Talk

Encounters: Artists, Cities, and Communities:
Through public commissions and site-responsive projects, the ways in which artists engage with the cities and sites they encounter continue to evolve alongside the communities and organizations that present their work. From citywide curatorial projects like Elmgreen & Dragset’s A Place Called Public in Munich, to Sam Durant’s investigation of historical narratives and their contemporary communities, and Katharina Grosse’s numerous site-specific outdoor commissions, considerations of place and people are always paramount to working in the public realm. The spring 2014 series of Public Art Fund Talks at The New School brings together a diverse group of artists to share the inspirations and practicalities involved in their varied approaches to the places and communities that become sites for public art.

Collaborators since 1995, Elmgreen & Dragset create unusual installations and performance pieces that draw connections between art and architecture, public and private space, and a myriad of social issues. With their distinctive wit and a clever sensibility, their approach to art in the public realm has included curatorial projects, live actions, and numerous outdoor sculptures in cities across the globe.

Elmgreen &  Dragset (Michael Elmgreen b. 1961, Copenhagen, Denmark; Ingar Dragset b. 1968, Trondheim, Norway) live and work in London and Berlin, respectively. Solo exhibitions of their work have been presented in art institutions worldwide, including the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2011); ZKM Museum of Modern Art, Karlsruhe, Germany (2010); The Power Plant, Toronto (2006); Serpentine Gallery, London (2006); Tate Modern, London (2004), and Kunsthalle Zürich (2001). Their work has been included in numerous biennials including those in Istanbul (2013, 2001), Liverpool (2012), Singapore (2011), Moscow (2011, 2007), Venice (2009), Gwangju (2002), São Paulo (2002), and Berlin (1998). Among their most well-known works are Prada Marfa (2005)— a full scale replica of a Prada boutique in the middle of desolate west Texas— and Short Cut (2003)— a car and a caravan breaking through the ground which was first shown in Milan and now resides in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Their winning Fourth Plinth Commission, Powerless Structures, Fig. 101, depicting a child astride his rocking horse, was on view from 2012 to 2013 in Trafalgar Square, London, and they recently curated an extensive public art program in Munich entitled A Space Called Public / Hoffentlich Öffentlich (2013). Elmgreen & Dragset are represented by Galerie Perrotin in New York.

The Public Art Fund Talks at The New School are organized by the Public Art Fund in collaboration with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics.

Rescheduled from February 13.