Art in a Public Space

[…] this time we have turned our attention to street art and art occurring in various forms in a broadly understood public space. We would like to ask what public space is at the moment, we will think about the relations of street art and the net, and how artists engage directly in current political events, supporting protests, manifestations or simply start a discussion on the shape of the surrounding reality — say Editors -in-Chief.

The theme of the latest issue is street art and art in the public space. The unique and hand-painted covers of each issue were created by the artist – Sławek Zbiok Czajkowski.

From protest art to anti-surveillance art, in this issue, we bring engaging reviews on art in public space exploring how urban art shapes societies and cityscapes. As Magdalena Abakanowicz once pointed out: Art does not solve problems but makes us aware of their existence. It opens our eyes to see and our brain to imagine. Contemporary art, similarly to philosophy, constantly asks us questions, which are often inconvenient, annoying or occur at an unexpected time and place. It involves us in a conversation, but on its own terms. The most sensitive and at the same time the most brutal place in this respect is the proverbial ’street’. It is in this place that artists express their views in the most direct way and communicate with passers-by. We ask what public space is today, we discuss about the relations of street art and the Internet, and present how artists engage directly in current political events, supporting protests, manifestations or simply discussing the shape of the surrounding reality.

Since we held the first issue in our hands two years ago, our magazine has been trying to reflect these discussions, presenting the most interesting contemporary art and the most significant phenomena. The magazine cover is a perfect introduction to exploring them. For this reason, we invited Sławek Zbiok Czajkowski, one of the most original and the most engaged street artists, to collaborate with us in creating the new issue. The artist hand-painted every magazine cover during a three-day-long artistic action, which took place at the Trafo – Centre for Contemporary Art in Szczecin in March 2017. Zbiok, using all the covers of this issue as a canvas, created an enormous work of art. Each reader, regardless of which part of the world they live in, will be an owner of a part of this work.

Urban art does not create barriers, it does not distance itself from viewers; on the contrary, it makes us take part in a dialogue and often in direct confrontation – regardless of our background, education or age. Recalling Magdalena Abakanowicz’s words, we would like to invite you to open your eyes and ears to the space around us and the art that is integral to it.