Public art

Diaryblog

‘Anish Kapoor, let him out’: satirical protest campaign claims a man is trapped inside the Chicago Bean

A group of black-clad protesters recently gathered at “Cloud Gate” to raise awareness and call for the release of the man they claim lives inside the sculpture

Relocation of popular public sculpture called off after Vancouver residents claim it would block their views

The dispute over the future location of “Trans Am Rapture” has prompted duelling petitions, with the municipal government calling off the reinstallation to find a new site

New $31m art-filled park planned for downtown Pittsburgh

The project hopes to revitalise the area, with works by artists including Vanessa German and Thaddeus Mosley

Diaryblog

Bums, boulders and biscuits: Jeremy Deller’s street party brings arty revelry to central London

The finale of the artist’s ‘Triumph of Art’ project involved performances and participatory projects that invited people to have fun—and speak out

Prospect New Orleans will not take place in 2027

The city-wide contemporary-art triennial will instead publish a book celebrating its first 20 years

Amid a wave of global crises, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov’s Ship of Tolerance sets sail again—with added potency

The 20-year-old collaborative installation, which recently dropped anchor in Ontario, will travel to Uzbekistan next

Trump’s bill to cut taxes and social safety net programmes includes $40m for patriotic sculpture park

The president’s signature bill, approved by the US Senate on 1 July, is expected to add trillions of dollars to the national debt

Trump dances with Jeffrey Epstein in new National Mall sculpture

A new anonymous, satirical art piece aimed at the US President has found its way into the White House's orbit

Manhattan's Elizabeth Street Garden to be preserved after about-face by New York mayor

Mayor Eric Adams has sought to demolish the Soho sculpture park in order to build affordable housing for seniors

London’s Queen Elizabeth II memorial to feature contemplative Yinka Shonibare sculpture

The British-Nigerian artist Shonibare is part of the team behind the project, led by Foster + Partners

Lacma will plant towering, flowering Jeff Koons sculpture outside new building

The artist’s 37ft-tall “Split-Rocker” was donated to the museum by collectors Lynda and Stewart Resnick

Belgian council cancels Hew Locke commission that planned to ‘disrupt’ colonial statue

The artist had intended to recontextualise a statue of king Leopold II, who oversaw a brutal regime in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

All aboard: murals celebrate 200th anniversary of two of the world's most historic train stations

Works by Adébayo Bolaji and Kate Jackson were unveiled yesterday at Darlington and Heighington stations, both in the UK's County Durham

Documentary chronicles decades of work by New York ‘maintenance artist’ Mierle Laderman Ukeles

The film, about the octogenarian conceptual artist who appointed herself artist-in-residence of the city’s Department of Sanitation, has its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival

Washington, DC street renamed ‘Alma Thomas Way’ in honour of renowned abstract painter

The street where Thomas—the first Black woman to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art—lived for most of her life now bears her name

Boston Public Art Triennial launches with more than a dozen projects across the city

Works at the inaugural triennial entreat locals and visitors alike to imagine new ways of understanding our world

From Africa to the Arctic Circle, this public artwork is stampeding into cities with a cry for climate action

‘The Herds’ is an expanding throng of life-sized moveable animal sculptures—and it succeeds where many ostensibly green projects fail

Artists and architects shortlisted in Queen Elizabeth II memorial design competition

Designs by five teams have been shortlisted to create the proposed memorial in St James’s Park, with the winning entry due to be announced this summer

Tschabalala Self sculpture of two Black lovers will adorn exterior of New York's New Museum when it reopens

“I wanted to show an aspiration for better times to come,” the artist says of her commission

In pictures: Frieze week public art puts Manhattan in the pink

From Lily Kwong's installation in Madison Square Park to John Chamberlain's follies at the Rockefeller Center, works are catching the eye across the borough

British artist Thomas J Price brings a contemplative colossus to Times Square

The monumental figurative sculpture "Grounded in the Stars" is on show in New York until 17 June

Trump’s Garden of American Heroes seeks artists for its 250 statues

Meanwhile, Americans of all political stripes disapprove of the president’s cultural takeover while Max Hollein says Trump’s new anti-DEI rules “do not apply” to the Met

Public mosaic by Jeremy Deller and Coralie Turpin explores the history and nature of Scarborough

The Roman-style work completes the Wild Eye art and nature trail, which connects five other artist commissions along the coast

Chicago's cultural affairs department hits crisis point

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events recently added new members to its Cultural Advisory Council to help right the ship

Oklahoma slam dunk: Indigenous artist invites visitors to shoot hoops as part of his latest show

Alongside his paintings and sculptures, Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds has created two public art installations in the form of basketball courts, where visitors are encouraged to play a friendly game

Los Angeles wildfire memorial project seeks to save chimneys from famous architects’ houses

Chimneys from Pacific Palisades homes designed by Richard Neutra, Eric Lloyd Wright and others—in many cases the homes’ only remaining elements—would be turned into a memorial for wildfire victims

Trump administration will use humanities grant money to build patriotic sculpture park

Funds from cancelled National Endowment for the Humanities grants will help realise one of the US president’s pet projects

Crime news

Public sculpture destroyed in apparent arson attack in Toronto

The public art piece in the shape of a canoe, by Douglas Coupland, was a tribute to the famed Group of Seven painter Tom Thomson

Patti Smith plays rally at Elizabeth Street Garden to protest imminent eviction

The Manhattan sculpture garden was denied an injunction against eviction under the Visual Artist Rights Act

Trump layoffs leave more than 26,000 government-owned artworks in limbo

Nearly half the art and historic preservation workers at the General Services Administration have been put on leave and are expected to be terminated