MAGAZINE D'INFORMATION

The city of Munich is spending up to 2% of its public construction budget to fund public art.
This important program which the city established some years ago is still very active, and makes Munich one of the most successful examples of a municipal public art program in Germany.
Munich’s public art program is consulted by a committee (Kommission für Kunst am Bau und im öffentlichen Raum) overseen by the city's Building Department, and has been in operation since 1985.

Appointed for a period of three years by the City Council, the “Kommission” provides guidance to the City Council and municipal government in conjunction with public projects such as construction of municipal buildings, subway stations, schools, rehabilitation and refurbishing of streets, plazas, and green spaces, even sewer construction projects. This could add up to up to 30 projects at the same time, with the majority involving schools. The “Kommission” is involved in all the public art projects. Apart from this, the expertise of the Kommission is also solicited in cases of donations of art objects to the city and the commissioning of public works by private entities.

The “Kommission”’s members are mostly art professionals, and the city has no vote. The City Council felt that it was most important that it be guided by an expert advisory group completely independent from its administrative structure.

Over the years, the “Kommission” has built solid experience and a reputation that guarantees its smooth operation. It operates very differently from a committee of jurors meeting only for a short time and for a specific project. In the case of complex and lengthy projects, the “Kommission” assigns specialized working teams to tackle specific areas, and, if needed, other professionals may be asked to do preparatory studies or provide specific expertise.

The “Kommission” usually works as follows:
First communication to the members in writing, to give them background on the project, its context and planning; a site visit is usually organized, to discuss opportunities for the integration of art within the project. The group also agrees on the type of art that may be appropriate, and how the artist/s should be selected.

In most cases, an invitational type of competition is organized, and a limited number of qualified artists are asked to submit site specific proposals.

Information about the process, and collaboration with the artists are provided by the construction team under the supervision of the architects of the Baureferat. The Baureferat – whose present manager is Monika Premier - is responsible for most municipal construction projects and works with the “Kommission.”

In the recent years, it has become important to help educate and prepare the public and the users about the art. A new campaign has been initiate to work on the promotion of these public art initiatives. The public art projects supervised by the Baurereferat have their own identity. The artist Adib Fricke and his Work Company were asked by the Kunstikommission to develop a name for the Kunst-am-Bau programme of the city, and QUIVID now identifies public art projects within municipal construction projects.

Landeshauptstadt München
Baureferat (QUIVID Team)
Friedenstraße 40
81660 München

Monika Pemler
Leitung QUIVID Team
Geschäftsführung der Kommission
für Kunst am Bau und im öffentlichen Raum
mail: monika.pemler@muenchen.de

Nina Oswald
QUIVID-Team
Projektbetreuung
mail: nina.oswald@muenchen.de

http://www.quivid.com