A film that picks up on a curious fait-divers: a percentage of the construction budget for the American city of Baltimore was made available to commission works of art. But what could have been a well-organised initiative turns out to be an example of how art, and in particular public art, is a neglected element in our society.
In the 1960s, Baltimore was the second city in the United States to pass a law stating that 1% of the budget for the construction of any public structure had to be allocated to a work of art. More than 50 years later, most of these public works of art, many of them built in educational establishments, have been lost, if not neglected by the passage of time. Set against the backdrop of Baltimore’s urban landscape, this short documentary offers a clean reflection on the role of public space and buildings, the use of art to serve the community according to the ideals of Modernism, through the stories and testimonies that built the collective memory of the residents of this city. (Joana Mosi)
