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December 16, 2009
Ruckus Miami: Grooms to design Marlins HR sculpture
I'm an unabashed fan of artist Red Grooms — his subway car you can walk through was a favorite of mine as a kid — so I can't help but like the idea of him designing a giant moving sculpture of pelicans and seagulls that will be activated every time a Florida Marlins player hits a homerun at the team's new stadium. Even if it will cost a staggering $2.5 million. In public money.
The role, after all, of the Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places Trust is to fund art in public places. The bigger question here would be: Does a baseball stadium, even a publicly owned one, count as a "public place" if you have to buy a Marlins ticket in order to get in?
A baseball stadium absolutely counts as a public place. How is this any different from a museum that receives government funding charging an admission fee to see the art?
Posted by Public Art Supporter on December 22, 2009 01:46 PM
Do governments typically give art museums money for their acquisition budgets? If so, and if they don't demand anything in return (free admission on Tuesdays or what have you), then I think there's grounds to take issue with that, too.
Posted by Neil on December 22, 2009 05:03 PM