Intersection: Road Signs and Public Art

Abstract

Old road signs, especially larger, sturdier ones whose support structures are still intact but whose vintage lettering and neon are either too decayed or too prob­lematically specific to preserve offer public art programs an opportunity to rethink three-dimensional public artworks as sites more akin to galleries than stand-alone, immutable works of genius. Valued artworks are still assumed to be the product of unique, individual perspectives, and detractors of public art often consider the genre a lesser form because it necessarily involves legal limitations, institutional approval and revision processes, and thus multiple or communal perspectives that “dilute” the artwork. Empty road signs as sites for public art provide a unique opportunity to model an inclusive public art approach that also values historic continuity, a palimpsest of sorts that leaves traces of the past as well as room for new eruptions.