BILBAOS USE OF ART AND CULTURE AS A REMEDY FOR

DEINDUSTRIALIZATION:
THE IMPLICATIONS OF REDEVELOPMENTS HOMOGENOUS
USE OF PUBLIC ART

by
Jennifer A. Henning




A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSKI SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF PUBLIC ART STUDIES/PLANNING


August 2011













Copyright 2011 Jennifer A. Henning







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DEDICATION
This is for my family: Mom, Dad, Kathy, Ryan and Lidia.
Thank you for your love and support.



























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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This manuscript would not have been possible without the support and guidance of many
individuals. The winding path travelled to reach this point has been filled with
unprecedented discoveries, challenges, loss and joy. A heartfelt thank you must be given
to former Dean Weisberg and my academic advisor and friend, Antonio Navarro
Bartolome for always taking the time to listen and provide support and encouragement.
To Vinayak Bharne for being an incredible mentor and igniting the passion to create a
better built environment through the use of art and urban design. Your passion for
learning and research is contagious and your influence continues to make an indelible
impression in my life. To the M.P.A.S. faculty who comprised my thesis committee,
your direction and participation taught me to think in new ways and made me a stronger
person. Finally, a special thank you to Sharla Russell, Sharon Danjuma and all my dear
friends who have stood by me with their unwavering friendship. Your support, love and
guidance have enabled me to complete this journey and for this I am eternally grateful.



















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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication ii
Acknowledgements iii
List of Figures v
Abstract vi
Introduction 1
Chapter One: Bilbao, Spain Site History 5
The Plan for Urban Redevelopment 7

Chapter Two: Public Art in the Public Sphere 15
Creation of The National Endowment For The Arts 16
Federal PercentFor-Art Program Is Established 17
Pivotal Point for the Percent-For-Art Model:
Installation of Tilted Arc 19
Public Art Today And Its Role In Redevelopment
(and Place Marketing) 20
Public Art In Bilbao Redevelopment 24
The Bilbao Effect 26
Public Art at Bilbao as Spectacle 40
Chapter Three: Implications of Redevelopment on Public Art 45
Homogenization of Public Art 45
Placelessness 53
Social Consequences 56

Chapter Four: Counter-Examples of Public Art Installations 59

Conclusion 82
Bibliography 84











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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Puppy by artist Jeff Koons at the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao
designed by Frank Gehry. 30

Figure 2. Maman by artist Louise Bourgeois at the Guggenheim Museum,
Bilbao designed by Frank Gehry. 31

Figure 3. Page from the Bilbao Metropoli-30 Revitalization Website
listing the Frank Gehrys Guggenheim Museum as The Building, a
symbol of Bilbao. 36

Figure 4. Page from Spains Official Tourism Website listing Bilbaos
cultural resources with an image of Frank Gehrys Guggenheim Museum
as a background symbol. 37

Figure 5. Tall Tree & the Eye by artist Anish Kapoor at the Guggenheim
Museum, Bilbao designed by Frank Gehry. 52

Figure 6. Chicken, Urban Intervention, images taken from the release
of a chicken in a popular public square. 64

Figure 7. Chicken Urban Intervention, image taken from the release
of a chicken in an upscale shopping mall. 65

Figure 8. Ocupacao Urban Intervention, banners created from materials
used by the homeless for making shelter. 67

Figure 9. Ocupacao Urban Intervention, strobe lights continuously
illuminate the night sky creating an ominous glow. 68

Figure 10. Women Are Heroes, by artist JR, public art installation at
Rio de Janeiro favela. 72

Figure 11. Women Are Heroes, by artist JR, public art installation on
train going through the Slum of Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya. 73

Figure 12. Wrinkles of the City, by artist JR, public art installation
Shanghai, China. 74

Figure 13. Wrinkles of the City, by artist JR, public art installation
Silverlake district, Los Angeles, California. 75









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ABSTRACT
The rise of information technologies, deindustrialization and economic decline were
significant contributors to the financial collapse of Bilbaos shipyards and mining
operations, which in turn forced the city to undertake a redevelopment plan. This plan
would transform the deindustrialized wasteland into a cultural destination for the global
tourist via recognizable public art, making the city an economic success through the
utilization of art as a commercial commodity. Public art within the redevelopment plan of
Bilbao, Spain became part of the visual branding elements used as a marketing tool to
attract cultural tourism. Based on the regions historic background, the artwork selected
for this site should better reflect the cultural heritage and historic nature of the area in
which it is located.
















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INTRODUCTION
The setting sun paints the rusting skeletal structure of the shipyard in blues and
charcoal, leaching out the russet colors until it is just a black behemoth crouching on the
shores of Bilbao, Spain. Bilbao was not always this desolate, deindustrialized
wasteland. The natural resources of the region and the tenacity of its citizens allowed
Bilbao to dominate the wool, shipbuilding and steel manufacturing industry in Western
Europe until the 1970s. In order to overcome market globalization, the resulting
deindustrialization and economic depression during the last decades of the twentieth
century, Bilbao required extensive state-led economic restructuring.
1
In the 1990s,
redevelopment of the area resulted in a shift towards a service economy, which led to the
rebuilding of the citys blighted waterfront region. By 1994 city officials had
implemented an amazing waterfront area, which included the Guggenheim Museum by
Frank Gehry. This giant structure was built on the citys horizon, its titanium shapes
mimicking the ships that were once built on the same waterfront years before. The
history of Bilbao can be used as example of how redevelopment of the urban landscape
can revitalize a deindustrialized area with the use of recognizable, spectacular
architecture and public art.
This thesis will examine the factors that have led to the repetitive use of public art
at Bilbao, such as the local redevelopment policies and the effects of globalization on
world financial markets. Advocacy for the use of alternative public art installations will
be based on site-specificity helping to mitigate redevelopments homogenous use of

1
Gerardo Del Cerro Santamaria, Bilbao: Basque Pathways to Globalization, ed. Steve Tiesdell (Oxford:
Elsevier Ltd., 2007), 64.







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public art in future redevelopment projects. In the context of this investigation, the term
homogenous refers to the increasing similarity of public art installations found in
different geographic locations. The essence of homogenization is the lack of
distinguishable cultural characteristics and adaptation of local contexts, specific to the
region, reflected in the public art being used.
The redistribution and accumulation of monetary capital created a shift towards
more entrepreneurial forms of governance in which real estate developers were given
incentives to participate in public-private partnerships; these partnerships provide capital
investment for infrastructure, development of new public spaces and stronger regional
connections with the world economy. A review of public art projects which counter the
homogenous use of public art in redevelopment will be discussed. An evaluation of how
these temporary examples of public art, and how they interact with the urban
environment in which they are placed, will be used to demonstrate the importance of
alternative methods and their integral role in the creation of site-specific artworks that
engage the public and recognize the history of the place in which they are installed.
The first chapter of the thesis will focus on the site history of Bilbao, examining
its cultural and economic significance moving into its period of deindustrialization and
path towards redevelopment. This case study will be looked at in terms of being the
ultimate expression of how redevelopment and its use of private investment can build a
citys public infrastructure. I will look at the development of the citys economic
foundation as a node in global trade, starting as early as the fourteenth century. We will
then see how this history of industrial strength led to the structural changes that occurred







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in Bilbao during the period of deindustrialization and economic decline, ultimately
leading to the citys redevelopment of its waterfront area. I will examine the history of
Bilbaos redevelopment and its use of public art within the plan, through the lens of
globalization, and how the citys revitalization plans and the policies which led to
selling the city in order to create a regional image re-branded under the pretense of
globalization.
2

Chapter Two will provide a broad overview of the history of public art and
establish the appropriate cultural, political and historical context of its use in
redevelopment and within the public realm. This will allow us to examine the public art
incorporated in Bilbao redevelopment and its repetitive use in other redevelopment
projects of similar scale. Through analyzation of the citys redevelopment process,
economic restructuring, and regional connections with the global economy, we will see
how these elements affected the placement of public art within this environment. Based
on historic definitions and recent discourse on public art we will analyze its use in
redevelopment against current curatorial methods and theoretical discussions of
contemporary artistic practices.
Chapter Three will look at the implications resulting from the homogenous use of
public art within redevelopment projects. The central purpose of this examination is the
critical exploration of factors that have led to repetitive practices in public art. Selection
of public art is based on its ability to become an emblem of a city and its ability to be
used as a tool to sell an image specific to characteristics of the citys urban environment.

2
Ibid., 7.







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The implications mentioned here are in terms of redevelopment practice and are an
attempt to document or reflect the prevailing conditions of the contemporary city.
Chapter Four will conclude with a review of alternative public art installation
methodologies. Counter-examples based on site-specificity, as discussed by theorist
Miwon Kwon, and temporal and interventionist techniques will be discussed as an
alternative to overcome the cultural homogenization and political and socio-cultural
disengagement traditionally associated with redevelopment projects and traditional public
art installations. The public art projects installed by artists: BijaRi: arte+design+attitude
and JR will be looked at as a critical resistance to current hegemonies. Resulting in
aesthetics and concepts behind public art moving away from homogenous
characteristics and becoming more inclusive and explicitly socio-political.


















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CHAPTER ONE: BILBAO, SPAIN SITE HISTORY


Founded in 1300 as a small city, Bilbao, Spain is located in the heart of the
Spanish Basque country. The Basque region of Spain is located in the northern area of
the county and comprises 6,949 square miles of land. Intersected by the Pyrenees and
Cordillera Cantabrica mountain ranges and cradled by the Bay of Biscay, this region
straddles the Spanish and French borders and is comprised of seven regions. Three are
located in France - Labourd, Basse Navarre and Soule; and four in Spain - Vizcaya,
Guipuzcoa, Alava and Navarre. This thesis focuses on the Spanish regions, with a
particular emphasis on the province of Vizcaya, home to Bilbao. From its early history,
the city was able to establish a strong commercial and industrial foundation based on its
natural resources
3
which helped support the Spanish crowns maritime explorations and
trade with the Americas and the rest of Northern Europe.
4
Bilbaos natural resources
allowed the region to exercise control over trade and shipping, creating the economic
resources necessary to assert its independence from the rest of Spain, aggressively
insisting on maintaining its unique culture, heritage and even language.
By the end of the twentieth century, deindustrialization had eroded the physical
and industrial landscape, and the overwhelming need for urban regeneration and
economic development became critical to the regions survival. Basque artists wanted to

3
Bilbaos geographic location provided the region with the benefits of rich forestation which allowed for
the early development of shipyards; was a key participant in supplying wool for the textile industry of
Europe; is comprised of land rich in iron ore; and cod fisheries which produced dried salt cod, a staple food
of this period.

4
Gerardo Del Cerro Santamaria, Bilbao: Basque Pathways to Globalization, ed. Steve Tiesdell (Oxford:
Elsevier Ltd., 2007), 31-33.







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exhibit the modern art of the period that was produced in this region of Spain, so they
organized a modern exhibition to showcase the works produced by the Society of Artists
from Bilbao. The exhibition attracted artists such as Pablo Picasso and Paul Gauguin
attracting the attention of the European art world while celebrating the artists of the
region.
5
Bilbaos economic decline and deindustrialization led local government officials
to first develop a plan to restructure the regions economy; followed by the development
of a plan for urban renewal that would transform the postindustrial landscape of ruin into
a cultural and artistic spectacle of visually stunning and recognizable landmarks. Bilbao
and the region accepted and embraced an urban regeneration scheme master planned and
designed by Argentinean urban designer and architect Cesar Pelli. Pellis central focus
was the American Guggenheim Museum, designed by American architect Frank Gehry,
surrounded by grand public art installations by various American artists and curated by
the Guggenheim Museums staff. In addition, a metro system to support the area was
designed by British architect Norman Foster and the Spanish architect-engineer from
Valencia, Santiago Calatrava, designed an airport.
With the Guggenheim museum promising to provide artwork and cultural
centerpieces as the focal point of the Citys redevelopment plan City officials agreed to
the proposal. How did Bilbao reach this pivotal point? How could the city leverage art
and culture to produce economic urban regeneration and how far were city officials
willing to go in order to increase the flow of tourism dollars? Basque leaders sought to
develop a plan which involved identity-shaping and the development of appealing

5
Jeremy MacClancy, ed., Contesting art: art, politics and identity in the modern world, (Oxford: Berg,
1997), 192-193.







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slogans to invoke strong ties to economic logic inspired by indelible images and
fashionable concepts. Marketing efforts were mobilized to reshape how cultural assets
and images are publicly perceived. Place marketing through culture and
commodification, the use of shopping malls, public art, a heritage museum and cultural
festivals were seen as the key to the citys future. The goal of the redevelopment strategy
was to develop a city image, which erased thoughts of deindustrialization and created
new perspectives of the Basque country focusing on renewal, revitalizing and the social
and cultural life found in Bilbao.
6
On the darker side of the citys rebirth is the
eradication of cultural images, which serve as reminders of the fascist ideology and
political isolation during the Franco regime.

THE PLAN FOR URBAN REDEVELOPMENT
The colossal redevelopment plan, initially conceived in the 1990s as a means of
economic revitalization and Brownfield remediation of the Bilbao area, was formally
stated in The Strategic Plan for the Revitalization of Metropolitan Bilbao in 1992 with an
overall cost of 1.5 billion dollars. The elements of the plan included numerous projects
conceived, arranged, agreed upon, and designated for implementation by various
organizations from both the government and private sectors. The main entities that
comprised the oversight body of the redevelopment plan include all three levels of the
Basque government: the regional Basque Autonomous Government, provincial Council

6
Henk van Houtum and Arnoud Lagendijk, Contextualising Regional Identity and Imagination in the
Construction of Polycentric Urban Regions: The Cases of the Ruhr Area and the Basque Country, Journal
of Urban Studies 38, no. 4 (2001): 761-762.







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of Vizcaya and municipal, and Town Council or City Hall of Bilbao. In addition, several
public-private partnership organizations were formed including the Association for the
Revitalization Metropolitan Bilbao, Bilbao metropolis-30, and Bilbao Ria 2000, to
participate and promote an integrated and comprehensive public plan that would shape
the city for the future. In terms of population and economic potential, Bilbao stands as the
fifth largest metropolitan area of Spain producing half of the Basque Countrys gross
national product. To implement and develop a regeneration plan that would prove
successful, an inestimable amount of support was required. The Metropolitan Bilbao
organization was initiated in 1991 by the Bizkaia County Council to carry out and
establish strategies that would make this a reality. This Association aims to foster public-
private cooperation and establish priorities and goals, combining economic and social
agents and to identify areas of strength and weakness in order to achieve this vision of
success.
7
Bilbao Metropoli-30 was formed to carry out planning, research and
promotion projects, headed towards the recuperation and revitalization of Bilbao, thus
making the plan a social and economic reality.
8
In 1987, the Bilbao City Council
acknowledged the economic crisis the city was facing. The City Administration decided
to set up a non-profit company, shared by 50% Basque and State Administration and
companies belonging to the Central Administration who owned the land which needed to

7
Association for the Revitalization of Bilbao, Nature and Mission, Bilbao! Metropolitan Bilbao,
http://www.bm30.es/bm30/bm30_uk.html.

8
Bilbao Metropoli30 Association, Bilbao Metropoli-30, Agents of the Revitalization Process,
http://www.bm30.es/homeage_uk.html (accessed, November 18, 2010).








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be redeveloped.
9
This was the establishment of Bilbao Ria 2000. The redevelopment
plan addresses current issues of urban decay and provides steps for confronting future
challenges.
10
In order for Bilbao and the region to recover, the Basque Government
recognized the need to develop a regeneration process that was at once complex and
multi-faceted while including a wide range of stakeholders and addressing their interests.
The main strategy for redevelopment was based on the imperative need to
prevent further urban decline and re-establish Bilbao as a key node on the European
Atlantic axis. In order to accomplish this enormous task an ambitious plan of action had
to be implemented not only guaranteeing the survival of the city but also establishing
the city as a competitive node in an emerging post-industrial global urban network.
11

Spatially, the plan identified key opportunity areas for redeveloping the area for
global tourism. In order to reinvent the Citys industrial image to attract economic
investment and capital, Bilbao had to reflect contemporality and cosmopolitanism. A
modern, forward-looking image had to be created and built into the urban landscape. To
accomplish this goal, the decision was made to invest in major infrastructure projects,
particularly in transportation and cultural entities, large-scale blank canvases that could
be used in branding and marketing plans. In order for the new infrastructure projects to
have the greatest aesthetic impact government leaders made the decision to only procure
world-famous architects to design these projects.

9
Josu M. Goirizelaia, Bilbao: the transformation, (Bilbao: Arketypo, 2006), 51.

10
Jorg Ploger, Bilbao City Report (Center for Analysis of Social Exclusion: London School of Economics,
2007), http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cr/CASEreport43.pdf, 15.

11
S. Gonzalez, Scalar Narratives in Bilbao: a cultural politics of scales approach to the study of urban
policy, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 30, no.4 (2006): 836-857.







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The architect Cesar Pelli, who also designed the Battery Park waterfront
regeneration scheme in New York City, drafted the master plan for Bilbaos
redevelopment. Substantial investments were made in the transportation infrastructure of
Bilbaos metropolitan area, which aimed to improve accessibility and connections for the
citys residents on a wider scale both regionally and internationally. Modernization and
the upgrading of short and long distance transport infrastructure would prove to be
instrumental in the redevelopment of Bilbao. Investment in local public transit was
dominated by the inauguration of the new metro system with stations designed by
architect Norman Foster, while the airport was being expanded with a new landmark
terminal designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. The objective behind these
investments was to improve Bilbaos accessibility for both passengers and goods. The
Basque regional government saw infrastructure development as one of the key elements
in facilitating the regions shift towards a service-oriented economy based on cultural
tourism and as a means to generate economic development.
A key site designated for regeneration was Abandoibarra, the area that this thesis
will specifically focus on in regards to the selection of public art and design. Located on
the riverfront, this redevelopment area was a brownfield site, severely contaminated from
former industrial uses and occupied by abandoned harbor and railway infrastructure. The
redevelopment plan involved the creation of a new museum and arts complex to act as
the anchor for this urban location. The decision to redevelop Bilbao was based on the
idea that arts and culture could bring with it an economic renaissance that would
eliminate the bighted urban and social conditions found not only in the waterfront area of







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Bilbao but in the city as a whole. Organizations such as Bilbao Ria 2000 and Bilbao
Metropoli-30 saw the establishment of cultural institutions as part of the aesthetic veneer
of urban infrastructure and as a possible key toward economic recovery.
The centerpiece of Bilbaos urban renewal scheme included several architectural
endeavors and accomplishments including the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. In fact, the
original plan did not include the Guggenheim; it included a museum of moderate scale,
concentrating on Spanish art and artists.
12
A key player in the Plan for Revitalization
was Bilbaos City Council. The groups interests were in four areas that they considered
key in the overall redevelopment. These areas included the accessibility of transportation
within and outside the city, urban and environmental remediation, an investment in
human capital, and the development of technology and cultural centrality. The
redevelopment plan adopted by Bilbaos City Council specifically called for the process
of urban renewal to center around cultural centrality as an element of internal
vitalization and external promotion.
13
City Council felt that a boost to cultural activity
was one of the main strategies to make Bilbao the focal point of international attraction.
Eventually, although a deal would be brokered to bring the Guggenheim to Bilbao, no
one would have predicted that the Guggenheim Museum would produce what has
become known as the Guggenheim effect or Bilbao effect. Initially, the Guggenheim
Museum was not considered a masterpiece, merely an important part of a comprehensive

12
Santamaria, 80.

13
Lan Ekintza Bilbao: Bilbao City Council, Bilbao: A City For Investment, (Bilbao, Spain, 1989)
http://www.bilbao.net/ingles/bilbaonegocios/invertir/pdf/cityforinvestment.pdf, 8.







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plan centered on producing a new image of dynamism and success through enhancing the
citys capacity to attract international capital investment and activities.
14

The framework in which to understand the acceptance of the Guggenheim Bilbao
in the regions landscape is, according to Jon Azua, chairman of a Bilbao think-tank
organization, one of a complex cultural process that is difficult to initially interpret. Azua,
contends that since Bilbao is the heart of the Basque nation and has long held the position
as a respected globalized industrial city even through the succession of wars, Franco
dictatorship, and deindustrialized economic base, had taken its toll on the regions people.
Therefore, in an effort to revitalize and re-emerge as a modernized economy, great
measures had to be employed. As redevelopment was initiated, redevelopment
organizations realized that the importance of the cultural infrastructure within the city
had the power to instill self esteem and pride in the citys residents, allowing for the
reinvention of the economy.
15
It is sufficient to say that the strong place attachment,
which stems from the Basque culture, has to be recast in order to further economic
development and erase the negative image due to Bilbaos industrial past.
16
The end
result in developing a new image for the city had to be through the creation of a new
emblem, which reflected the citys new modern cultural identity. The emblem would be
the public art installations found at the Guggenheim Bilbao, which would become a

14
Santamaria, 81.

15
Jon Azua, Guggenheim Bilbao: Competitive strategies for the new culture economy spaces (paper
presented at Learning from the Guggenheim, Reno, Nevada, April 22-24, 2004).

16
Van Houtum and Lagendijk, 761.







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cultural commodity and visual branding element of Bilbao, created by foreigners with no
Basque ties.
Many factors in the redevelopment of Bilbao were trend setting and forged new
ground in the politics of urban regeneration. One of these factors included the alliance
formed by the public and private sectors to set the plan for Bilbaos regeneration into
action and see it through to implementation. The renewal plan for the Greater
Metropolitan Area of Bilbao set in motion a collaboration of public and private interests
and led the government to step into the role of lead entrepreneur in a series of urban
renewal projects, with the Guggenheim being one of many. However, the Guggenheim
development served as an exemplary flagship project that placed Bilbao back on the
global map, helping it to regain the cosmopolitan status of centuries past. Another
significant political aspect of Bilbaos redevelopment plan is that the Basque Government
did not go to Madrid, Spains ruling center, to assist with the revitalization efforts of
Bilbao and its state of deindustrialization. This was a pointed decision of the Basque
government in defiance of the Spanish nation states central power structure. The Basque
leaders instead chose to look to the New York cultural elites to determine the look of
cosmopolitan for their region.
As a result, the Basque government made concessions to the hegemonies of the
New York cultural elite. The Guggenheim promised Bilbao access to culture, which in
turn would bring economic prosperity. Prior to the introduction of the Guggenheim,
Bilbao had never been a tourist or cultural destination. For centuries, Bilbao had been a
player in global industrial trade and commerce but never cultural tourism. Now with the







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