Artistic practices have long been disturbing the relationships between art and space. They have challenged the boundaries of performer/spectator, of public/private, introduced intervention and installation, ephemerality and performance, and constantly sought out new modes of distressing expectations about what is construed as art. But when we expand the world in which we look at art, how does this change our understanding of critical artistic practice? This book presents a global perspective on the relationship between art and the city. International and leading scholars and artists themselves present critical theory and practice of contemporary art as a politicised force. It extends thinking on contemporary arts practices in the urban and political context of protest and social resilience and offers the prism of a ‘critical artscape’ in which to view the urgent interaction of arts and the urban politic. The global appeal of the book is established through the general topic as well as the specific chapters, which are geographically, socially, politically and professionally varied. Contributing authors come from many different institutional and anti-institutional perspectives from across the world. This will be valuable reading for those interested in cultural geography, urban geography and urban culture, as well as contemporary art theorists, practitioners and policymakers.

Public sculpture is a major draw in today’s cities, and nowhere is this more the case than in New York. In the Big Apple, urban art has become synonymous with the municipal “brand,” highlighting the metropolis as vibrant, creative, tolerant, orderly, and above all, safe. Sculpture in Gotham tells the story of how the City of New York came to be committed to public art patronage beginning in the mid-1960s. In that era of political turbulence, cultural activists and city officials for a time shifted away from traditional monuments, joining forces to sponsor ambitious sculptural projects as an instrument for urban revitalization. Focusing on specific people, agencies and organizations, and both temporary and permanent projects, from the 1960s forward, Michele H. Bogart reveals the changing forms and meanings of municipal public art. Sculpture in Gotham illustrates how such shifts came about at a time when art theories and styles were morphing markedly, and when municipalities were reeling from racial unrest, economic decline, and countercultural challenges—to culture as well as the state. While sculptural installations on New York City property took time and were not without controversy, Gotham’s processes and policies produced notable results, providing precedents and lessons for cities the world over.

Tells the stories behind Baltimore's monuments. From the twentieth-century sculpture of the Inner Harbor's Baltimore Renaissance to the nineteenth-century splendor of Mount Vernon Place, this work invites us to see Baltimore in a fresh perspective.

Bogart (art history, State University of New York, Stony Brook) explores how New York's celebrated municipal sculptures were supported, who created them, and why the majority of significant pieces were sponsored and produced between 1890 and 1920. Accounts of the most significant commissions (including NYPL) examine the institutional structure and organizational framework of public art patronage and production and document the complicated maneuvering for commissions. Illustrated with bandw photos. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

As the financial capital of the British Empire, the City commissioned imposing statues of those who had made it what it was. More surprising is the wealth of architectural sculpture, including the friezes of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the most important of the 'New Sculpture'.

A delightful collection of creatures that adorn New York City buildings. Companion to Faces in Stone, this is a gift-sized and attractively priced book for architecture buffs. It features more than one hundred imaginative sculptural details, from the domestic to the fantastic, with a brief introduction and contextual photos to show the building on which each ornament appears, the addresses, and transportation information.