Being Public onderzoekt de notie van 'publiek' vanuit verschillende invalshoeken. In discussies over de betekenis van cultuur speelt de categorie 'publiek' een belangrijke rol, maar wat er met dit begrip precies bedoeld wordt blijft vaak onduidelijk. De betekenis van zowel 'kunstpubliek' als 'publieke ruimte' is complex geworden in een tijd waarin de grenzen tussen publiek en privé verschuiven en waar 'het publiek' eigenlijk verschillende groepen met veranderende samenstelling en identiteit ...

Batia Suter’s work intuitively situates found images in new contexts to provoke surprising reactions and significative possibilities. This volume follows on from the first ‘Parallel Encyclopedia’, published in 2007. Underlying themes of Suter’s practice are the “iconification” and “immunogenicity” of old images, and the circumstances by which they become charged with new associative values. “In my work, I collect groups of images based on various themes and characteristics, ...

RAABJERG by Danish artist Rune Peitersen (1971) explores the changing landscape of northern Jutland (DK) from the last Ice Age until today.

During the 16th-19th centuries, climate change and human extraction of natural resources led to violent sand drift, which transformed the once fertile landscape into a barren wasteland. Different governments – from kings to elected parliaments – enacted laws to try to reverse it. After 200 years, they ‘succeeded’ and started reintroducing plants i...

"Stitch Your Brain" is a long-term study into the intelligence of the hand by artist and former medical doctor Monika Auch. The book reflects the results of the empirical study Auch worked on for the past decade about the importance of creating with your hands in our digital age and the effects of slow creation on neuro cognitive learning, health, and well-being.

The detailed images of a collection of 100+ stitched brains created by participants and their personal comments illustrate the infl...

Visual artist Diana Scherer is one of the pioneers in biotech art. At the core of her botanical installations and textiles lies a great curiosity about what neurobiologists call ‘the brain of plants’. Scherer studies plants and root systems and applies the intelligence of plants in her work. She employs a unique technique with which, using natural growth processes, she creates mesmerising and seemingly fragile tissues of plant roots with various structures. Scherer’s work is thought-pro...

Productive Archiving discusses a variety of problems archival organizations. It mainly focuses on the following three issues with archival organizations that are usually overlooked: first, the question of inclusion in or exclusion from the archive; second, the loss of individuality and specificity in the archive, the danger of homogenization; and third, that archiving may become a form of pigeonholing, boxing specific identities into a confined space. Avoiding the archive because of these pro...

Er wordt de laatste jaren vaak gesteld dat er in de hedendaagse westerse kunst een sociale wending heeft plaatsgevonden. Het gaat niet langer om kunst om de kunst, niet om kunst als uitdrukking van de persoonlijke visie van een eenling, maar om kunst (of projecten) die mensen (en dingen) samenbrengen en zo de wereld veranderen. Tot op zekere hoogte is deze sociale wending terug te voeren op het verlangen naar 'gemeenschap' dat veel kunstenaars eigen lijkt te zijn. De filosofische opvattingen ...