Where the government sees the loitering of the youth as a problem, Platform for Unasked Art (PUA) sees them as an example; the only real users of the public space.
PUA programs artistic interventions in the social space. From performances to placing sculptures and murals, visible and less visible interventions. This to encourage artists to experiment with the possibilities of involving and reaching the public. PUA also wants to inspire its public and passers-by to see an alternative approach to public space. A personal approach to the city; not as a commercially exploitable terrace or tourist attraction but as a meeting space, living room or exhibition space instead.
Where and when: www.platformforunaskedart.com
“Cities have city poets, the Netherlands even has a national poet, but is there anything comparable to this for art and public space? No! PUA wants to fill this gap.” As initiator of PUA I will do my best to fulfill this role.
Avant garde as inspiration
5 years after our initiative, the municipality of Amsterdam launched the ‘city curatorium’, an organisation that preserves, brings to the attention and possibly initiates existing public art and street art. As founder of PUA, I was invited to the exploratory symposium of the “city curatorium”. Can we read from this that our idea echoes and shape-shifts from avant-garde artists’ initiative into an institutionalised form? Was the idea in the air or did PUA put the idea in the air? We will probably never find out.
PUA originated as a Himmelsbach idea under the name “Amsterdam City Curatorship” and developed into its current form and name in collaboration with visual artist Cecile Wentges and Curator Taya Hanauwer.