Underskog

Museet for samtidskunst is pleased to continue its series of afternoon panel discussions. The second to go: Who Owns Public Space? – Participation of Art

At first sight “Who owns public space?” seems to be an easy enough question to answer, it is owned by the citizens, the sovereign. But in fact public space is a highly regulated, normative area which is submitted to strict rules of behaviour and security measures and most importantly, it is shrinking. It has been pointed out that public space is disappearing and that this is one of the most significant changes of the contemporary city. Others argue that public space is an abstraction and that it only comes into existence once it is being used and acted in. Has public space become an event zone which is rented out to harmless entertainment like streetball tournaments, Christmas fairs or concerts? Are institutions to be the substitute agora of the contemporary city?

The panel shall try to define the different typologies of public and semi public space (city space, museums, public buildings, malls etc.), investigate the regulations of their accessibility and question in which way participation of the arts in the public arena is possible and how the paradigms change once public land is sold off to private or corporate developers. Is there still room in the contemporary city for informal interventions, mobile or permanent art and subversive acts? And if not, how can the people reclaim power over public space?

Ane Hjort Guttu (1971) is an artist based in Oslo. She graduated from the National Art Academy in Oslo 1998 and participated in numerous exhibitions in Norway and abroad. Her work focuses on neglected, downgraded or ridiculed places, often demonstrations of unsuccessful Utopian ideas, such areas as satellite towns or so called “sloaps”, spaces left over after planning.

Levente Polyák (1979) is an urbanist, researcher and critic. Currently he is a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York. He studied architecture, urbanism, sociology and art theory in Budapest and Paris, and has been a lecturer at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, the Budapest University of Technology and the Technische Universität Wien. He is a doctoral candidate at the Central European University, Budapest.

Markus Richter (1964) is a freelance curator and writer based in Oslo and Berlin. He studied art history, philosophy and literature at Freie Universität in Berlin. Exhibition projects include Ideal City – Invisible Cities 2006, Megastructure Reloaded 2008 and We are all Astronauts – Universe Richard Buckminster Fuller reflected in Contemporary Art at MARTa Herford, 2011. Currently he is the artistic director of the 2nd International Biennial for Light Art, Dortmund 2012.

Moderator: Tone Hansen (1970) is an artist, curator and researcher based in Oslo. She has contributed with several articles and lectures on public sphere and art both nationally and internationally. She was part of the planning group for Bjørvika, and editor of the anthologies What does Public Mean? Art as a Participant on the Public Arena, and recently (Re)Staging the Art Museum. Since 2011 Tone Hansen is the Director of Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden.

Upcoming Themes:

19.01.12 THE RECENT FOCUS ON WOMEN ARTISTS IN EUROPEAN MUSEUMS

16.02.12 CAN ART BE POLITICAL?

22.03.12 HOW TO WORK (MORE FOR) LESS: THE PRECARITY OF INTELLECTUAL AND CREATIVE WORK

12.04.12 WHAT IS A MONUMENT?

10.05.12 CRISIS OF MULTICULTURALISM?