VENICE ART STOPS. Contemporary art in the public space: projects and externalities

Abstract

This essay investigates the possibilities for a Public Art project in Venice and its feasibility, with an analysis over the positive impact of Contemporary Art and Public Art in the urban environment and transportation system, taking into account the project already done in Naples of the same kind.

The paper illustrates the contemporary characteristic of the Public Art sphere and its tight connection to the urban space of the city, defining the interdisciplinary tools between artistic production and urban planning that could be useful to create aesthetic value and social and economic positive impact on the city.

Metro Art project in Naples shares the collaboration of State and private entities for the urban redevelopment of the historic center of the city. The integration of the design practice to the utilitarian underground network of public service, with the desire to create spaces of enjoyment for the public with works of contemporary art. The objectives of the project were the recognition of the individual stations, contextualized within the territory, the functionality of these, and above all the communicability of works of contemporary art to a vast and heterogeneous public.

Another aspect of this paper is the possibility of creating a project in the city of Venice, with the same prerogatives but contextualized on the different conformation of the territory. Similarly, to what was done for Naples, an innovative project in my opinion would be the revitalization of the ACTV Line 1 of public transportation waterbuses, renewed through the collaboration between public and private bodies with artists. This is to create a Public Line that reflects the strong artistic charge of the city thanks to the urban transport service. The basic project is proposed as a format designed for the Academia stop, with modular characteristics, so that it can be adapted to other contexts in the future.