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Making decisions about public art -

the relevance of Community OR: examples from Tokyo Elizabeth Norman and John Norman sculpture, architectural objects and street fu mi tu re, and they should play an important role in creating a

Some of the most successful pu b/ic art sites in Tokyo are products of the art director system, in which one person is

unique city by expressing the tradition and envi-

in charge. Such a system may not work so well in the

ronment of the given area'.

UK, where people may expect to be consulted about the decision makin,c process. The key issues of community O R a re s im i/a r to the key issu es of pu h/ic art, and Community OR experience could benefit public art practice.

-ooDoo-

Public art is art made public. As sculpture, public

art occupies public space and often it is permanently

fixed, either to outdoor pedestals or to buildings. Traditionally, its purpose has been either commem-

oration (statues of the famous) or ornamentation. More recently, its purpose has sometimes become

linked with urban politics and policies, and not just with civic service and pride. In part, this has been the result of an increased accountability for the way in which private and public funds are used, but also because public art has come to play a role in projects concerned with urban regeneration, image building and the enhancement of real estate.

Figure 1: Statuary in a Tokyo park

Four public art projects in Tokyo Many cities in Japan have indeed tried to create a unique city in exactly this way, by placing art works

in public places, but not very successfully, in that the selection and placing has been done without any sense of a long term objective to be attained. Thus in !-lachioji, a city in Greater Tokyo, (as a representative of the City's Lifestyle and Culture Division wrote to us) 'there is no particular strategy

Two issues are addressed in this article: first, how successful a part can public art play in this role, and second, how might public art be best managed in such a role? We have chosen examples from Tokyo because this city is rich in public art. Public art may be merely the latest of Japan's many cultural borrowings from the west, but Japan has recently taken to it with such enthusiasm that some commentators are calling public art the country's newest art.

of the placing and selection of sculpture, nor restric-

tions for the proposed sites or types of sculpture'. Hachioji's public art gives the viewer an impression of a rather indiscriminate collection of work, placed

without purpose. It is no surprise to see one piece (Figure 2) used as a reading desk and as an object

The role of public art

to park a bicycle against.

Many Japanese people hold the traditional view of public art, reinforced by such works as the ubiquitous nude statuary found near railway stations, in parks and in front of public buildings (Figure 1). A more sophisticated view has been expressed by the

lt might be thought that this lack of strategy in public art might be confined to the suburbs, but

even