Presented at the conference Public Art Dialogue - Southeast sponsored by the Durham Arts Council and the North Carolina Arts Council, held in Durham, North Carolina, June 8-11, 1989.

I will ... characterize public art in this way. . . . it ... proposes - deliberately - to engage the public and even in some cases to make a social point. What this social point is, of course, is hardly uniform in the artworks themselves, or in the writings and utterances of those involved in or concerned about public art. In the notes that follow, I will make my own suggestion about an appropriate moral point for public art, and thus offer an interpretation about what it is, or might be, for public art to engage the public. My suggestion flows from my thoughts about what is required of responsible individuals in our time .... (p. 78)