Post #3484275

2026-06-30 05:51 UTC

Does anyone else feel patronised by art installation pieces in the city with bright colours and lights? They feel like they're supposed to be about "creating an experience for people" more than anything else. And don't get me started on murals 🤮 This isn't to say that I am a public art hater - I love a good piece of public art! But the fact that they are investments on such a larger scale than a lot of other artworks means that it's hard to not see such wasted opportunity when they fall flat. Anybody got any favourite pieces of public art?

Replies (1)

@atriplex@adlsolarpunk.net 2026-06-30 08:18

@FigFan55@adlsolarpunk.net I really like murals when they're done right, lots of radical mural artists and mural traditions I've heard about overseas (e.g. Jacob V. Joyce or the Free Derry wall), and I think some good murals have been done here too like when someone did a giant portrait of Aunty Jenny Munro overlooking where the Redfern tent embassy she was central to had been. Being against murals as a blanket statement doesn't really make sense to me, it's like being against paintings without specifying which type? Definitely they can just as easily be bland corporate-friendly stuff (or outright offensively awful corporate stuff like what was painted on the huge concrete wall of the parking garage at the extended Burnside shopping centre - just a bunch of grey smudges). But I like that they're an opportunity to raise awareness about things, like when they're used for political messages or to showcase native plants and animals that people might not otherwise know about, like at the new car parks in the extended Crafers park n ride...and I also think it's important for the people who don't have a choice about living in or moving through city centres to have access to beauty and colour that isn't trying to sell them something.

Open ##3488859