Art contribution to cities’ transformation. The role of Public Art management in Italy

Since the mid 80s the evident objective of public art has been to intervene in some infrastructures so that the historical function of a square or of a monument could be re-found with a completely new approach, thus defining a spatial whole as a social whole. Through a qualitative research approach that enlightens artists and commissioning agencies’ points of view, this paper seeks to document the creative processes that characterizes public art and to explore the democratic potential in urban artistic interventions. Although in the past, through instituting public art projects in disadvantaged and fragmented communities, policy makers consciously tried to promote a fallacious sense of shared space, true urban art would not embrace a purely decorative function and would not hesitate to break with the conventions that mark the political use of public art. Even if it is recognized that past expression of public art spoke of universalist and modernist themes, some recent Italian practices of public art are characterized by a strong collaborative effort between the public artist and the community: intended both to design the physical appearance of the city and to rebuild the relationship that underpins urban life. Thus the paper will show how the recognition of the value of public arts can lay the foundations for more integrated urban regeneration strategies driven by cultural policy imperatives.