Public what?

Okay, so I go marching off into the world ready to talk and look at public art. But what does public art mean?
It has meant different things in London and in Cardiff, and here in Glasgow, if I ask where can I see some contemporary public art I will get a blank look and a referral to the GoMA or Glasgow Museum of Modern Art (which is where incidentally I am writing this from; Glasgow have kindly furnished me with a library card and wonderful access to their library computers beneath the gallery).
There are flourishes here and there in wrought iron, and plenty of colour on the streets (clothes and tattoos) but nothing that we would recognise as contemporary public art visa vie NZ in the heart of the city.
No murals, no painted transformer boxes, no kinetic sculpture on the corner just for the apparent hang of it.
There is as has been in Paris, London and Cardiff so far, bountiful riches in heritage architecture. There are great monuments to poets and politicians. In George Square there is Walter Scott atop a plinth that may approach, but not equal, Nelson's Column in London. Heroic stuff indeed.
And there are the Charles Rennie MacIntosh buildings and structures, of which I have yet to fully explore.
It's Sunday here. Unusally hot I am told, and more of the city's culture and heritage to be explored.