The Effect of Public Art on Public Spaces. Poets, Worms and Street Art

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject Sociology - Habitation and Urban Sociology, University of Otago (Geography), course: Geography, language: English, abstract: This research will explore the effect public artworks have on public space in the city of Dunedin in New Zealand. For a small city, Dunedin has a fairly vibrant public art scene. There is a mixture of street art, sculptures and statues placed in many parts of the city's open spaces. This research will focus on three main public artworks in Dunedin, which are, the Robert Burns statue in the Octagon, the Worm sculpture in the Botanic Gardens, and street art around Bond and Vogel streets in Dunedin's Warehouse Precinct. While all of these types of artworks can be interactive in some way, a key issue is how different types of interaction with public art might shape the experiences of public spaces in different ways. For example, the street art which is gaining popularity in Dunedin's Bond and Vogel streets would not be interactive in the same manner as using touch to interact with sculptures such as the Ouroubrous which is colloquially known as the Worm sculpture in the Botanic Gardens (Note: this dissertation will refer to it as "Worm sculpture¿). Street art by local and international artists around city walls of Dunedin reveal powerful images which can make people contemplate art or specific social or political issues whereas sculptures might form a more physical effect such as using body movements to reveal emotions (Hawkins, 2013; Pile, 2010). Choosing specific examples of public artworks from statues to street art, this research will explore how public art contributes to public space.