MAPS – The Museum of Art in Public Spaces in Denmark presents its largest international exhibition to date 'The Story of Public Art'. The exhibition explores what artists do in public spaces and tells the story of groundbreaking artistic experiments in public spaces from the 1960s to the present. The show features over 120 artists from more than 40 countries in an organic and dynamic exhibition format that will evolve throughout its four-year duration, branching out into public spaces in different formations over time.
'The Story of Public Art' is the story of manifestations, situations, and temporary, fleeting forms. It is about movements, attitudes, and energies rather than monuments, statues, and public commissions. The show presents artworks that have become landmarks for future generations and have changed our perception of identity, power structures, biopolitics, desire, labor, social relations, nature, and reality – exploring the tensions and connections between art and life.
The exhibition explores how politics, technology, and sociality connect to psyché, sensibility, and aesthetics – both in shaping our way of life and in art. Highlighting women artists, it unfolds how artists have infiltrated, intervened in, and manifested within public spaces, offering new perspectives on power dynamics how art has destabilized power, countered power, exposed it, mimicked it, infiltrated it, and explored it.
'The Story of Public Art' is divided into two parts:
'Dancing in the Streets (On Power)' – The
first part of the exhibition showcases artists’ performances,
manifestations, and media interventions in cities worldwide. From Warsaw
and Rio de Janeiro to Tamale and Times Square—and across media from the
1980s Spectacolor billboards to today’s AI world-building.
'Dancing in the Streets (On Power)' approaches the story of public art through performance, choreography, and actions. The exhibition begins with the pioneers of choreography in public space and with dance, as seen in how Hélio Oiticica orchestrated life in his Parangolés. As part of the exhibition, the museum’s foyer has been transformed into a mirrored installation 'Passage' featuring a new performance commission by Maria Hassabi 'Forwards'. Works by Maria Hassabi are also part of the Art Collection Telekom.
