New Haven Independent

Artspace’s Laurel Consiglio wants you to come in to vote and help the city to decide. On display at the 50 Orange St. gallery are easels displaying the four finalists in the city’s latest and most ambitious temporary public art display.

Chosen from an international field of artists who submitted early this year, the finalists are Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt (the tent, pictured with Consiglio); Matthew Dehaemers (bell towers, of Kansas City); Mark Lottor, 9,000 lights, of Menlo Park California; and the only locals to make the cut (hurrah!), the New Haven-based team of Joy Wulke, Caryn Azoff, Jamie Burnett, and Istvan P. B’racz.

The latter proposal would employ video projection that on four consecutive weekends will highlight different aspects of the city’s cultural and historical treasures. In the language of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs press release (click hear to read it and fuller description of the submissions), “The program will culminate in a celebration of neighborhoods which invites all residents to showcase their individual talents.”

According to Consiglio, who is director of development for Artspace and sits on the city’s Cultural Affairs Commission, “There is a lot of interest in New Haven in public art.” The past few years have seen ambitious projects, such as Slovenian artist Matej Vogrincic’s fleet of gravel-filled erector set oyster boats sailing down the Farmington Canal, she noted. (Click here.) Those have been largely funded and organized by private non-profit groups such as Site Projects.

“This project,” says Consiglio, “is different: very ambitious, a milestone” for municipal involvement in public art.

It is the first apparently where the city has invited proposals from around the world, encouraged the public input, and determined that the winning work will be so prominently displayed downtown.

(For a look at an ambitious new project displayed at Troup School, click here.)

Will the public vote determine the winner, the way it does with Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game? Consiglio said she wasn’t sure the exact final guidelines for the finalist choice have been worked out. But, she added, “public input is very important.”

So, during this election season, if your presidential candidate hasn’t prevailed, perhaps your choice in public art will. Come down to vote, early and often. The ballot box, along with Artspace, is open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, from 12 to 6; and Friday and Saturday 12 to 8. The display of the finalists proposals stay at Artspace through Labor Day. After that, they move to City Hall, where they will be on display from Sept. 3 to 11.