This conference aims to raise new questions and analyse ideas concerning the role and malleability of public art, and the institutional frameworks that interact with actors producing public art or creating incentives to make, initiate, and/or fund it. Who has a say in matters of shared space, what are the limits of commons, and what constitutes public art? What influence comes ultimately with funding, whether private or public? How does ownership of public art evolve and what does it entail?  

The conference is organised by the Pufendorf IAS Theme Public Art and the New Commons

In connection to the conference a performance by City Horses will take place in Lund. The event is organized by the Pufendorf IAS Theme Public Art and the New Commons, Skissernas Museum and Lund Art Gallery.

Registration

The conference aims to gather broad participation from academia, the cultural sector, and other stakeholders with an interest in public art, public space and its use, and policy issues in art and culture.

Conference participation is free of charge, but numbers of participants are limited. Please register before May 15 2023.

Register to the conference here 

Conference program

8.30 Registration and coffee

09.00 Welcome

Introduction by Theme Members Ulrika Wennersten, Law, and Ulf Zander, History

Ann Kristin Wallengren, Professor film studies, Pro-vice chancellor for education and culture, Lund University 

09.30-10.30 Session 1: Theoretical perspectives. 
(Chaired by Theme Member Ludwig Qvarnström, Art History and Visual Studies)  

Milieu-specificity: new site-orientations in public art
Ditte Vilstrup Holm, Assistant Professor, Department of Business Humanities and Law, Copenhagen Business School and KØS – museum of art in public spaces

City development, clustering and the role of public art
Mariangela Lavanga, Associate Professor, Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication Department of Arts and Culture Studies

10.30-11.00 Coffee 

11.00 -12.00 Session 2: Practical perspectives
(Chaired by Theme Member Anna Lyrevik, Vice-Chancellor’s Office and Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts) 

Connecting the Dots – Two Cases of Socially Engaged Practices
Mika Hannula, Ph.D. in Political Science, writer, curator and lecturer

Body in motion, power in motion
Helena Byström, Visual Artist, and Anna Källblad, Choreographer, City Horses

12.00-13.00 Lunch 

13.00-14.00 Session 3: Political perspectives
(Chaired by Theme Member Mattias Kärrholm, Architecture) 

What can I say? What can you say? – Boundaries for freedom of expression?
Sten Widmalm, Professor of Political Science, Uppsala University

Arm's length redefined? A new kind of cultural policy?
Anders Frenander, Professor Emeritus, Centre for Cultural Policy Research, Borås

14.00-14.30 Coffee

14.30-15.30 Session 4: Outlooks
(Chaired by Theme Member Ida de Wit Sandström, History)

Pernilla Ståhl, author of The Triumphal Arch of Mogadishu. Colonial Art and Urban Planning

Ruth Bereson, Founding Director and Affiliated Professor, Arts Management Program, University at Buffalo

Friederike Landau-Donnelly, Assistant Professor, Cultural Geography, Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen

15.30-16.00 Concluding comments
Theme Members Fredrik Andersson, Economics, and Katja Lindqvist, Service Studies  

16.00-18.00 City Horses
Performance through the city of Lund, starting outside Skissernas Museum. 

Read more about the performance by City Horses in Lund here

About City Horses

They are constantly seen; the monuments of kings and heroes on horseback and on plinths. Silently staring out over the world. But where are the women? This is the starting point for choreographer Anna Källström and artist Helena Byström's work with CityHorses. Here, dance meets the public sculptures. It becomes an urban choreography in constant movement – about power, existence and the female body in public space. A tribute, and at the same time a kind of monument, to the strength and courage of the horse girls