Public Sculpture in Downtown Albany

I work in downtown Albany in a large Gothic building built by the D&H Railroad Company in their heyday but now owned by the State University of New York. It’s in a very central location within Albany, at the intersection of two major roads running through downtown (State and Broadway). Despite this, there are vacant storefronts everywhere you look. Entire buildings appear empty, and while they are not necessarily in a state of decay, there are tell tale signs that the building is no longer in use. Many buildings have “For Sale” signs on them, and storefronts often proclaim “For Rent”.


Recently, the city of Albany has installed a series of sculptures around downtown. They feature life size sculptures of people doing various every day activities. There is the sculpture of a couple of men in suits shaking hands as if to seal a deal in front of the lobby of a large office building. There is a man holding a camera and gesturing, as if instructing his imaginary subject to pose in another location. Another is a Mariachi band by the entrance to a bank. An old man sits on a park bench with his dog sitting faithfully by his side.

The cumulative effect of these sculptures to me is that they underscore the absence in real life of the activities/people they are portraying. There are no Mariachi bands playing around downtown Albany (or any kind of musicians, for that matter). Most of the time, the sidewalks are nearly empty and quiet. These sculptures give physical presence to the absence. It makes it only more conspicuous that Albany does not have an active and populous downtown and must resort to a fantasy of unwavering bronze figures to fill the void.

I presume that the funding for this series of “art work” was public, and as such I wonder what the public benefit is from this expense. I would object to describing these figures as beautiful; they are rather unimaginative and literal depictions of conventional activities. Are they saying something? Do they offer a commentary on the state of decay in another American city that has seen better days? No. they seem to be a lame and pointless way to “activate” the urban landscape in a way that is completely artificial and has no long term compounding benefits.

At some point, these sculptures will deteriorate and have to be removed. And in their absence, the vacuum that will immediately return will not be made smaller by these unmoving and temporary inhabitants of downtown Albany.