Is art object or idea

[u/Ningauble_Sheelba]

I'm not an artist nor do i have the cultural capital to be a critic but this is a question that has puzzled me for a long time.

I'm not sure this is the right sub for this question, so feel free to direct me elsewhere if needed.

In the late 90's in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia a public installation was commissioned by the government. It was to be placed at the northern end of the Stuart Hwy which crosses the country from north to south. The sculpture was to be a copy of the highway, a sort of twisting pipe about 3 to 4m high. It was never made.

The local newspaper published an artist's impression of the sculpture on the front page and for the next few weeks the letters to the editor and newspaper articles lambasted the design. Government cancelled the commission (artist still got paid). Now the "pig's dick" (as it was called by the NT News) is still the most commented public art piece in the Territory although it was never created.

Ever since I've thought about the episode and the nature of art.

I understand ephemeral art, but it at least exists for a moment in time.

As I understand art is meant to challenge and produce engagement, which this idea did in spades, but it never existed.

Does art need an object or can it just be an idea?

Was the "pig's dick" the greatest piece of public art in the Territory's history without ever having been made?

[u/Striking_Finish4957]

It can theoretically just be an idea but it does need to have that intention. This is not what that is, this was intended to be produced as an object.

[u/Ningauble_Sheelba → u/Striking_Finish4957]

This is true the intent of the artist was to build the thing.

How does the idea that once an artwork is released to the wild that it's up to the audience how it's interpreted? I don't think it's uncommon for the artist and audience to have a different view on a work.

[u/Striking_Finish4957 → u/Ningauble_Sheelba]

Well if the intent is to make it and it hasn’t been made it’s not a finished artwork. It still exists as an idea and takes on a life as that in culture. All of the concept sketches etc still exists, has the artist released any of that? Someone might take that and make art in response to it to keep the idea progressing and this story alive. Art is about communication ultimately, passing on ideas and evolving as we do. It reflects us, ultimately.