A sculpture, an installation, a piece. You usually haven’t. There are six different roles you might be playing inside that project, and getting the wrong one means you’ve quietly accepted a job you didn’t sign up for. Worse hours.
Different fee structure. Different scope. The same brief, with you doing the wrong work inside it.
This is the most expensive mistake that artists make in public art. And almost nobody is told the roles even exist.
Here’s what I want to give you today: the five main reasons public art gets commissioned, the six roles’ artists are actually hired to play and how to recognise which one you’ve been invited into), and one question to ask any prospective commissioner that reveals in 30 seconds whether they’ve properly scoped the project or are asking you to finish their thinking as well as the work.
