Talk

Berlin-based, Danish artist Jeppe Hein’s work places the viewer at the center of the art experience. Often conceived for public space, his sculptures invite a relational, interactive, and playful experience. For Hein, artworks that are functional can act as a catalyst for engagement— both with the work and among visitors. Coinciding with the artist’s Public Art Fund exhibition Please Touch the Art (May 17, 2015-April 17, 2016 at Brooklyn Bridge Park), the talk explores Hein’s experiences working in public space through recent projects.

For Please Touch the Art, the artist has installed three forms of social sculptures in Brooklyn Bridge Park: Appearing Rooms, a systematically shifting architectural space formed by jets of water; Mirror Labyrinth NY, a site-specific installation of mirror-polished stainless steel that reflects and distorts the distinctive skyline of lower Manhattan; and sixteen bright red Modified Social Benches, alterations upon the familiar outdoor park bench, which actively engage visitors’ perceptions of public space with their curious curves and undulations.

Jeppe Hein (b. 1974, Copenhagen, Denmark) lives and works in Berlin and Copenhagen. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, and the Städelschule, Frankfurt. He has had major solo exhibitions presented at institutions around the globe, including the Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2014); Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki (2013); Faena Arts Centre, Buenos Aires (2012); 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2011); IMA – Indianapolis Museum of Art (2010); ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark (2009); Barbican Centre, London (2007); and Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2005), among many others. His work has also been shown in group exhibitions worldwide and is represented in major public collections, including those of the Neues Museum Nürnberg, Germany; Tate, United Kingdom; and Museum of 2 of 3 Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, among others. He is represented by 303 Gallery in New York, Johann Koenig in Berlin, Galleri Nicolai Wallner in Copenhagen, and SCAI The Bathhouse in Tokyo.

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 at The New School.

This program is made possible in part by Con Edison and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.