Conversations | What can public art do?
Art Basel Miami Beach 2024, December 6
Kate Gilbert, Executive Director, Boston Public Art Triennial, Boston
Dr. Deborah Willis, Artist, Curator and Historian, New York
Moderator: Kimberly Bradley, Conversations Curator, Art Basel
In recent decades, art in the public space has become far more dynamic in its presentation, as well as increasingly visible, accessible, and sometimes provocative. What role does public art play in facing the challenges of our times? How can art best aid in building communities, affecting social change, or even resisting oppression? What could be, or should be, the future of public art?
Kate Gilbert is the founder of the inaugural Boston Public Art Triennial, launching in May 2025. This follows decades of programming, curating, and creative placemaking with Boston institutions through the independent public art organization Now + There, founded in 2015. Gilbert maintains a studio practice while calling on civic leaders and artists to advance contemporary art in public spaces as outlined in her essay ‘Embracing Artists at Every Turn’ published in Idea City: How to Make Boston More Livable, Equitable, and Resilient (2023).
Photographer, curator, and writer, Dr. Deborah Willis is the chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Her research examines photography’s visual culture, contemporary women photographers, and beauty. Founding director of the Center for Black Visual Culture, Willis is the recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships and the 2022 Don Tyson Prize for the Advancement of American Art.
The Art Basel Miami Beach 2024 Conversations program is curated by Kimberly Bradley.
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