Art in the public
sphere
Traditionally public art has had a close link to the notion of site and
historically to representing power. Today contemporary art takes on a
different relation to public spheres as art has become a specific
medium for addressing power, demanding a right to information and
participation - a way of keeping checks and balances in contemporary
democracy. Being less about site contemporary art practices deal with
making things public and different ways of addressing and creating
public spheres.
Making things public
Public Address explores how cultural producers work with different
strategies to make things publicly known. The project is composed as a
discussion forum and the production of a series of posters involving a
small group of artists who takes a special interest in various ways of
working with public spheres both as a concept as well as on a more
concrete level. These different approaches include research oriented
practices, activist strategies as well as a more general interest in
investigating, countering and producing new or hidden knowledge about
topical issues of society and the world we live in.
About
The discussion forum takes the form of a five-day meeting in New York
facilitating debates on the current situation of art’s role in
the public sphere by generating an exchange of different artistic
practices and approaches. The aim is to create a dialogue between
artists working in different contexts with related issues and to link
the similar concerns, challenges and situations we are faced with. The
programme for the five-day meeting is planned as a series of
discussions addressing questions regarding notions of public space,
relevant artistic responses to current conditions and the role of art
organisations. A small number of speakers have been invited to give
presentations on relevant topics, which will function as inspiration
for further debate.
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In short:
New York meeting
24th – 28th of September 2007
Participants
Kristina Ask, Kenneth A. Balfelt, Kirsten Forkert,
Ayreen Anastas & Renée Gabri,
Sharon Hayes, Ashley Hunt, Annika Lundgren, Rikke Luther, Åsa
Sonjasdotter, Daniel Tucker.
Organisers
Public Address is initiated by Nis Rømer,
Gregory Sholette and Katarina Stenbeck under publik, a Danish
organisation producing art for public spaces in Copenhagen.
Speakers
CUP, Gregory Sholette
Doug Ashford, Not An Alternative
Sponsor
The project
is sponsored by the Danish Art Council’s Denmark-New York focus fund
DaNY Arts.
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