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When you share something, please do basic research to contribute to *informed* public discussion, rather than flaming hot takes: Fabian Brunsing designed the installation 'Pay & Sit: The Private Bench' as a critique of the privatisation of public goods & anti-homelessness designhttps://twitter.com/kenradio/status/1170100080520704000 …
The artist, Fabian Brunsing, goes uncredited by the OP, and the video (with small watermark to the artist) does not interview the designer, instead presenting the installation as mere innovation. Brunsing: http://www.fabianbrunsing.de/ Let's take a quick tour of why context matters.
2008: Brunsing's installation is a critique of capitalist policing of public spaces in Germany 2010: Officials in Shangdong province, China, took Brunsing's art & used it to do the very thing Brunsing critiqued (under guise of 'tackiling overcrowding')https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/7949682/Pictures-of-the-day-17-August-2010.html?image=10 …
2014: 'Anti-homeless' spikes were erected outside a luxury block of flats in Southwark, London. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/09/boris-johnson-calls-removal-anti-homeless-spikes … Other cities also use 'defensive architecture' to punish the homeless, to gatekeep the poor, to deter youth from enjoying public spaces https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/jun/12/anti-homeless-spikes-latest-defensive-urban-architecture …
So back to the OP 'Is this art installation protesting public use of spaces by the disadvantaged "a good idea"?' Question is highly misguided. It presents critique of capitalism as neutral, removing the original position which was critiquing taken-for-granted norms about place
This is true and knowing that it's an art installation that should be an easy take away. But, part of art is how it's perceived by others and not what the artists intent was.
A lot of that depends on how it is presented. Seeing this in a public park where it was the only bench of its kind in 2008, is likely to have a different impact than in a video on Twitter with the comment “good idea?” in 2019.
Even the people that are aware that’s it’s an art piece are concerned because we know this can (and probably will be) used as inspiration for some capitalist cruelty
As art and as a critique, I'd consider this lazy and way too on the nose for a 2019 installation. Didn't know it was from 2008.. that helps.
I was thinking that as well. Anti homelessness architecture seems to be so commonplace, it's awful.
thank you! every time this was shared without context made my skin crawl
The thing is, when the parody ends up being used in real life by the people it’s supposed to be critiquing, is it any different from one done not as a critique? Or is it just giving ideas to bad people?
#1 : yes, you are 100% correct. #2 : this wouldn't get 1/10th the attention if they'd gotten it right. And it's fucking brilliant (as art)
Agree.
I consider myself lucky that I saw one of the very first posts about the art project. Which means I've been able to take a step back and observe.
Art shouldn’t work like that, tho. It follows a natural route. This guy sharing this post is one of the many natural outcomes, whereas the artist intended it or not.
Art does work like that, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad, if people think this bench is an actually good idea it’s easier for me to root out who I probably don’t wanna be around. Sometimes people are just satisfied to look at the surface and it sucks
Yeah! Not sure if I’m following, but what I meant was: art shouldn’t need the viewer to do research to get some meaning out of it.
I mean sometimes I wish that was the case but I think there’s just so much information and problems out there that art is based off of that I think that’s kinda impossible
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