THE SCHUYLKILL RIVER PARK PUBLIC ART PROCESS:
AN ETHNOGRAPHIC FOCUS ON
A PHILADELPHIA URBAN PARK'S
DEVELOPMENT
Alex Baker is presently Curator of Contemporary
Art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
His interests include public art, both sanctioned and illicit;
installation art; art world institutional politics; and the aesthetics
of human-made geography. Baker recently curated the first solo
museum exhibition by New York self-taught artist Phil Frost, who
creates mixed-media paintings and sculpture utilizing an array
of found objects and images which he painstakingly decorates with
arabesque patterns using correction fluid. At the Institute of
Contemporary Art (ICA), Baker curated "East Meets West: Folk
and Fantasy from the Coasts," which showcased six young artists
from San Francisco and Philadelphia whose work is influenced by
or resonates with art outside of the contemporary art world, or
who are them selves self-taught. At ICA, he also curated "Indelible
Market: Barry McGee, Stephen Powers, and Todd James," which
featured murals, drawings, an installation of an urban cornerstore
and outdoor billboards by three renowned graffiti writers in a
tongue-in-cheek critique of the postindustrial city. The exhibition
traveled to the 2001 Venice Biennale. Finally, at ICA, Baker curated
"Sticker Shock: Artists' Stickers," which featured the
work of over thirty artists from around the world who create self-adhesive
art works using a variety of means. He has written for publications
accompanying each of these exhibitions and an essay will be featured
in issue 29 of Tokion magazine. Baker has presented papers
at the American Anthropology Association Annual Meeting (1998),
the Cranbrook Academy of Art (1997), and Kelly Writer's House,
University of Pennsylvania (2000).
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
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TITLE
PAGE
ABSTRACT
and ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
LIST
OF FIGURES AND TABLES
CHAPTERS
1.
INTRODUCTION
The Research Site and
Urban Context
Contributions to Anthropology and Theoretical Background
Dissertation Organization and summary
Autobiography and Methodology
2. THE
SOCIAL PRODUCTION OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND THE LANDSCAPE OF
CONSUMPTION
The Social Production
of the Built Environment
The Landscape of Consumption
3.
A CRITICAL OVERVIEW OF PUBLIC ART
Percent-for-Art Programs
of the 1960s
Site-Specific Public Art and Controversy
The Ideology of Public Art and Urban Redevelopment
Theorizing the "Public" in "Public Art"
4. THE
URBAN HISTORICAL CONTEXT: PHILADELPHIA, REDEVELOPMENT, AND PUBLIC
ART
Philadelphia's Rise: Industrial Growth and Public Art
Philadelphia's Decline: Redevelopment and the Post-War Years
Public Art and Postindustrial Redevelopment
The Present and Prospect for the Future
5.
THE RESEARCH SITE: NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEXT AND SCHUYLKILL RIVER PARK
DEVELOPMENT, PAST AND PRESENT
Historical Overview of the Schuylkill Neighborhood
The Neighborhood and Schuylkill River Park Today
The Development of Schuylkill River Park
6.
THE PUBLIC ART PLAN
Planning and Formulation
of Guidelines for the Selection of Public Art
Discussing Public Art Possibilities
Public Art Themes for SRP and Potential Park Users
Guidelines for the Selection of Public Art
Selecting the Semi-Finalists
The Public Art Process: Where was the Community?
An Analysis of the Public Art Process as Collective Activity
Proposed Public Art Projects for SRP and Context on the Artists
Mierle Laderman Ukeles
Stacy Levy and Winifred Lutz
7.
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
CITED