Art is said to foster a climate of aspiration. Now is is also being used to create and encourage economic vitality.
A traveller leaving Silicon Valley in California and flying to Bilbao in Spain would pass two of the most important public arts projects in the world.
Hiring a car and driving into the Rioja wine region, they could witness another though more modest icon-in-the-making - the Frank Gehry-designed Hotel Marques de Riscal.
In Rioja, Gehry has used flowing titanium ribbons coloured in gold, pink and silver, as the roof of the new hotel, echoing the canopy of the nearby vineyards. Its visual effect is entirely novel and a reason to hire that car and take the drive.
Also in the Rioja stands the Zaha Hadid-designed tasting room at the Lopez de Heredia winery. Between them Gehry and Hadid are reinventing high architecture as rural innovation.
Business is also intensifying its relationship with art. Becks, the German beer brand, now spends, according to senior brand manager Nicola Gates, 25 per cent of its annual advertising and marketing budget for the UK and Ireland on arts projects. Does it work, and if so how? Back to Silicon Valley.
At the Mineta San Jose International Airport, development is underway for one of the most ambitious public arts project ever undertaken. The airport development plan includes continuous art commissions that are integral to the structural redevelopment of the airport. "It is more and more recognized that cultural development enhances the economic vitality of a city," explains Mary Rubin of the San Jose City Government.
"San Jose is the largest city in northern California and the capital of Silicon Valley - the world's leading center of innovation and, in turn, we were interested in creating an innovative programme," she says.
It was run-down Bilbao in northern Spain not the capital of innovation, San Jose, that was the pioneer in the use of art to develop a more innovative culture.
As early as 1991, the city of Bilbao decided to pitch to the New York-based Guggenheim Foundation to be the European Centre for the extensive Guggenheim art collection. That Gehry-designed building is now a magnet for visitors to Spain and has processed over 7 million paying visitors since it opened 10 years ago. Learning from Bilbao, several UK cities including Glasgow, Birmingham and Newcastle followed suit. In car-focused Birmingham, the city-centre was pedestrianised and redesigned around public artworks, encouraging artists and creative professionals into the city.
A month ago, Dublin Docklands Development Agency (DDDA) announced it was commissioning artist Anthony Gormley to create a unique 160-foot high artwork for the docklands' river basin. "The Gormley piece will use technology that didn't exist 12 years ago," says Mary McCarthy, arts manager at the DDDA emphasising the innovative nature of the project.
So what does art contribute to an innovative culture? Toby Scott, who now runs the Centre for Design Innovation at Sligo Institute of Technology was previously responsible for distributing lottery funding at the UK Arts Council which played a major role in Birmingham and other cities' art policies. "I'm convinced that innovation is built on applied creativity," Scott explains, "and applied creativity will only work where there is community confidence and examples that things can be better than they are. Art is about creating aspiration."
In the private sector, Becks sees things only slightly differently. "Becks is a challenging brand," explains Gates. "What we've seen supporting the arts and challenging people, is we are engaging with early adopters and influencers. We believe that will drive brand preference for Becks." Becks is currently funding a project to bring together artists and musicians and has created a novel "pod", a cabin that will give visitors an immersive experience in the final musical/artist product. Those pods will be installed in Dublin as well as London and a number of other UK cities.
Though there appears to be a common theme in the use of arts, there is also divergence. At the airport in San Jose "an innovative public art programme at the airport will reinforce, reflect and enhance the identity of the city of San Jose," says Rubin. The arts appear to be used to create aspiration, according to Scott, to symbolise an innovative culture, according to Rubin, and as a way of engaging with trendsetters, according to Gates.
The key question, however, is does it work? Amy Kaufman is a strategist at Lord consultancy, a cultural adviser that worked on the Bilbao Guggenheim project. "It needs investment," she says. "You need to get the right amount to enhance economic development, but the public sector doesn't want to fund it. So the answer has always been art enhances the economy, but it's a very expensive endeavour, and recently there have been questions raised about the degree to which it is a worthwhile investment. My view is absolutely, but that it's not just a monetary return."
Everyone has a hunch that art works well to foster a new climate of aspiration and creativity but nobody can say for sure. The themes of aspiration, leadership through influencers and interacting with innovative cultures, echo sentiments of ambition and innovation without there ever being evidence. A further question is: what do you do when a country, such as Ireland, has aspiration enough? "There is a danger that economic success is consolidating a conservative business culture here," says Scott. "Art reflects the society that creates it and we're not seeing any extraordinary art. I'd be looking at that as an area needing cultural leadership."
Doubts affect private sector investment too. What is the evidence of a return for Becks? "If only it was that easy," acknowledges Gates. "We do a lot of activities and we feel art is integral to getting to influencers. But it is difficult to assess. Our brand preference scores have been improving, but it is difficult to attribute that to one activity alone." At Becks the impact of the arts programme is also to keep staff thinking ahead, engaging with artists and curators who routinely innovate. For those who want hard facts though, engaging with the arts remains a leap of faith.
Recreating an arty feeling:
The Hotel Marques De Riscalin Elciego in the Rioja wine region is one of he most stunning pieces of architecture in Europe and has attracted global press interest.
Frank Gehry, Brad Pitt's mentor, is said to have taken the job after the vineyard owners served him a reserve wine from the year of his birth, 1929. It is unique also in stimulating economic activity in a rural area.
Birmingham Cityin the British midlands set out to re-create the city centre away from the car which had previously taken precedence here.
A contemporary 120 square metre glass mural, a water feature centred on three giant glass cubes, a brass bull over two metres high, and a 24-hour pedestrian area lined with artwork panels are some of the features of the project.
The objective was to replace traffic with public art works that would make the city centre a new European destination.
The redevelopment at Silicon Valley's San Jose International Airportis being used to deliver a multi-annual arts programme that the City Council hopes will identify San Jose as a diverse global centre for change and innovation and "as a place where ideas are born".
Its purpose is to "reinforce San Jose's stature as a creative and tech-savvy city, the world's leading region for innovation".
The plan is to create platforms around the airport where art works can be displayed or sited in a rolling programme of commissions over a number of years.
