Public art

Power to the people: London’s new public art gives a glimmer of hope in gloomy times

A colourful playground, giant vegetable sculptures and an elegant etched glass installation have all brightened up the capital this year

Banksy mural 'gifted' to East Anglia town has been sold to private buyer after being removed by the owners

The mural was one of ten works peppered across English seaside towns and could have been street artist's way of raising the area’s profile

Support for controversial Lacma expansion and a new Dred Scott museum: first round of $24.7m US federal culture grants announced

The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded 208 grants for projects in most states, Washington, DC, Guam and Canada

Confederate statue at centre of deadly Virginia rally will be melted down to make new monument

The city council in Charlottesville, Virginia, chose to give the controversial work to a local organisation over proposals to relocate it to Texas, California or other distant sites

Miami Beach residents vote to acquire Farah Al Qasimi works for public art collection

As part of its Legacy Purchase Program, the city purchased two photographs and a wallpaper from the artist’s solo booth with Helena Anrather’s at Art Basel in Miami Beach

‘Fearless Girl’ sculptor mints NFTs to cover legal fees in rights dispute

A lawsuit between Kristen Visbal and State Street Global Advisors over rights to the viral statue has dragged on for nearly three years

Miami Beach artist Charo Oquet wins Bass Museum commission for temporary monument

The commission, the second in the Bass’s ‘New Monuments’ series, will be installed in Collins Park in spring 2022

Qatarnews

Mass public art programme kicks off in Doha before Fifa World Cup

Works by Tom Claassen, Bruce Nauman and Isa Genzken are among the first of the initiative’s 40 sculptures to be installed

Giant tribute to the Queen gets green light—but locals call 55m-high sculpture ‘invasive’

Artist Simon Hitchens says work planned for Northumberland moor is "inspired by the rugged and undulating landscape" but local campaign group says it is too "industrial"

Londonnews

Installations and murals by Ugo Rondinone and Pae White to be unveiled in major revamp of London's Paddington station

The regeneration scheme includes a building ­designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano that has been dubbed the “ice cube”

Jon Isherwood's marble sculptures usher feeling of community on New York's most famous street

Eight sculptures, depicting various gigantic blooming flowers, give viewers the chance to interact with public art, and with each other

What happens to art after it's destroyed?

After a sculpture in her care accidentally burnt to the ground, Jes Fernie decided to explore how the "meaning of an artwork can change" through the Archive of Destruction

Maltanews

Cristina Iglesias creates new cave-like sculpture for Malta's first contemporary art museum

Commissioned work—currently on view in a public garden in Valetta—will move to the Malta International Contemporary Art Space sculpture garden after it opens in 2023

Vancouver Biennale seeks donor to purchase $2m headless sculptures for the city

Only five of Magdalena Abakanowicz’s Headless Walking Figures remain outside City Hall, as demand for the artist’s work has grown

City of London U-turn on historic statues means slave trader sculptures will stay in place

William Beckford and John Cass figures will be "retained and explained", as recommended by the UK government

Public artcomment

Could an equivalent of wrapping the Arc de Triomphe happen in the UK? Not likely under our current leadership

Christo's posthumously realised project benefitted from France having a mature understanding of the importance of culture

Custard Apple, breadfruit and soursop sculptures honouring the Windrush generation unveiled in east London

Veronica Ryan's marble and bronze works are the first in a series of monuments dedicated to the Caribbean people who arrived in the UK between 1948 and 1971

Five-metre-tall fountain pen sculpture by Michael Craig-Martin unveiled in Oxford

Artist says the work at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government is the ‘most daring of all my sculptures’

National Gallery of Australia commissions its most expensive ever piece of art

Lindy Lee's A$14m sculpture will be one of the country's first environmentally sustainable public works

Percent for art programme to expand into Los Angeles county’s unincorporated areas

A civic ordinance in effect from October sets aside 1% of building projects for arts and culture programmes

Art on the move: Kasmin brings kinetic artist George Rickey’s monumental sculptures to Manhattan

Rickey’s moving sculptures will be on view along the Park Avenue Mall and the gallery’s rooftop garden

Destination Crenshaw commissions its first group of Black artists to create new works in Los Angeles

The $100m public art and community improvement project will launch with new sculptures by Kehinde Wiley, Melvin Edwards, Alison Saar, Brenna Youngblood and more

Vancouver public sculpture is for the birds no more

Stacked car installation that became a roost for local pigeons and starlings—and was covered by their poo—will be restored and eventually relocated

Joe Average unveils new mural honouring the fight against Aids in Vancouver

Marking the 40th anniversary of the first reported cases of the disease in the US, the Canadian artist and activist expands his One World, One Hope design to a city-sized work

Queen Victoria statue defrocked after ex-politician Nigel Farage blasts public art project addressing UK’s slavery history

Right-wing commentator says he is "tired of this endless conversation about the UK's complicity with slavery"

Fourth suicide shuts down New York’s towering Vessel yet again

Critics fault developers for not raising the barriers around the steps of the spiralling 150ft-tall structure to prevent deaths

That’s a wrap: artist Osman Yousefzada envelops Selfridges department store in a giant canvas

Art trail in Birmingham shop also explores migration and identity—but will visitors notice?