Madison Square Park Conservancy announced the program for its eighth annual symposium, which convenes artists, curators, and cultural leaders to discuss critical issues and ideas in the fields of public and contemporary art. This year’s symposium, Transforming Public Art, explores how artists are reshaping public art practice—and public space itself—through the use of unexpected materials and by layering their work onto historic sites to spark dialogue about who and what is represented and immortalized in the civic space. The theme of the symposium is inspired by the Conservancy’s commissioned public art exhibitions for 2023: Shahzia Sikander’s Havah…to breathe, air, life, on view through June 4, 2023, and Sheila Pepe’s My Neighbor’s Garden, opening June 26, 2023.
Free and open to the public, Transforming Public Art is organized by Madison Square Park Conservancy and will be held on Friday, June 2, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., in the SVA Theatre.