Cambodia – During a slow-moving ride through traffic in a tuk-tuk—a motorcycle taxi with an attached open cart for passengers—one has ample opportunity to survey the bland and decorative public art of Cambodia’s cities. It’s the kind of art that can be seen in most cities anywhere on the globe. Cambodia’s tends toward realistic and … Read More

In late 2010, movers transported a small, decrepit house from one part of Houston’s Fifth Ward district to another, setting the condemned domicile onto an open lot on Lyons Ave. By the following summer, Houston-based artists Dan Havel and Dean Ruck were hard at work, reconstructing—or rather deconstructing—the humble pink abode into what Ruck calls … Read More

Every year Forecast is amazed by the talented artists and innovative ideas that are proposed through our annual grant program. We want to thank all of our applicants for their hard work and creative concepts. We would also like to thank our independent selection panel for taking on the challenging task of selecting grantees. Congratulations … Read More

Seitu Jones, a public artist based in St. Paul, Minn., was awarded the prestigious Joyce Award on Monday, February 4th. The $50,000 award, from the Joyce Foundation, is given annually to fund new works by artists of color. Jones will collaborate with Public Art St. Paul to create The Community Meal, a dinner with 2,000 guests that … Read More

Food has always been one of the firmest definers of place. Cheese-steak sandwiches, pit beef, and deep-dish pizza are edible shorthand for Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Chicago. Iowa is about corn and Maine is about lobster. But food has subtler and more complex connections to place. It can be a part of rituals that hallow a … Read More

Turku, Finland – The tugboat Autere cruised down the Aura River through Turku, Finland’s oldest city and first capital, headed to nearby Ruissalo Island. For “Capsula: Curated Expedition to the Baltic Sea,” our group of two dozen mostly artists and teachers made several stops along the way to see and hear marine-related installations. Here was … Read More

World – Public art today is a rapidly growing and evolving field. Each project embodies a unique convergence of time and place, artist and community, style and approach, vision and actualization. Yet public art lacks evaluative studies, in-depth research, and comparative data to serve the expanding field worldwide. Likewise, information about high-caliber projects in different cities and countries is not broadly accessible across … Read More

Tania Bruguera is a Cuban-born international artist working to discover how art can actively influence politics rather than merely comment on them. Her most recent project, Immigrant Movement International, functions as a community and advocacy center for immigrants in Queens, New York. Recently awarded Southern Methodist University’s Meadows Prize for pioneering artists, Bruguera talks in … Read More

In a series of conversations with fifteen individuals, from artists to art historians to “expert participants,” Tom Finkelpearl, executive director of the Queens Museum of Art, explores “socially cooperative art.” Interviewees describe varying participatory practices, challenges and intentions, and the difficulty of finding suitable language with which to talk about this form of art. In … Read More

World – On a cargo bicycle converted into a traveling taco stand—complete with solar oven and rocket stove—artist Nance Klehm rode through the back roads and margins of Copenhagen, Denmark. While exploring gardens and back alleys, she gathered food. As soon as she had enough foraged, bartered, and donated ingredients to start cooking, she made … Read More