A social asset or an aesthetic accessory – art in architecture: between potential and compromise

Art is currently being created on a large scale in Berlin, including as part of the city’s school-building initiative. What is being planned, produced and installed today will form part of the built environment tomorrow. But what ‘happens’ to these works once they have been unveiled and handed over to their users?

The closing event of the Month of Art in Architecture takes the moment of public unveiling as an opportunity to discuss the status quo of this particular art form and to explore its potential:

What reasons do artists have for engaging with – or choosing not to engage with – the specific requirements and restrictions of public art commissions? What does it mean for the visibility of art, for its appreciation and communication, when it is transferred into public ownership by schools and departments responsible for streets and green spaces, etc., which are then responsible for its upkeep? Could or should this ‘invisible’ collection, which, in addition to its material value, also functions as the cultural and historical memory of the city of Berlin, be made accessible beyond its daily circle of users, and if so, how?

In conversation with guests from the fields of art production and education, curator Ellen Blumenstein turns her attention to the potential – and pitfalls – of the genre.

The event is an invitation to discuss public art against the backdrop of the democratic commitment to art and culture as a public good, whilst also openly questioning its potential for social critique.

With Dr Thomas Köhler (Director of the Berlinische Galerie), Judith Laub (Head of Urban Culture / Berlin’s Mitte District Office), Alona Rodeh (artist), Dr Barbara Steiner (Director and Chair of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation), Heiko Wichert (Haus der Jugend Mitte/SPI Foundation)

Welcome by Stefanie Remlinger (Patron and District Mayor)

Moderator: Ellen Blumenstein (Curator)

In German.