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Calvin professor of Lisa Van Arragon has researched and lectured on the role of public art in Grand Rapids. Van Arragon recently shared her thoughts about the Calder, about 100,000 airplanes and about ArtPrize as a both a public and an artistic event.

Are you enjoying ArtPrize?

Yes, I am. I have to admit, when I first heard about it this spring—and I heard about a huge monetary prize and a public vote determining the winner—I was skeptical. It was so American Idol. I was skeptical about what kind of art we’d see and also what the meaning of the results would be if it is kind of a popularity contest thing, you know. And though I haven’t gotten over those initial impressions, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that there have been so many nice outcomes of ArtPrize that I didn’t anticipate.

What was surprising?

The pleasant surprise part came when I went down on a Thursday night—we went down with some friends—and people were all over the place, looking for the next installation. So, it was a combination of those two things: seeing Grand Rapids so busy and hearing the buzz of, "Have you seen this? What are you going to see next?"

Has some of the work surprised you by its quality?

Yes, positively as well as negatively … I saw art that I could appreciate because it was pleasing to many people. I didn’t think it was relevant to contemporary art particularly, but relevant in that a lot of people were enjoying it. And there’s something good about that—like a lot of people enjoying a movie. The mural at the children’s museum is a good example of that. It’s beautiful. One of the things that’s complicated is, you have a lot of people coming together over these works, but that doesn’t mean that it’s art that’s going to be historically significant. I guess one of the things I liked about ArtPrize is that it made me ask the question, "What do we want from art?" Do we want it to be this thing that pleases or entertains a majority of people or do we want it to be challenging. Do we want it to be something of great historical significance for its form or its message?  

You’ve lectured on public art? Does Grand Rapids have a good history of public art?

Grand Rapids does have a significant history of public art. The Calder was the first sculpture funded by the NEA’s Art in Public Places fund, and it was a nice combination of things. It was part of an urban renewal project in downtown Grand Rapids … (and) it also relates to Grand Rapids long history of philanthropy … the Calder is this big piece of abstract art that would sit in a public place in a midwest city. When you think about it, that‘s a striking thing. Then there’s this whole sequence of public sculptures that came about—inspiring the public and making them aware of urban space: there’s the diSuvero sculpture, the fish ladder, Robert Morris’ “X sculpture.”

How does ArtPrize fit into this legacy of public art?

We can see that public art is kind of a lightning rod for the meaning of art in society. … I think there’s, you know, this idea that public art makes us think of what art means to us. And then I think there are three possibilities that make public art worthwhile. It’s standing in an urban space: It’s standing there, and it makes you aware of where it is … My friends and I were down there (at ArtPrize) Sunday afternoon, and we were walking along these promenades along the river that I didn’t even know were there. Putting these artworks in a public space makes us aware of that space … The second thing is that it brings people to an awareness of a communal experience—to a common identity through this communal experience. One of the things I heard people say at ArtPrize was not even about the work they saw, but about seeing such a wide range of people downtown together. I heard people say that over and over again. There was this appreciation of this Grand Rapids community, and to me, the work that made that apparent was Rob Bliss’s 100,000 airplanes. A big part of performance art is not just about what happens, but about who’s there. I think it was one of the most engaging works because it had this totally unplanned, spontaneous feel to it. The third one is—and I don’t know that we saw this too much in ArtPrize—that we were challenged. In terms of how ArtPrize works, I’m not sure we saw that. A lot of what you heard about was, "What did you like?" … The things that were voted on were things that were pleasing, that were entertaining, that were big or were in prominent locations. Like, would people vote for something they looked at but didn’t understand? That is the question.

Are you looking forward to ArtPrize next year?

I have mixed feelings. I guess if ArtPrize is run exactly the way it is this year—if organizers make no changes to the format or the way things are done—I guess I’d look forward to it in the way I did this year: as a big, public spectacle that made people go downtown. And I say that as someone who really appreciated ArtPrize. There were real moments of beauty.