"In 1981, The Stuart Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to funding experimental public sculpture, and the University of California, San Diego formed an extraordinary partnership to create the only major public, site-specific sculpture collection in the world. This collection has redefined the entire arena of public art. Instead of asking artists to create an object, without reference to the site, they required that each artist explore the campus carefully, and create a site-specific piece that could be integrated into the beautifully landscaped, 1,200-acre UCSD campus in La Jolla. The collection includes more than 20 works by some of the art world's most important contemporary artists, including Niki de Saint Phalle, William Wegman, Bruce Nauman, Kiki Smith, Nam June Paik, and Robert Irwin, among others. This new edition of Landmarks: Sculpture Commissions for the Stuart Collection focuses closely on the collection and its artists. The book features an essay from and interview with the collection's founding director, Mary Beebe; a new essay on the role of the Stuart Collection in the development of public art practice from Miwon Kwon; and interviews conducted by Joan Simon with all the artists featured in the collection"--