Queues, Rendezvous, Riots: Questioning the Public in Art and Architecture

Denise C. Jakal is an architectural writer in Edmonton.

Queues, Rendezvous, Riots is a well-crafted record of an exhibition
under the same title at the Walter Phillips Gallery at the Banff Centre
for the Arts. Aspects of the exhibition installations are documented and
reproduced. The accompanying essays range from curatorial explanations
to complex and philosophical musings on the notion of the public. Taken
together, they confirm the concluding statement in the final essay: that
the question of art, architecture, and the public “is not merely a
rhetorical question; certainly it is bound to remain an open one.”

While some of the essays are difficult and laden with theoretical
jargon, others are engaging and anecdotal. Of particular interest is the
final essay: which discusses the indifference and hostility with which
the exhibition was received by the artistic community. This volume will
be of interest to anyone who is concerned about the fate of the visual
arts as the 20th century comes to a close.