Being Public

• Explores the exchange between art, art publics, and the public sphere.
• What does it mean to be public today?

Being Public investigates, from different perspectives, the notion of ‘public‘. ‘Public‘ is one of the most issued categories in current debates on culture, yet the notion itself remains largely un-reflected. The meaning of both ‘art publics‘ and ‘public space’ have become complex in a time where boundaries between public and private are shifting, and where ‘the public‘ actually comprises different groups of changing composition and identity. What does it mean to be public today? And what is the role of art in constituting both ‘public space’ as well as ‘a public‘? Taking these questions as a starting point, the book aims to create a better understanding of the relationships between art and the notion of the public.

Contributors: Barbara Alves, Jeroen Boomgaard, Rogier Brom, Anke Coumans, Florian Cramer, Eva Fotiadi, Maaike Lauwaert, Gabriel Lester, Steven ten Thije