ABSTRACT
In order to discuss the topic of contemporary agency and art patronage in a British context, this chapter focuses on the role played by an agency in the more administrative sense of the word, an independent 'art commissioning agency' still very much active today called Artangel. The Artangel Trust was set up in 1985 by Roger Took and was first based on Oxford Street. The objectives of the trust have changed very little over the 30-odd years of its existence. However, changes in the context in which Artangel operates might have transformed the meaning of such notions as 'public locations', 'social or political intervention', or even 'temporary'. Since 1985, the Artangel Trust has stood apart from the two forms of commissioning by being neither a public body nor an organisation led by private interests. It is a small-scale agency, which is recognised as the originator and funder of some of the most iconic ephemeral site-specific artworks in Britain.
