Running the City: Why Public Art Matters

Leading Australian curator Felicity Fenner profiles activity-based and pop-up contemporary public art projects from Australia and around the globe. Running the City explores art projects that bring together diverse disciplines and cultures – including running, cycling, architecture, and guerilla gardening. From runners taking to the streets of Sydney's CBD in Runscape to Work No. 850, where athletes sprinted through the corridors of Tate Britain, the book surveys recent art projects that utilise the city both as subject matter and a site for art. Participatory, temporary, and permanent community-driven art projects reveal how public space can be activated in ways that are original, subversive, fun, and unexpected. The theme of running – both in the context of athleticism and agency – underscores the artworks here. More than just site-specific public art, the art projects examined in Running the City change the way we think about and inhabit our cities.