Keynote lecture by Kasper König

‘Why the Snowman is the Best Sculpture in the Public Realm’

8 July 2015, 7 pm, Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium
Free entrance – reservations required via [email protected]

In recent years, museums have been exploring new institutional models and exhibition sites outside the traditional gallery format to facilitate the ever-growing diversity of artistic practices, and to respond to the transformation of public spaces and cities.

In a keynote lecture entitled ‘Why the snowman is the best sculpture in the public realm’, Kasper König will address these concerns through the lens and history of Skulptur Projekte Münster. Held every ten years, Kasper König founded the exhibition of sculpture in the public space in Münster 1977.

Considered a ‘long-term study’ of how artists explore the public sphere and how the public sphere itself has changed over time, Skulptur Projekte Münster provides a contextualisation for possible alternative models for collecting and exhibiting public art and sculpture. Highlighting the diversity of approaches and perspectives within open-air museums and sculpture triennials such as the current Beaufort Triennial.

This lecture is organised by Contemporary Art & Heritage Flanders as part of a series of conversations on the relationship between the (institutional) collecting and the (temporary or site-specific) exhibiting of public art in parks, cities and other public spaces. The project involves the Beaufort triennial as well as the Middelheim Museum (Antwerp), Folkestone Triennial & Artworks (UK) and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (UK).

Image: Michael Asher: Installation Münster (Caravan), 2007. Roman Mensing/artdoc.de