Please Touch: Sculpture for a City

This visual tour of St. Louis, MO’s Citygarden—one of America’s most renowned sculpture gardens—is an exciting introduction to the world of public art. In 2009 the city of St. Louis, MO, under the direction of the Gateway Foundation, converted two vacant parcels of land into a world-class sculpture park, housing works by revered artists such as Keith Haring, Erwin Wurm, and Niki de Saint Phalle. The park, which attracts nearly one million visitors a year, is open 24-hours a day and allows the public to touch and even climb on the works. Many of the park’s extraordinary pieces are profiled, as are sculptures that have been installed in other locations throughout St. Louis. Essays exploring the history of Citygarden, the benefits of public art, and the transformative force of the nonprofit Gateway Foundation, make this volume an important contribution to the study of public art.