Formation of an art commission
At its meeting today, the City Council decided to set up an art commission, an independent body that will advise and support the administration and politicians with its expertise on questions and decisions in the areas of art in public spaces and art in architecture.
The art commission will consist of fourteen permanent members and will be composed as follows:
- Mayor for Culture
- Head of the cultural department
- Representative of the building department (subject-related)
- four elected members of the City Council (elected in a separate procedure)
- Representative of the Cultural Advisory Board - Expert for Fine Arts
- six experts, including
- General Director of the Chemnitz Art Collections
- freelance architects/architects,
- art historians/art historians/art scientists
- at least two artists
In 2018, the City Council adopted the Cultural Strategy 2018 to 2030, which provides for the development of a concept for art in public spaces. This is the context in which the newly formed Art Expert Commission has been established, whose activities will ensure transparent procedures and comprehensible decisions for measures and projects in the areas of art in public spaces and art in architecture. The expertise of the newly appointed expert commission will be incorporated into the further development of the concept of art in public spaces/art in architecture.
Responsibilities
The Art Expert Commission assesses projects in the field of art in public spaces that are to be permanently established in public spaces or are to take place on a regular basis. The City of Chemnitz's cultural organisation decides on one-off and temporary projects with the involvement of the relevant specialist departments. As part of the municipal promotion of art and culture, the City of Chemnitz Culture Committee decides on the temporary projects applied for. The maintenance of the art inventory (art in public spaces) remains the responsibility of the cultural organisation in coordination with the cultural committee.
Tasks of the art commission
The Art Commission advises the City Council and the City of Chemnitz in the areas of art in public spaces and art in architecture in the form of statements and recommendations for action.
The committee advises on artistic concepts and their form of realisation, the respective location for the project, the type of participation of the artists and the implementation of the funds provided.
It assesses the objectives and public impact, the meaningfulness and social significance of the planned projects and measures, their artistic quality, aesthetics and expressiveness, taking into account the special conditions and structures in the urban space, the relationship to the location, the technical realisation and the cost and financing plan, including possible follow-up costs.
The Art Commission can recommend programmes in the area of art in public spaces, the implementation of which is undertaken and coordinated by the cultural administration. In this context, the art commission proposes the content criteria and funding priorities.
If contributions of contemporary art are planned by the respective organisational units and developers for urban measures for the design of open spaces or building construction measures, the Art Commission should be involved in an appropriate manner in the process and the selection of the artistic work to be realised. In these cases, the art commission is to evaluate the artistic idea or the artistic concept within the respective measure and in the context of the location.
In addition, the Art Commission advises the City of Chemnitz and the City Council on donation offers, purchases, artistic competitions and tendering procedures, the appointment of juries and the permanent removal or relocation of artworks.