From the Press release:

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MAPS – Museum of Art in Public Spaces opens its international
exhibition The Story of Public Art with the first act: Dancing in the Streets (On Power). The exhibition explores art in public spaces under the tagline ‘what artists do in public spaces,’ presenting over 70 artists who, over six decades, have challenged and expanded our understanding of public art. 

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MANIFESTATIONS
Dancing in the Streets (On Power) focuses on temporary art forms – performances, happenings, situations,
and manifestations. The exhibition traces artistic experiments that emerge in one part of the world and
spread elsewhere: from radical interventions in 1960s South America to anti-authoritarian, self-organized
projects in 1980s New York – and further to new artistic platforms in West Africa in the 2010s. It is not a
single, unified narrative but a multitude of stories that together form a dynamic account of art’s potential in
public space.
In short, the exhibition is about art and life and how the two intertwine.

FROM DANCING IN THE STREETS OF SAN FRANSISCO TO PERFORMANCES IN MAPS’ FOYER
The Story of Public Art is curated as a dynamic, evolving form that changes character throughout the
exhibition period. The exhibition begins with dance in urban spaces – from Anna Halprin’s City Dance in San Francisco to Hélio Oiticica’s iconic capes, Parangolé, worn in spontaneous processions through the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

As part of the exhibition, artist and choreographer Maria Hassabi will transform the museum’s foyer into a 20-meter-long mirror installation. The artwork creates a new meeting space where visitors are invited to perform. 

 

The exhibition borrows its title from the Motown hit Dancing in the Streets, which emerged in 1960s Detroit – the center of the automobile industry and an epicenter of the civil rights movement. The song became an anthem of peaceful resistance, an invitation to fill the streets with life and action. That same energy and attitude can be found in the artists featured in MAPS’ exhibition.

Streets and cars form a recurring motif throughout the exhibition, linking the individual to a broader social
context: from Allan Kaprow’s happenings Calling and Wolf Vostell’s concrete car sculptures Concrete Traffic to Lawrence Lek’s AI work NOX, about self-driving cars in existential imbalance, and Göksu Kunak’s VENUS, a Mercedes-performance about the perpetual movement of immigrant culture.

In connection with the exhibition, MAPS has invited New Genre Public Art pioneer Suzanne Lacy to create a new car installation. The piece builds on her longstanding engagement with the role of art in social movements, including her project Auto on the Edge of Time, which focuses on violence against women.

 

PROGRAM I PUBLIC SPACES
During the opening weekend, March 22 and 23, 2025, Dancing in the Streets (On Power) extends into public spaces with an artistic takeover of iconic screens in Copenhagen and Odense:

• On the twin screens at Copenhagen City Hall Square, American artist Jenny Holzer will present a new
animation work created specifically for the exhibition.

• On the screens above Nørreport Station and Odense’s distinctive four-sided advertising column,
Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar will disrupt the commercial flow with an artistic intervention.

Both interventions reference iconic public art events: Jenny Holzer’s Message to the Public, displayed in the 1980s on Times Square, where her phrase Abuse of Power Comes as No Surprise was seen by millions. And Alfredo Jaar’s Tonight No Poetry Will Serve, commissioned by CIRCA, shown on London’s
Piccadilly Lights in 2023 as a poetic commentary on the war in Gaza and the powerlessness of words in a violent era.

On Sunday, March 23, at sunset, artist Göksu Kunak’s VENUS 2.0 can be experienced at Copenhagen City Hall Square – a work originally commissioned by Neue National Galerie in Berlin, now reimagined for Copenhagen’s urban space.

 In connection with the exhibition, the museum will expand with an outdoor LED screen on MAPS’ facade, showcasing video works by, among others, Guerilla Girls, Yoko Ono, Erik van Lieshout, and Pussy Riot curated also by Charlotte Sprogøe.

 

Dancing in the Streets (On Power) presents projects from more than 70 artists:
3Nós3 (Hudinilson Jr., Mario Ramiro, og Rafael França), Alex Mlynarcik & Stano Filko, Alfredo Jaar, Allan Kaprow, Anna
Halprin, Aki Sasamoto, Anicka Yi, Barbara Kruger, Basquiat, Big Tail Elephant (Liang Juhui, Lin Yi Lin, Chen Shaoxiong
Xu Tan), Bjørn Nørgaard & Lene Adler Petersen, Oscar Rabin, Youri Jarkikh, Alexander Gleser, Concept 21 (Jian Jun Xi,
Sheng Qi, Zheng Yu Ke), Peggy Diggs, Curtis Cuffie, Danh Vo, Daniel Buren, Daniel Felstead with Jenn Leung, DIS, Erik
van Lieshout, Ewa Partum, Franco Mazzucchelli, General Idea, Gordon Matta-Clark, Graciela Carnevale, Guerrilla Girls,
Günter Brus, Göksu Kunak, Heather & Ivan Morison, Heidi Bucher, Hélio Oiticica, Hi-Red Center (Genpei Akasegawa,
Natsuyuki Nakanishi and Jiro Takamatsu), Ibrahim Mahama, Jenny Holzer, Jeremy Deller, Kader Attia, Kang Kuk-jin,
Chong Ch’an-sung & Jung Kangja, Kara Walker, Lawrence Lek, Maria Hassabi, Marta Minujín, Michael Rakowitz,
Mierele Laderman Ukeles, Nadya Tolokonnikova, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Pope.L, Public Movement, Pussy Riot, Rachel
Whiteread, Richard Serra, Rosemary Mayer, Sanja Ivekovic, Suzanne Lacy, The Neo-Dada Organizers (Masunobu
Yoshimura, Kinpei Masuzawa, Ushio Shinohara e.o.), Theaster Gates, Thomas Hirschhorn, Trisha Brown, Ushio
Shinohara, Vito Acconci, Wolf Vostell, Yoko Ono, og Yvonne Rainer.

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Curatorial Statement here

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The exhibition is curated by Charlotte Sprogøe and designed by the Milan-based, internationally
recognized design firm FormaFantasma,
which has previously designed the main exhibition Milk
of Dreams at the Venice Biennale 2023 and received
numerous international design awards.

Concept og Design: Andrea Trimarchi,
Simone Farresin
Design Development: Gabriele Milanese 

 

The Story of Public Art is generously supported by
New Carlsberg Foundation, The Augustinus Foundation,
The A.P. Moller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Moller
Foundation, The Obel Family Foundation,
Beckett-Fonden, 15. Juni Fonden, and The Danish Arts
Foundation.