Good Morning,
Building on some of the responses that came through for Joanna's question about commissioning an integrated artwork – I'd like to solicit examples or advice on relocating or deaccessioning
integrated commissioned works.
A priority project for me right now is to manage re-homing or dispossessing ownership of a collection at one public high school campus. Due to structural issues, the school system has surplussed
the building back to the city, and the most likely fate is demolition. The school contains significant public art commissions from seven artists, all created in 1969-1970. Six of the artists were commissioned to create large diptych wall pieces, and one is
a standalone sculpture. (So 13 individual artworks; by seven artists).
Of this collection:
- Four of the commissions are standalone sculptures or fabricated as panels in a way that they can be easily unfastened, removed, and potentially relocated and reinstalled.
-Three of the commissions are varying forms of stone or ceramic mosaic and are installed/adhered directly onto walls of the building. (The walls may be structural support walls)
These are unique, and rather large artworks that will require significant space/ability to reinstall, so we are trying to be creative in our approach to re-homing them. Our Public Art Commission
and city government would like to open a process open to everyone from universities and institutions to private developers to submit proposals on how they might relocate and exhibit the work.
Our first step will be to contact each artist or their estate. As I begin this process, I have a few specific questions I thought you all might have guidance or experience around (understanding
this is not formal legal advice):
- As the artworks predate VARA and the artist contract did not include VARA rights, what is the requirement for the city to work with the artists' estate on relocation?
- If we have difficulty finding a contact for an artist's estate, what constitutes "due diligence" in reaching out to them?
- If artwork is integrated into the building to the extent that it is too complicated, or cost-prohibitive to remove, is deaccession the only option? Would the artwork be legally deaccessioned
and then at the property through demolition?
- Are there apparent pit-falls through this kind of process we are not seeing/addressing?
*note- these are not the only works in this situation in our school system, and there is a documented record of how improperly similar situations, primarily at school buildings, have
been handled in the recent past. With this building/collection, we are trying to set a precedent for doing the right thing and proactively looking for solutions before the artwork is improperly disposed of.
Thank you in advance for sharing your experience/guidance.
Ryan
C. Ryan Patterson | Public Art Programs Manager
Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts
10 E. Baltimore Street, 10th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21202
rpatterson@promotionandarts.org
Office: 410.752.8632 | Direct: 443.263.4338 | Mobile:
443.956.2032
Baltimore’s nonprofit arts council, events center and film office