Landmarks (The University of Texas at Austin)

Landmarks grew out of a 2005 policy, Art in Public Spaces,[1] that was approved by The University of Texas System Office of the General Counsel and the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. The policy set a goal of one to two percent of the capital cost of new construction and major renovations of main campus buildings for the acquisition of public art.

Following the adoption of the policy, Landmarks was established to develop a campus public art collection. Peter Walker Partners Landscape Architects[2] created a Public Art Master Plan[3] in 2007. This plan corresponds to the 1999 César Pelli Campus Master Plan[4] and serves to guide overall public art acquisition and placement. Among many considerations, it proposes the best locations for installations of public art to provide visual anchors at gateways, to accentuate main axis corridors, and to clarify patchy architectural edges.

To establish the program, Landmarks undertook a partnership with The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It negotiated a long-term loan of twenty-eight sculptures from the mid– to late–twentieth century, including works by Louise Bourgeois, Tony Smith, and Ursula von Rydingsvard. The Metropolitan sculptures were installed in 2008 and located throughout the university's main campus.

Landmarks was founded by Andrée Bober[5] who leads the program as curator and director. At the official launch in 2008, The New York Times[6] described Landmarks as "poised to become a destination for modern sculpture." The Metropolitan loan established an art historical foundation upon which the university would build its own collection.

Commissioned artists include: Beth Campbell, Michael Ray Charles, David Ellis, Ann Hamilton, José Parlá, Casey Reas, Ben Rubin, Nancy Rubins, and James Turrell. Works have been acquired by Mark di Suvero, Sol LeWitt, and Marc Quinn. Artists in the Metropolitan Museum of Art long-term sculpture load include: Magdalena Abakanowicz, Willard Boepple, Louise Bourgeois, Deborah Butterfield, Beth Campbell, Anthony Caro, Koren Der Harootian, Jim Dine, Walter Dusenbery, Raoul Hague, Juan Hamilton, David Hare, Hans Hokanson, Bryan Hunt, Frederick Kiesler, Donald Lipski, Seymour Lipton, Bernard Meadows, Robert Murray, Eduardo Paolozzi, Beverly Pepper, Joel Perlman, Antoine Pevsner, Peter Reginato, Ben Rubin, Tony Smith, Ursula von Rydingsvard, and Anita Weschler.[7]

LPG volunteers clean Figure on a Trunk by Magdalena Abakanowicz

Landmarks Video presents some of the most highly regarded and influential works of video art from the past six decades. Each month, the work of one artist is featured in the ART building atrium, located on the corner of East 23rd Street and San Jacinto Boulevard, Austin, Texas.

The series aims to familiarize the university community with important titles, stimulate conversation and research, and situate the genre of video art alongside the presentation of more traditional works. Each video presentation is accompanied by an entry published in the Landmarks Video Archive.

The program was inaugurated in 2010 with the commission of David Ellis' Animal, a motion painting composed of more than 65 thousand still images made by the artist during a six-week residency.

Landmarks Video has featured more than one hundred artists, including: Vito Acconci, Laurie Anderson, Lynda Benglis, Chris Burden, Patty Chang, Cheryl Donegan, Cao Fei, Douglas Gordon, Miranda July, Joan Jonas, Kalup Linzy, Bruce Nauman, Migel Angel Rios, Pipilotti Rist, Carolee Schneemann, Hannah Wilke, and Kara Walker.

• Landmarks website
• Curating on Campus: A Dialogue with Andrée Bober