INSIDE ON CAMPUS

University introduces new public art program on campus

Andrée Bober

The university is embarking on a new public art program to bring unique landmarks to the main campus.

Andrée Bober in the College of Fine Arts has been named director of the program and is already developing plans.

The program will be funded by the university’s Art in Public Spaces policy, which set as its funding goal 1-2 percent of the capital costs of all new construction and major renovation on the main campus for public art.

Private contributions and foundation support will supplement the construction allocation.

While public art has existed on campus since 1927 there has never been a comprehensive policy or acquisition plan, therefore the existing public art lacks the cohesiveness of campuses with more sustained programs.

“This is the first time there has been a formal effort to think about issues of public art on campus as a university-wide concern,” Bober said.

The planning process will focus on four main areas. These are: setting goals and priorities; establishing key locations and opportunities; outlining program structure and staffing requirements; and determining operating policies and procedures.

“Over the next year we will determine the program’s shape and how to bring works of the highest aesthetic merit to the university,” Bober said. “One goal is to change the culture of how people think about public art, to make it an integral part of the planning process from the outset of building projects.”

Bober is working with Peter Walker Partners, the same firm hired to restructure Speedway and the east mall, to develop an art site plan. It will consider opportunities for the placement of works of art and should be completed in early 2008.

“The plan looks into the future and corresponds to the campus master plan,” Bober said. “Part of that plan will consider relocations and deaccessions of works over time.”

An advisory committee will likely be established to develop proposals before they are submitted for review. Bober hopes this process will set a curatorial approach to the effort.

“I’m imagining monumental and intimate pieces, ephemeral and site specific works that integrate with buildings and landscape design,” she said.

Bober said some of the great university public art programs started in the past 20 years, which means the University of Texas at Austin isn’t far behind.

“There is a real opportunity if this is sustained over a 10-year period that UT will be able to count itself among the best programs in the country,” she said. “This program is the beginning of a new era.”

For more information about the public art program contact Bober at abober@mail.utexas.edu.

Andrée Bober has been a curator and arts administrator for the past 15 years. She has led two principal projects in the two and a half years she has worked for the College of Fine Arts, the development of a graduate portfolio and master’s degree program in Museum Studies and initiation of a project to publish a catalogue and Web site that will introduce the public to the object-based collections at the university. She will continue her involvement with these projects as she directs the art program.