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.