Winter 2018 Issue
“Whose Public?”

Artist Introspectives

The Most Public of Private Spaces

Artist Introspectives

The Most Public of Private Spaces

Artist Ahmed Mater discusses the influence of the public and public space on his powerful portraits of the Islamic world.

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Communicating en Masse: The Art of Activism

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Communicating en Masse: The Art of Activism

Educator-in-Residence Nick Kozak offers politically neutral ways of teaching on protest art and activism in the classroom.

Teaching History by Sculpting Experience: An Interview with Doreen Garner

Teaching History by Sculpting Experience: An Interview with Doreen Garner

In a conversation with film director, Brian Redondo, artist Doreen Garner shares the motivation driving her sculptural practice: to educate viewers about suppressed racist histories embedded in the foundations of a nation built on slavery.

In Plain View: Ian Cheng’s Live Simulations

In Plain View: Ian Cheng’s Live Simulations

Ian Cheng’s live simulations transport viewers to immersive fictional worlds populated with characters and communities whose behaviors the artist can condition but not control.

Strategies & Resources

Seeing These Streets: Analyzing the Visual Landscapes of Urban Spaces

Strategies & Resources

Seeing These Streets: Analyzing the Visual Landscapes of Urban Spaces

Educator-in-Residence Nick Kozak details his unit on street art, in which students critically examine the anonymous artists creating work in their neighborhoods.

Resisting Reductivism & Breaking the Bubble: An Interview with Barbara Kruger

Resisting Reductivism & Breaking the Bubble: An Interview with Barbara Kruger

In this rare interview accompanying a new Art21 film, Barbara Kruger shares her media diet, what she sees as art’s role in contemporary society, and the inspiration behind two of her earliest works.

On “Monument Lab”

On “Monument Lab”

Artist and co-curator of “Monument Lab” Ken Lum shares the findings of this public engagement project, which served as a participatory exercise in spatial production, and questioned the role of monuments and public art in civic spaces.

Letter from the Editor

Whose Public?

Letter from the Editor

Whose Public?

Art21 Executive Director and Chief Curator Tina Kukielski introduces the new winter issue, stressing the need for contemporary art and artists in the current debates over public space, power, and ownership.