Guest Editorial: Public art meets performance art in Petaluma

This editorial is from the Petaluma Argus-Courier:

Congratulations, Petaluma. Sonoma County's second-largest city made history as the first city to not just approve a public art project, but to become one.

In approving 'A Fine Balance,' the sculpture of five Victorian-era claw-foot bathtubs on stilts above Water Street, the Petaluma City Council closed a chapter — likely not the final one — in a saga that has sparked a conversation about art and politics, even as it as polarized the community.

Like the proposed replica washbasins precariously tottering on metal poles, the council did its best to strike 'a fine balance' on the project that has been in the works for five years. Instead of scrapping the entire project, as some called for, wasting years of work and thousands of dollars, the elected leaders decided to install the piece for a minimum of 10 years and then revisit the project.

This will provide an opportunity for the work to actually be realized, at which point we can see if the most dire predictions about the bathtubs being the end of charming Petaluma as we know it come true.

The most likely scenario is not that the art project will tear an unrepairable hole in the fabric of our society. If anything, the much discussed piece will be a curiosity at first, attracting visitors to see what all the fuss is about.

For sure, the piece by renowned artist Brian Goggin will class up Water Street, an area of town with much potential that is currently a rat-infested back alley and home to a rotting former train trestle with views of fetid piles of river mud.

After the installation and the initial novelty wears off, the piece will likely fade into the background of the city as the controversy fades from our public discourse. Naysayers may even find they like the piece, or at least greet it with a shoulder shrug and an unenthusiastic 'meh.'

A decade from now, though, we will get to open the time capsule and rehash the debate that has divided Petaluma. The council said in its decision that in 10 years it will consider making 'A Fine Balance' permanent, relocating the project, or removing it altogether.

The semi-permanence of the council's decision ensures that the performance art this process has become will continue. And perhaps that is the real artwork — the process that has sparked such community engagement.

Before a single cobblestone has been excavated on Water Street, the community has contributed volumes to the performance art piece. Observe the impassioned opinions expressed on social media and at public meetings. Look at the petitions and crowdfunding for an attorney to fight the project. Even this editorial is an artifact of 'A Fine Balance.'

'A Fine Balance' is more than just some bathtubs on stilts. It is a debate over what public art means to a community, and Petaluma is the central subject. With its balanced approach to decision making, the council has ensured that the performance will continue.

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