Arts Commission wants convention center installations preserved ahead of demolition

The Arts Commission wants the city to push the Austin Convention Center to pay for and assist in the removal and preservation of four city-commissioned art installations that are at risk of being destroyed when the facility is torn down next spring.

At Monday’s meeting, the commission approved a request to City Council asking for the city to do whatever it can to help preserve the four works that were included in a deaccession plan created by the Art In Public Places program. That plan, which covers 12 public art works around the city, was also approved by the commission.

Of particular concern for commission members is the “Riffs and Rhythms” mosaic by artist John Yancey. The mosaic was created in 1996 as part of a wall in the convention center, with an estimated weight of 3 or 4 tons making it difficult to preserve without damaging the artwork, according to experts consulted as part of the deaccession plan.

The city’s contracts give the artists the option to remove their works at their own expense, though in a letter to the commission Yancey said the estimated $70,000 price to remove his mosaic could be covered as part of the contingency fund in the $1.6 billion budget approved to rebuild and expand the convention center.

“All city projects require a minimum of five to 10 percent contingency budget with the construction budget for the convention center set. At $1.6 billion, there is a minimum of $80 million to $160 million set aside for contingency expenses such as saving a significant cultural asset and the work of public art from, and the work public art from destruction,” he wrote in part. “The impact on the contingency budget would be negligible and it would avert a tragic destruction of a major work of public art that has been valued in the city’s collection for 30 years.”

Jaime Castillo, manager of the AIPP program, said that because the reconstruction of the convention center is being paid for with Hotel Occupancy Tax funds there may be limits on allowable expenses that would preclude artwork preservation.

With City Council expected to consider the deaccession plan in January, Castillo said artists have until Dec. 30 to file removal plans for their works from the facility. He said so far one artist has submitted a plan, with the family of another deceased artist in conversations with staff about filing a plan.

Commission Chair Celina Zisman said convention center leaders shouldn’t have had the destruction of long-standing artworks as the default option as they moved forward with plans for the teardown of the facility.

“It is our obligation to be and remain the advocates for preservation of artworks for preservation of history on behalf of artists that have been systemically disenfranchised and excluded from this process. I do think it’s a matter of convenience that demolition (of the pieces) is even an option,” she said.

Commissioner Felipe Garza said that artists who create works in public spaces are often at risk of having their pieces altered or destroyed as the environments where they’re located grow and change.

“When you do public art, you’re really not doing permanent art. The environment and the community in which that artwork was created 30, 40 years ago can change quite rapidly,” he said. “One of the things we all accept every now and then is that we’re gonna lose our artwork. There’s nothing we can do about that. Buildings get torn down, someone buys a new building, doesn’t like it up there, and it happens.”

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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