About not separating art and writing: The unfinished public artwork that studies finished public artwork in New York

Abstract This article articulates an example of the relationship between practice and theory that utilizes the Freudo-Lacanian approach, of a researching art object. The artwork and the writing are not separate entities, but rather ask the same questions and intervene into public space in New York, and the academic world simultaneously. The Public Utteraton Machines, which will be installed on pavements in New York in 2014, are not finished when installed, because they ask questions. This article furthermore synthesizes arguments for the relinquishment of traditional notions of the creative magus or genius figure, disengaged with society, in favour of artistic research as a means to forge a coherent connection to the world outside the artists own life world. It argues that the separation between practice (making art) and art history (writing about other art), i.e. an art historical approach to interpreting art, is not the only way to create or interpret public art and writing. Therefore in this case, intervening into the public art discourse in New York where my research takes place, through an unfinished object in space is most appropriate.