Seattle and Raleigh-Durham marketing, graphic and brand design studio Design Kompany

Mixed feelings after two full days to let the things DK heard five dozen or so public art administrators and artists say at John Boylan’s roundtable conversation on public art sink in.

I haven’t been in a roomful of so many people so interested in public art since… well, ever.

Median age of about 45, I’d say, this was a group that had been a lot of places, and done a lot of things.

Like Burning Man, which came up half a dozen times as an example of how people can make public art as an experiment. To which a handful of people volleyed that the desert expo is just a massive gallery for a self-selecting group. DK has never been to Burning Man, though there was a 45% chance we might’ve back in 2000 when we were in Denver. Hanging out in Colorado, killing time before The Next Big Thing. Which turned out to be Ireland. Another story.

The thing about this discussion was there was not a lot of bite, at least while I was there (from 6:30pm to 9pm). There was disagreement, sure, but it wasn’t the kind of passionate flare-up that you’d see where people talk over each other like they would on the East Coast. You’d get respectful banter and hazing, and you’d have multiple tracks as well as yelling. But not in a mean way, just in an exclamatory one. I was kinda hoping for more inflammation and debate. Seattle is so… nice.

I got to ask my question, though. If you know DK you know we like the simple questions. “Why does public art matter to each of you?” I wondered aloud to the group of 60 or so people gathered around this topic on a lovely Seattle evening. “Why does it matter?”

Here are some responses I recall that stuck:

• “Because we love art!”
• At it’s best, art is meaning. Public art is meaning embedded in people’s everyday lives.
• Art in public allows you to “see” with all five senses. You can be there fully. And it’s surprising—it’s unexpected.
• We are bombarded with so much imagery every day, most of it with an agenda to entice us to consume. Public art doesn’t have that agenda. It’s art purely for an aesthetic experience.
• In the world of architecture, great buildings make people feel good.

The whole thing reminded me of why DK organized Flourish, to ask, “What is the role of the artist?” Asking the big questions, the metaphysical ones, the what does it all mean stuff of universal particles and all that postmodern jazz.

What do you think? What makes public art interesting? Why should it matter? What are artists’ responsibilities?