Curating the City

To kick off the biannual Public Art Amsterdam manifestation, Joanna Warsza (Public Art Munich), Adeola Enigbokan (University of Amsterdam) and Floor Milikowski (journalist and geographer) will speak about the power of art in public space.

In the past decades, distinctions between private and public space in Amsterdam have shifted. While private property continues to take over the public domain, the shrinking public space is being reduced to group experiences and mono-cultural entertainment. This concerns space that we share with one another and that defines both our collective and our autonomous, individual existence.

This Sunday Seminar will offer a critical perspective on the development of public space in Amsterdam. At the same time it aims to explore, with a number of specialists, new possibilities for art in and for the public domain. Central questions in this are how public space can be curated, and how space can be preserved for various groups of people in the city. Can art offer a counterweight to these developments? Can works of art create an urban climate in which public space is once again experienced as shared space? Or is it their fate to serve as high-quality decoration, their purpose limited to branding and gentrification?

Several speakers will hold lectures during the seminar, followed by a panel with representatives of the various partner organisations of the Public Art Amsterdam 2018 manifestation, including Annet Zondervan (CBK Zuidoost) and Jacqueline Grandjean (Oude Kerk, Amsterdam). Confirmed speakers are Joanna Warsza (Public Art Munich), Adeola Enigbokan (University of Amsterdam) and Floor Milikowski (journalist and geographer).

Programme

13.45             Doors Open

14.00-14.25    Welcome and Introduction by Jeroen Boomgaard (LAPS, Gerrit Rietveld Academie)

14.25-14.50    Talk: Floor Milikowksi

14.50-15.30    Keynote: Joanna Warsza

15.30-15.55    Talk: Adeola Enigbokan

15.55-16.30    Break

16.30-17.30    Conversation Jacqueline Grandjean, Josien Pieterse, Theo Tegelaers, Rieke Vos, Annet Zondervan, Jeroen Boomgaard (moderator)

17.30              End of programme

18.00              Museum closes

Price: €3,- (excl. museum entrance ticket)

Location: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Teijin AuditoriumTime

Date and time: 24 June, 14:00 until 17:30

Main language: English

Admission: Tickets

Collaboration

The seminar ‘Pay Attention Please! Curating the City’ is organised in conjunction with the biannual Public Art Amsterdam manifestation. In the summer of 2018, eleven prominent Amsterdam art organisations join forces in order to showcase the wealth of Amsterdam’s public space during the ‘Pay Attention Please!’ manifestation.

Public Art Amsterdam is an initiative by CBK Zuidoost, De Appel, Framer Framed, GET LOST- art route, Frankendael Foundation, LAPS / Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Stichting NDSM-werf, Oude Kerk Amsterdam, P/////AKT, Stedelijk Museum and TAAK.