From Anish Kapoor’s The Bean (Chicago) and Banksy’s Balloon Girl (London), to Alexander Polzin’s Celan (Paris) and Dmitri Vrubel’s Fraternal Kiss (Berlin), public art is everywhere. While deeply integrated into our culture and aesthetics of common spaces, it is also oftentimes the object of controversy. How much provocation is allowed or even desired in our democracies? Or: How much decoration is needed to please the viewer? How do we deal with public monuments when their historical content demands re-evaluation?
Curator, writer, and politician Adrienne Goehler; composer and musician Sidney Corbett; sculptor, artist, and curator Alexander Polzin; and theater director and performer Mark Jackson joined us to discuss the complexities, limitations, and future of public art in the United States and Germany. Moderated by performer and political affairs officer Omar El-Okdah.
Photos: Sarah Blesener. Video: Khaula Malik and Jamie Morris
Biographies
President of the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg (1989—2001) and Senator for Science, Research and Culture of the State of Berlin (2001/02), Adrienne Goehler currently works as a freelance curator, publicist, lecturer and moderator. Her curatorial work includes the guidance of the “Capital Cultural Fund” (2002—2006), “Art goes Heiligendamm”. She was touring for 13 years with the exhibition "EXAMPLES TO FOLLOW! ETF!” explorations in aesthetics and sustainability (2010 - 2023), among others: Berlin, Mumbai, Addis Ababa, Beijing, Sao Paulo, Lima, Valparaiso, Haifa and Jerusalem. She has published “Verflüssigungen”, Liquifications (2006), Conceptual Thoughts on a Fund for Aesthetics and Sustainability (2012), Sustainability needs deceleration needs Basic income/livelihood (2020), and countless articles.
Born in Chicago in 1960, Sidney Corbett studied music and philosophy at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Yale University, where he received his doctorate in 1989. From 1985 to 1988 he studied in Hamburg with György Ligeti. In 2006, he received a professorship in composition at the Musikhochschule Mannheim. Releases of his works have appeared on Sony Classical, Cybele, Mode Records, CRI, Edition Zeitklang, Kreuzberg Records, Blue Griffen, Edition Kopernikus, and Ambitus Records. Sidney Corbett is a member of the Akademie der Künste (Academy of the Arts) in Berlin. Corbett's music is published and distributed worldwide by Edition C.F. Peters, Leipzig, London and New York. Since 2014 he lives with his family in Schwetzingen.
His work draws on a wide range of musical and extra-musical sources, including literature and the visual arts, and also addresses philosophical and theological issues. Lyrical sensuality and complex rhythmic superimpositions of pulsations are characteristic of his music. A substantial part of his musical output is devoted to music theater. He has to date written six operas. In 2018, Corbett's most recent opera, "San Paolo," based on an unrealized film script by Pier Paolo Pasolini, premiered in Osnabrück. "San Paolo" received the 2018 Palatinate Prize for Music. Some of his recent works include "aporia," inspired by texts by Jacques Derrida, for the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and "Utopia and Intimacy," based on texts by Ernst Bloch, for violinist Nurit Stark and Schola Heidelberg, among others. He is currently at work on a song cycle for the baritone Holger Falk and a Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, for the pianist Severin von Eckardstein and the State Philharmonic in Ludwigshafen.
Mark Jackson is a theater maker - making, directing, writing, performing, attending, and teaching theater. After undergrad, being a D.I.Y. animal, Mark founded a small company, Art Street Theatre, in San Francisco and, eventually, set Art Street aside to focus on freelancing. His range of work in theater, dance, and performance has since been seen at venues on both US coasts and in between, as well as internationally in Japan, the UK, and Germany. Mark’s plays have been developed at organizations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, in Germany, as well as in New York. He has taught theater courses at several Bay Area and international schools and organizations and currently serves as Director of Studio A.C.T. at the American Conservatory Theater. In addition to writing about theater for a variety of print and online publications, Mark's plays have been published in three volumes by EXIT Press, along with his book Playing Hamlet Roulette: Failure, Expectation, Possibility & Democracy.
Born in East Berlin in 1973, Alexander Polzin originally trained as a stonemason. He enjoys an international career as a sculptor, painter, stage designer, and opera director. In addition, he develops unique collaborations with writers, composers, musicians, choreographers, and scholars from all over the world. Polzin’s sculptures and paintings can be seen today in public spaces across the world. For example, his sculpture The Couple, for the foyer of the Opéra National de Paris, Bastille, Dante Heads at Teatro Real in Madrid, and The Couple II for La Monnaie/De Mund Royal Opera House in Brussels. In May 2016, a memorial sculpture to Paul Celan was unveiled by the mayor of Paris in the Anne Frank Garden. Major exhibitions of his work have been presented at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, Budapest, Bucharest, Naples, Berlin’s Institute of Advanced Studies, Bard College in New York, Einstein Forum Potsdam, San Francisco International Arts Festival, Teatro Real - Madrid, NCPA Beijing, Salzburg Easter Festival and Anna Akhmatova Museum in St. Petersburg.
Photo by Nina Subin
Omar El-Okdah has a versatile professional background with extensive experience in political affairs and international relations. Holding an M.A. in both Performance from the Royal Academy of Music and Political Science with a specialization in International Relations from Columbia University, and a B.A. in History with First Class Honours from the University of Oxford, El-Okdah has proven his commitment to both arts and academia. With a notable position as the Political Affairs Officer at the United Nations Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, he played a pivotal role in analyzing political developments in Syria, offering policy advice, and contributing to the mediation effort. Additionally, his role as a Non-Resident Adviser and Senior Policy Analyst at the International Peace Institute underscores his expertise in Middle Eastern affairs and multilateral diplomacy. El-Okdah's extensive performance experience, including shows at National Opera of America - New York, Pembroke Hall - Oxford, and Groznjan Castle - Croatia, reflects his passion for music and the arts. His achievements include awards such as the Kirk H. Greene Prize for Best Thesis in Modern History, as well as participation in prestigious festivals and programs.
VENUE ACCESSIBILITY
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