal
An exhibition spanning the Portabello streets of the shore actively encourages participation. So does
showcasing contemporary artwork in the gardens of the residents of Portabello. The project in theory
encourages the audience to seek out the artwork and to engage with residents and the area of
Portabello. Simultaneously acting „in public‟ and as a source of tourism. I am sure over the past 2
decades Edinburgh has not glossed over the „movement‟ or „recognition‟ of New Genre Public Art as
Portabello‟s Big Things on The Beach shows.
Public art as activism, or reaction to social, economic and political issues is somewhat somber in
Edinburgh‟s city streets. Few organisation-mothered artists have fought to deal with issues of great
importance to the residents of Edinburgh. Perhaps a naive outlook from myself; artists wishing to
grapple with public art are instantly labeled and put to use in a social work context. Whilst such
organizations as ArtLink and Craigmillar Arts successfully venture into community-sited art work to
challenge the social issues of mental health and youth in poorer areas of Edinburgh and the suburbs
with little recognition, they are not driven my the art work itself to challenge and provoke ideas but the
act of participation itself.
Staying with the month of August and the influx of the festival, I recall the Protestors stage
Guantánamo human rights demonstration [Figure 3] outside St John‟s Church, Edinburgh‟s Princess
Street in August 2010. The volunteers of the Festival of Spirituality and Peace took part in a living
instillation by dressing in uniforms, commonly associated with Guantánamo Bay prisoners stood
silently and still outside the church to highlight the human rights abuse.

3. A living, participatory [if desired] public art instillation performance. A refreshing show of visual
activism in Edinburgh, „Culture in action‟ is alive.
Would this project have been successful in a rural town, probably not, but why not? Would this have
been as successful at any other time than August Festival month in Edinburgh, unlikely? Such projects
rely on commercialism and publicity and sheer number of residents and tourists to Edinburgh in this
one-month of the year. Perhaps activism now needs such commercialised areas and festivals to
disseminate the message to a wider public. Site specificity is not reliant for the project, but it is
responsive issue-specific.
Reactionary
Gillian McIver introduced the term and definition of Site Responsive Art[5] – For me the description
helps in defining the impact and reception of certain work. Reactionary and responsive is favored by
me as it incorporates the environment and sociology. Less defined are the public works „plunk art‟ that
can be intrusive and negotiable on function to the environment, but are still specific to the landscape in
which they sit. Antony Gormely as discussed in my previous paper is reliant on its site for
meaning. Without the site, the piece lacks means of engagement. It can be argued that it enhances the
public area in which it sits, an added extra, to give interest to the public, a paternalistic piece of
artwork. Whether it is successful is hard for me to say, as it is engaging if you have the motivation to
walk this „enhanced‟ tourist trail, the National Galleries of Scotland have used there funding well as I
am sure the Gormley trail will increase in popularity and in turn increase numbers and popularity to the
NGS where the trail begins.
Site specificity has a plurality about it; it can be static, positively showing the public what it is, full
frontal and intrusive in a „look at me‟ approach. But also reactionary, a reaction to the space and to
interact and explore the space through some sort of adventurous display of an art trails. It could even
come down to a tourist trail. Edinburgh achieves the execution of public art well, through the festivals,
through tourist trails and interjecting sculpture into the pathways of its everyday residents. But this is
all organized, commercial and paternalistic use of funding in the production of public art. What
Edinburgh lacks, are interventions, and guerilla style art. This does not „fit‟ in with the general
historical aesthetic of the city, the protection and conservation of the city is key to allowance of public
art. Does it „fit‟ in? Portabello are living life a little on the edge as the abandoned fair ground has the
beginnings of an elaborate display of artist expression through stenciling and tagging. The people who
graffiti are giving value to the buildings they decorate, experimenting with what „New Genre‟ is all
about.
Site-Specificity fits more neatly into that of land art, actual physical location work, like that of Charles
Jencks, 2001, Landform in the grounds of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art National. For
me, the subject is specific and reactionary to the actual location, the „place‟.
Modes
In MiwonKwon‟s “Public Art as Publicity” she discusses the 4 various modes of communication of
how public art is solicited and produced in urban societies. Kwon references the ideals and articulations
of the forms of the public sphere when discussing Jürgen Habermas[6] and Raymond Williams‟s
theories of urbanism and authority.

4. [7]The four modes of communication:
•Authoritarian: The government ruling at its peak of control and censorship. “It represses and
excludes those ideas that threaten its authority.”
•Paternalistic: Is “authoritarian with a conscience.” It is the mothering mode of communication;
mother knows best. This mode is driven by a sense of responsibility and to do what will be best.
•Commercial: “the commercial mode relies on the free market as a basis for providing the necessary
freedom for all to publish and read what they choose.” There is an undertone of instating control
through the power of information corporations and the puppeteers.
•Democratic: Is an Ideal. It follows the ideal of the individual contribution and participation. “Allows
independent groups licensed to use publicly owned means of communication … what is produced is
decided by those who produce it.”
Kwon discusses the Public Sphere and the city boundaries that close it. “A kind of arena or location
defined by spatial boundaries with an inside that can be occupied. Public sphere is a
„somewhere‟”[8]. She discusses that the bourgeois public sphere is born as a social and political form.
I think these definitions are important to acknowledge as it can aid in understanding the social context,
boundaries of artists and their reacting to the city in a particular way. Kwon calls for us to think of
public art as a form of “communicative practices or forms of public address“. The freedom of
expression through activist based art or any given statement can be seen in such cities as Glasgow,
Berlin and Chicago through the appropriation and even in some cases encouragement to produce
„spontaneous‟ art. Edinburgh as a city, a hub of creation only seems to flourish once a year.
Kwon and Williams quite specific labelling of the modes of communication enable us to breakdown
and understand the motivation and foundation of much public art when in the transition or in creation
of the public sphere. From my interpretation kwon and Williams would like to pigeonhole particular
acts or groups, states of government and council into these categories. It is essential to understand each
mode of communication, but to say they are one or the other does not sit with me. I prefer to say, in
Edinburgh‟s case, and perhaps as a sweeping generalisation the UK, encompass each of the modes of
communication. The motivation and bureaucracy lie with all four labels. How does this relate to
Edinburgh? Well we could take the Edinburgh International Festival as an example. A mix of so
called paternalistic, authoritarian and commercial bodies and profiteers. It‟s only when cutting down to
the individual shows, or the free shows in the EIF does it come down to art by and for the public, i.e.,
Big Things on the Beach. It is a tiered system with the essential outcome of publicity as a means of
future production.

5. I start to whirl when we come into the subject of public art in urban space. As the birth of New Genre
Public Art and culture in action seek to redefine public art I feel it is localized and in itself only an
urbanized term. The renaming/development of site specificity, to issue-specific, audience-specific and
then, community-specific is building bridges to other areas of public art.
Community-specific is a term I do not favor, I would almost solely use audience-specific, but this too
can even marginalize the viewers as a pre determined „group‟.
The word community as Miwon Kwon writes of in her book One Place After Another, is a highly
ambiguous term; it almost has become a term that marginalizes and stereotypes, it connotes with
disenfranchised areas of urban life. In terms of public art becoming about improving society,
elevating the voices of those not heard, in defining the projects functions to gain support and funding
from government and institutional bodies, these „communities‟ are part of social categorizing.
Bureaucracy of New Genre Public Art
For most cities as well as Edinburgh, improving and upholding the status of art can be key. Some
chose to encourage public art, particularly through the youth of the urban area. Providing graffiti
walls, which encourage legal expression, however some say they dampen the original message, is still a
step forward by the government and councils. Acknowledging visual acclimations and protests. In
Edinburgh we have 6 legal graffiti walls[9], 2 of which are in the city centre, [Figure 4] but somewhat
still hidden secrets and not on tourist foot trails. What provokes art to be funded in Edinburgh? I
suggest the biggest consideration from my own observations is that it is dependant on permanency [if
any] and will it adhere to the public architecture and design aesthetic?
Who is the public?[10]
Well Edinburgh is quite a transitional city, full of seasonal travelers, students and academics, but is
maintained by workers in retail and the economic employers. Once again I will turn to the tourist
trade, steady all year round but becomes mainstream in August every year when numbers triple.
In terms of art audience, I shall cite my own review[11] of Stills Gallery 3 year seasonal exhibition
Social Documents: Ethical Encounters Part 1. I am sure we can argue that the non profit gallery is or
isn‟t part of the public sphere, but the intentions of this paper, I want to raise the issue of not the gallery
space in which the exhibit is located, but the point of audience. In a recent interview with Kirsten
Lloyd, curator, she stated that the exhibition was seasonal and timed with Edinburgh‟s winter months
to coincide with the art students and academics of the city. The documentary based exhibition has
quite visually challenging social issues exploring human, animal, sexual, primal behavior and should
be available to all as such work is rarely ever shown in a mainstream cinema context [with exception of
Frederick Wiseman as his documentaries where developed for Public Access Television]. Lloyd
herself stated the work was not for mainstream audiences of the festival variety. Perhaps she is right as
Kirsten has a wealth of experience and knowledge of the topic. But I question, why not? It may not
pull in the crowds needed for „success‟ but surely attempting to challenge a broader audience and
introducing such challenging work is entirely worth the risk, perhaps adapting the reception of work to
appear more mainstream through display of the work may appeal more widely, but then again are the
festival viewers wishes to be enlightened by beautiful aesthetics and not the harsh social realities of the
world around us?

6. Questions arise of why can the general public not „handle‟ such work. The non-profit commercial
gallery strikes again. Is Edinburgh residents and tourists being censored by the hierarchy of galleries
and organizations?
Edinburgh‟s interaction with commercialism is by part a way of survival and maintaining its reputation
as an arts hub, dictated by festivals and the guardians of the city. Artistic functionalism has been
exchanged for art to act as a medium to „save‟ communities. Site-specificity has developed and
incorporates beliefs and social activities. Edinburgh has embraced New Genre, in a very organized,
controlled manner. Activism is somber and lacks spontaneity in the streets of Edinburgh. The
unanswered questions are remaining unanswered as they are continually developing as more and more
questions arise. But the main question that I always ask myself in terms of Edinburgh; can‟t we handle
more, „difficult art‟? I think we can, but its just doesn‟t fit with Edinburgh public aesthetic.
[1]Miwon Kwon, One Place After Another; site-specific art and locational identity, MIT, 2004, Page
105, Chapter 4.
[2] http://www.artlinkedinburgh.co.uk/projects/
[3]Miwon Kwon, One Place After Another; site-specific art and locational identities, MIT 2004, Page
111, Chapter 4, citation 40 from Mary Jane Jacob, “outside the loop”, in culture in action, 56.
[4] http://www.bigthingsonthebeach.org.uk/c-2008-garden-gallery/39-garden-gallery-introduction
[5] Gillian McIver, Art/Site An Introduction to Art as Site-Response,
http://www.sitespecificart.org.uk/1.htm
[6] Cited from MiwonKwon‟s essay Public art as Publicity; [1]JurgenHabermas, The Structural
Transformation of the Public Sphere (1962), trans. Thomas Burger with Frederick Lawrence
(Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1989)
[7]Four modes of communication: from MiwonKwon‟s essay Public Art as Publicity; [The essay has
been published in: Simon Sheikh (Ed.), In the Place of the Public Sphere? On the establishment of
publics and counter-publics, Berlin: b_books 2005]
http://www.republicart.net/disc/publicum/kwon01_en.htm
[8] http://www.republicart.net/disc/publicum/kwon01_en.htm
[9] Legal Graffiti walls: http://www.legalwalls.net/#lat=55.94475075105143&lng=-
3.1853481640625025&zoom=10
[10]Art Review, Transmission, 2009, Proposal for London 2012 Olympic Park, Paul Fryer – “who is
the public?”
[11] http://catrionablackdinham.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/documentary-and-art-edinburgh-curator-
challenges-traditional-gallery-format/