PUBLIC art has limitless possibilities, though in Shanghai and China it is often equated to sculptures.

But the term refers to works of art in any medium that are planned and made specifically to appear in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all.

This month an international award for public art and a public art forum was held in Shanghai, giving people a greater understanding of what public art is and what it can do for a community.

"Public art is a universal concept, hoping that everyone would have the right to share and participate in art," says Sun Zhenhua, director of the Public Art Center in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. "At the same time, public art also emphasizes a regional character, a link to regional history, culture, customs and ordinary life."

The international award was given to Tiuna el Fuerte Cultural Park by Lab. Pro. Fab in Caracas, Venezuela. It was one of 141 projects from around the world competing for the award.

Awarded park

The park was designed by architects and artists. They built it on an abandoned parking lot and used items like recycled shipping containers as modular elements in expandable multi-use spaces. Increasing green coverage in the city was another project priority.

"Currently the capital district of Caracas contains an average of 0.26 square meters of park space per resident, compared to the World Health Organization's recommended standard of 10 to 12 square meters per city resident," says Wang Dawei, Dean of the College of Fine Arts, University of Shanghai, and publisher of Public Art magazine. "This area has continued to expand, becoming a city cultural park with offices, classrooms, dining spaces, green spaces and sports areas. More than 500 children and adults frequent the park and artistic events are held there every day. The artists did not put their hopes in government assistance, but relied on civic involvement to promote public art."

The award was given jointly by Public Art Review, published by the nonprofit US-based Forecast Public Art, and Public Art (China) magazine, published by the University of Shanghai. Jury members included Wang, Jack Becker, director of Forecast Public Art and publisher of Public Art Review, Lewis Biggs, former director of Liverpool Biennial, and Yuko Hasegawa, chief curator at Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art.

Becker says: "At the beginning, I wasn't sure whether it was right to have a public art competition - it is impossible to say one is superior to the others. But soon I became aware that the competition would arouse awareness and interest from the mainstream and some ignored yet exciting projects would be discovered."

Biggs says China is going through a similar process about retaining its cultural charisma that England once experienced.

"Let me use the example of Liverpool. The city used to be an important industrial city 200 years ago. But it became a famous cultural city about 100 years ago. Such a result is based on the appropriation of private and public funds for many years," he says. "It is good that China is now spending a large sum of money on the cultural industry, but the return from the cultural industry is not so quick, and might only become evident 20 or 30 years later."

'Aesthetic gap'

However, some public art concepts can be misunderstood or unsuitable for their surroundings, leading to strong criticism in the media and by residents in the community.

For example, the online community voted on "China's ugliest public sculpture" last year, which probably embarrassed quite a few artists, government officials and real estate developers.

"Life," a towering abstract bird's nest in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, was voted the ugliest, picking up 310,866 votes. The sculpture is a jumble of steel rods topped by three shiny eggs. Despite being hated by netizens, critics praised "Life."

Sculptor Bao Pao, who initiated the selection process for the online vote, told reporters that some works are indeed ugly, but the top three "ugliest" works are actually quite good as they follow basic principles of design and space and express original thoughts.

Shanghai sculptures avoided the embarrassment of finishing in the top 10, but six of the 59 "ugly" nominees are in the city. They include the group of three brightly colored women in bikinis in Shanghai Sculpture Park in Songjiang District (206,617 votes) and the three pillars on the Bund. Experts say there is a significant "aesthetics gap" between the public and art experts. They believe art education needs to improve so people can have a more sophisticated view of public art and its value.

"This is why it is important to let people see what a good public art project is," says Jin Jiangbo, one of the chief organizers of the public art forum. "Public art is not an isolated thing. In fact, it is about everything in the environment - the greenery coverage, the lighting, the whole atmosphere. Everything should be considered beforehand. But here in China, once everything is built, the developer suddenly starts to think of adding a sculpture as a decoration."

Since mainstream awareness of public art is lower in China compared to Western nations, Biggs suggests providing more support to young Chinese artists.

"They should travel around the world to see various public art projects," he says. "It is better to start educating children about public art at a young age so they can learn and experience the vitality and creativeness of a city."

Wang adds that similar forums need to be held frequently to increase awareness. "It is better to get artists involved early when creating public art," Wang says.

"Some say it is too late for public art in Shanghai after a massive round of urban construction," he continues. "But I believe it is never too late for public art. After all, it doesn't need to be something new. It could either be something born from the old or making better use of an existing venue."