a resource for temporary public art
in milwaukee and milwaukee county

What is IN:SITE?

IN:SITE is a resource for temporary public art in Milwaukee and Milwaukee county

About IN:SITE

What IN:SITE does:

Locate public and private spaces and resources.
Link spaces and resources with artists.
Sponsor events to bring people to experience and discuss temporary public art.
Help with insurance and maintenance of temporary public art.
Maintain a website.

What's new?

John Riepenhoff's "Vending Machine"

“Lake Effect” interview

New interview with Bonnie North of WUWM’s “Lake Effect”

Chris Murphy's "Choros"

MATA documentary

New MATA documentary of face-casting for the "Choros" project

IN:SITE Fall 2008 Projects

3526 W. Fond du Lac

Eriks Johnson's "Road Closed-Path Open" Project

HISTORY

In May of 2005, Amy Mangrich and Pegi Christiansen agreed to work together to find a way to advance temporary installations in the area. Two people who had been organizing and mounting projects, Paul Druecke and Sara Daleiden, had both left Milwaukee.

By August of 2005, Amy and Pegi, along with Paul Druecke (who had returned to Milwaukee), Kurt Hartwig, Lynne Shumow, and Karin Wolf were meeting monthly and in October decided on the name IN:SITE. In January IN:SITE approved a mission statement, a definition of temporary public art, a list of its values, and a set of goals. These goals included locating public and private spaces and resources, linking spaces and resources with artists, sponsoring events to bring people to experience and discuss temporary public art, helping with insurance and maintenance of temporary public art, and establishing a website.

Mangrich worked with a MIAD student Jennifer Hefco to develop an IN:SITE logo and then created the IN:SITE website. It became active in May of 2006.

This same month IN:SITE mounted its first set of installations. The Gateway Business Improvement District, in coordination with the North Avenue Community Development Corporation, sponsored eight projects along North Avenue near 35th Street. On June 1st, IN:SITE led a bus tour to see the project in coordination with the Americans for the Arts Convention. TV, radio, print, and online media covered the project.

Since then, IN:SITE has continued to organize installations in this neighborhood and added four others: West End Vliet Street, Bay View, Sherman Park, and the Park East Corridor. Here are some highlights:

Fall of 2006--This was IN:SITE's first time working in two neighborhoods simultaneously. IN:SITE brought in Chicago artists Chris Silva and Michael Genovese for one of the North Avenue installations.
Spring of 2007--Due to the efforts of a new IN:SITE project manager, Lauren Bandari, IN:SITE led two tours and a public discussion about temporary public art in Bay View. A temporary art gallery opened at a site in Bay View due to the tours.
Fall of 2007--IN:SITE collaborated with Mothers Against Gun Violence and students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design for Chris Murphy's community involvement project "Choros." A private business, Holzmann and Associates Property Management, came forward to fund this installation.
Spring of 2008--IN:SITE received grant money for the first time. The Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the Challenge America program of the National Endowment for the Arts matched funding from Sherman Park Community Association to install two six-month cycles of art in Sherman Park.
Fall of 2008--Artists Stephanie Davidson and Georg Rafailidis, practicing in Germany, flew to Milwaukee to install a heat-sensitive project in Sherman Park. IN:SITE collaborated with the Performance Art Showcase to mount an installation with a performative aspect at the Department of Neighborhood Services building for November Election Day.
Summer 2009--The Milwaukee Arts Board was the key sponsor for IN:SITE's most ambitious project, mounting eleven projects by thirteen artists on sixteen blocks of land in the Park East Corridor.

IN:SITE as an organization has evolved. IN:SITE project managers curate, manage, promote, and maintain the projects with the help of IN:SITE associates and advisors. IN:SITE functions as a public art administrator, facilitating for the artists sites, liability insurance, and permission from government and property owners. IN:SITE's website has become a top hit for terms including "temporary public art." This visibility has attracted attention from artists, instructors, and public art administrators worldwide. IN:SITE projects continue to receive strong media coverage.

CORE VALUES

IN:SITE prefers to be invited into a neighborhood to work, rather than staking out locations or doing interventions. IN:SITE wants to encourage people to question their environment, but also take the community into account in a fundamental way.
IN:SITE asks for artists to come forward with installations designed for a particular place.
IN:SITE seeks to create ongoing relationships with neighborhoods for multiple cycles of installations. This can include having locations where the installation changes, as well as using new locations in the neighborhood. Ideally, there should be a visible connection between the installations.
In general, installations should be visible to people driving, biking, or walking past.
IN:SITE will not become identified with any particular artists, organizations, or locations.
IN:SITE believes temporary public art dovetails well with infrastructure needs, benefiting both.
IN:SITE forwards diverse installations that allow people to think about public art in new ways.
IN:SITE primarily wants to provide paid opportunities for Southeastern Wisconsin artists to create temporary public art. This doesn't exclude artists from outside the area.
IN:SITE provides flat stipends to artists, based on the scope of the project, not based on the expense of materials. IN:SITE encourages artists to forward projects that conserve cost of time and materials. The stipend range fluctuates depending on the budget and other factors.
IN:SITE asks for a 15% fee based on the total budget of the project. There also may be funds needed for signage and other specified costs.
Temporary public art is a tremendously demanding medium. It is not the same as sculpture or permanent public art. In response, IN:SITE functions in a mentoring role to provide information about siting, materials, scale, and content to artists.
IN:SITE experiments with facilitating public discussions about public art.
IN:SITE uses a variety of methods to solicit artists. This has included open calls, invitations, and reaching out to curators for input.
IN:SITE sees documentation as imperative because the work is temporary and to provide artists support for their work.
Although IN:SITE has mounted strong community-involvement projects, this is not one of IN:SITE's goals. These projects always demand a huge management effort to coordinate.
When possible, all the art for a project is installed during a concise period with a single opening.
IN:SITE includes performance art as a temporary public art medium.

FUTURE GOALS

IN:SITE currently has the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network as its fiscal receiver. IN:SITE eventually wants its own 501(c)3 status in order to increase the organization's legitimacy and capacity to fundraise.
IN:SITE project managers have been paying for costs like website fees, copying, and mailing. IN:SITE eventually wants to have these covered.

Who is IN:SITE?

Pegi Taylor/Christiansen
(chair and project manager of sites)
email

Pegi Taylor/Christiansen is a freelance writer, educator, organizer and performance artist. She is also the founder and co-producer of the Performance Art Showcase, highlighting talents from Southeastern Wisconsin in an annual show, and sits on the Milwaukee County Public Art Committee.

Amy Mangrich
(cofounder and project manager of website)
email

Amy Mangrich is an artist working primarily in site-specific installations for the public sphere. Mangrich teaches in the Department of Visual Art at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is also an Instructional Designer, assisting faculty in integrating technology into their courses. Mangrich is a founding member and board vice-president of the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN). MARN is a non-profit arts organization providing opportunities for artists of all disciplines.

Beth Haskovec
(project manager of sites and national research and outreach)
email

Beth Haskovec is committed to public service and community development initiatives in the arts and societal development. She completed a graduate level internship with the national advocacy organization Americans for the Arts in Washington, DC where she researched and wrote project profiles for their Ford Foundation program Animating Democracy. She is currently completing her thesis for a Master of Arts in Sustainable Development at the SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, VT.

IN:SITE ASSOCIATES:

IN:SITE Associates volunteer their time and skills to support temporary public art in Milwaukee County.

Kasia Drake -- assists with fundraising.
Beth Haskovec -- helps with site management and community-based art research.
Claire Kaleta -- helps with documentation, site maintenance, and research.
Sarah Luther -- assists with project planning and management.
Laura Maker -- assists with graphic design projects.
Mike Michaels -- helps with installation and de-installation.
Laura Nitz -- assists with documentation of temporary public art projects.
Yesh Pavlik -- assists with site management.
Marla Sanvick -- assists with documentation of IN:SITE projects.

Sara Daleiden -- is an artist, curator, and administrator who focuses on participant experience through the creation of identity systems and interventions within a city. She volunteers site interpretation and ideas about creating interactions between art and neighborhoods.
Los Angeles Urban Rangers

Paul Druecke -- has been implementing public art projects for over ten years and was an original member of IN:SITE.

Kurt Hartwig -- is a cofounder and director of the arts collective Bad Soviet Habits.

Kent Mueller -- has been a gallery owner and manager in Milwaukee for over 22 years and is assisting in matching appropriate artists with sites.

Sheri Urban -- has worked in arts administration and communications for more than 18 years and assists IN:SITE with its public relations plans.

Karin Wolf -- is the Arts Program Administrator for the City of Madison's Department of Planning and Community and Economic Development. She administers the Madison Arts Commission's BLINK program, which provides grants for temporary public art. Wolf, a prior IN:SITE member, helps to create connections between Milwaukee and Madison for temporary public art.

Fiscal Receivership:

IN:SITE is a non-profit that currently uses the 501C3 organization Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN) as its fiscal receiver.

MARN website

Information from IN:SITE?

If you would like to receive emails about upcoming IN:SITE events, please click the email link below and make a request to be added to the IN:SITE “ANNOUNCEMENTS” list.
email

If you are an artist and you would like to receive emails about upcoming opportunities to work with IN:SITE on a temporary public art project, please click the email link below and make a request to be added to the IN:SITE “OPPORTUNITIES” list.
email

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