“The New Public” is the exhibition set to open Museion’s autumn season on 14th September curated by Rein Wolfs, Museion’s guest curator for 2012 and director of the Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel.

The main theme of the exhibition is the new “public dimension” of politics, daily life and art, explored in more than 30 works that include installations, sculptures and video. The show features 14 artists: Nina Beier, Rossella Biscotti & Kevin van Braak, Valentin Carron, Matias Faldbakken, Petrit Halilaj, Christian Jankowski, Klara Lidén, Erik van Lieshout, Helen Marten and Danh Vo. Juliette Blightman, Erik van Lieshout and Metahaven will be creating installations for the occasion, while San Keller will be staging a new performance piece. The exhibition is designed as a forum that brings together different artistic stances and relates them to the Alpine landscape outside.

Our concept of the public dimension has changed hugely over the last few decades. Following the privatisations implemented by neo-liberal governments, public control over economic and social developments has weakened, making way for a new world order run by the private economy. In the light of the current economic and financial crisis these developments are regarded with a critical eye; protest movements like “Occupy” insistently call for the establishment of a new res publica.

In other ways, however, the concept of the “public sphere” has gained increasing importance in today’s society. Intimate matters are published at the drop of a hat; thoughts are declared before they are even properly formulated, and anything perceived as immoral is instantly condemned. Everything is there for the taking and thanks to technological gadgetry, those who were traditionally on art’s receiving end have now become producers of images.

The importance of the public in contemporary art has also changed radically. New communication strategies have influenced the way museums approach mediation and public relations. Moreover, curatorial work and even artistic practice itself have developed new and unexpected ways of relating to the public. The public has changed, becoming what could be considered a new public.

The works on display for “The New Public” express different artistic visions of the new public dimension: the comparison/contrast between public and private (Helen Marten, Erik van Lieshout, Juliette Blightman, Petrit Halilaj and Danh Vo); the contamination between “public space” and museum venue (Matias Faldbakken, Klara Lidén); the fine line between the free market and public art (Christian Jankowski, Nina Beier, Metahaven) and lastly the demise and monumentalisation of public ideologies and religion (Rossella Biscotti & Kevin van Braak, Valentin Carron).

“The Library”, created by the artist Rosella Biscotti, present at documenta(13), together with Kevin van Braak, is a sort of prison structure that gathers written records of the lost Communist ideology of the Baltic countries. In a series of charcoal drawings the Dutch artist Erik van Lieshout tackles the brazen public interest in the grief of Queen Beatrice after her son’s skiing accident. Christian Jankowski presents his “Living Sculptures” in bronze and his installation “The Finest Art on Water”, which elevates two luxury yachts to the status of precious contemporary artworks. The Scandinavian artist and writer Matias Faldbakken, also present at documenta(13), creates a tiled wall that he fills with graffiti, before cancelling it all out again; on 19th September, in collaboration with Transart, Museion plays host to a theatrical adaptation of Faldbakken’s latest book, “Unfun”.

The English artist Juliette Blightman has developed a new installation which contrasts her Berlin flat with the South Tyrol landscape. The Swiss artist San Keller has produced a new work for the occasion: the performance “Meet the Others”, that will bring together the people of Bolzano on two occasions - 30 November, during the city’s Museums Night initiative, and 12th December. The Amsterdam collective Metahaven presents a large format installation that explores burning topical issues in a way that manages to be both subtle and striking at the same time.

The artists in the exhibition
Nina Beier, Rossella Biscotti & Kevin van Braak, Juliette Blightman, Valentin Carron, Matias Faldbakken, Petrit Halilaj, Christian Jankowski, Klara Lidén, Erik van Lieshout, Helen Marten, Metahaven, San Keller, Danh Vo.

Museion
Via Dante. 6
Bolzano 39100 Italy
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Thursday from 10.00 am to 10.00 pm
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Tickets
Full € 6.00, reduced € 3.50
Free admission: Thursday from 6.00 pm to 10.00 pm, free guided tours every Thursday at 7.00
The ground floor of Museion is accessible freely.