Talk

Public urban space is increasingly shaped by the display of visual information. Over the last decade alone, modes of advertising have developed alongside technological advances in display techniques, and in turn, contemporary artists have found inspiration and the opportunity to utilize new forms of media within this digitally saturated landscape. For this Public Art Fund Talk at The New School, artists Meriem Bennani, Mary Reid Kelley, Patrick Kelley, and Hannah Whitaker are in a conversation moderated by Public Art Fund’s Associate Curators Emma Enderby and Daniel S. Palmer, focusing on the intersection between art and advertising.

This talk accompanies Public Art Fund’s citywide exhibition Commercial Break, which invites 20+ artists to create interventions on today’s most advanced advertising platforms, including new digital sites such as the Barclays Center oculus screen in downtown Brooklyn, a Times Square digital video billboard, more than a thousand LinkNYC kiosks across the city, 19 screens in the Westfield World Trade Center shopping mall, as well as embedded pop-up advertisements on PublicArtFund.org.

Emerging Moroccan-born artist Meriem Bennani’s new work for Barclays Center addresses issues surrounding the hijab’s cultural significance and re-evaluates stereotypical Western notions about Islamic attire. At Times Square, Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley have created a new work titled Crete Meat. This black and white video fuses classical antiquity with pop culture, combining wordplay-rich poetry, mythological characters, and contemporary environments. On LinkNYC kiosks citywide, Brooklyn-based photographer Hannah Whitaker will present new digital images that expand on her existing relationship with the language of advertising, with striking images of silhouetted figures that evoke street level activity.

Commercial Break will be on view February 5 – March 6, 2017 in various locations citywide, and features more than 20 artists.

Public Art Fund Talks at The New School are organized by the Public Art Fund in collaboration with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School.

This program is made possible in part by Con Edison and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.