Re-creating the city; place-making through public art

Two examples of public art in transit locations, the temporary Books of Groningen, curated by Daniel Libeskind in the provincial Dutch capital of Groningen, and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's permanent Metro Art works at the Metro Rail stations, are analyzed as place making projects. The thesis traces how the urban environment has been theorized as a space, and examines the extent to which "art in public places" and "art in the public interest" models symbolically infuse a sense of place into the contemporary conceptions of the city. The first two sections examine themes from urban studies within the discipline of public art; the remaining three sections describe specific art works within the two case studies and discuss their publicness and historicity. The thesis argues that despite the differences in their settings and ideas, the projects construct a synoptic vision of the city as a formal public place.