The main goal of the article is to define new kind of artistic practice — public art. The author presents fundamental formulations of this phenomenon in art criticism and history of art and proposes his own approach. According to it public art is such a kind of artistic practice, which takes place outside traditional artistic institutions and whose main goal is to create public sphere and to materialize democratic order. The article contains some reflections upon public art genesis and evolution and argues that public art shouldn’t be defined as another kind of art because it is a very particular specific cultural practice. The author also attempts to present changes of public art in the last four decades and create classification of public art genres.