Getting Joe Public involved

WHAT does the average Malaysian know about good public art? Not as much as he knows about good satay or roast chicken (the favourite metaphor of painter-educator Jolly Koh when talking about the subjectivity of art). 

While artists have long blamed this antipathy on a lack of emphasis on art education, StarMag’s street poll and related research show that government authorities – those who hold the people’s purse strings – don’t seem to give either the public or artists a say in what artworks are put up at their favourite hangouts and funded by public money.