Why do we have public art? It was one of the questions a journalist asked me last week when I was being interviewed on the new guide to the art on Umeå university campus. There are of course many possible answers to this question; political, aesthetic and social, so I can only comment briefly on the subject in this blog post.

Historically public art was a way to expose power, either by commissioning a monument or portrait of/for yourself or your family/clan, or by donating an art work reflecting your agenda and placing it in a public area. In modern times more democratic reasons are to be detected in the question of public art. In Sweden there has been a policy since the 1930s that 1% of the building cost of public buildings (or larger renovations) should be spent on art. The reasons behind this policy of spending tax money on art are political. The main argument was that people should be able to see and experience art on an almost daily basis. You do not have to pay entrance to art museums or visit private art collections in order to study art, it can be found in your neighborhood, at work, at schools, in hospitals etc. The other argument is that this policy also guarantees a certain amount of jobs for artists through public commissions.

The commission of public art is organized in different ways depending on the various responsibilities in local or central governments and public institutions, but one very important actor is Statens konstråd (Public Art Agency Sweden: http://www.statenskonstrad.se/en/). For instance Statens Konstråd have until now commissioned 14 site specific art works at Umeå university, one of them is the above detail of Lage Lindell's 95 meters long mural painting from 1970-1972. (You can see the artist sitting with a pair of scissors in front of his very messy work desk, while his wife is studying his work behind it). Another one will probably appear during spring 2015 (outside the Faculty of Arts building). This kind of work is really an important opportunity for artists to make larger projects — and to meet new audiences. It is also a great chance for the staff and students of the university to experience contemporary art.

Art sure makes the space it decorates more interesting and it can be a point of reference, a ground for debate and discussion, or just a plain meeting point. Never forget that art is in many ways a collective experience, something we often encounter with other people — with more or less interaction, communication, talk and debate. The art works interfere in our daily life as much as we want to, occasionally in ways we are not aware of (until an art work is replaced). Sometimes we hate it! It may offend your ethics or aesthetic taste so that it makes you embarrassed for its presence, or feel bad since it does not represent your opinions. Sometimes we love it, because having a great piece of art in your environment can make you feel good, proud and smart! You can also love it because it provokes you, makes you think, argue well or completely change your perspectives. So my question would be: Why don't we have more public art?