PUBLIC VIEWING

Media Release

PUBLIC VIEWING – a temporary art intervention in the public arena by Littmann Kulturprojekte, Basel / Switzerland.

Premiere: Shanghai. 5 September 2007. 8 p.m. Exhibition Center forecourt, Shanghai. Parallel to the opening of "Shanghai Contemporary 07", the New International Contemporary Art Fair in Asia.

PUBLIC VIEWING brings art to public spaces and institutions, materializing in places where one least expects to find it. PUBLIC VIEWING is an art intervention in the everyday culture of these urban spaces. Suddenly signs appear either individually or in groups attached to railings, with motifs that intrude on the everyday routine of passers- by in a poetic, yet at the same time disconcerting way.

PUBLIC VIEWING is the first art intervention in a public space in China introducing pictorial motifs by western and Chinese artists. The following artists will be represented at the premiere of PUBLIC VIEWING: Yue Minjun (CN), Robert Rauschenberg (USA), Lu Hao (CN), Christian Boltanski (F), Jochen Gerz (D), Peti Brunner (CH), Ben Vautier (F), Hanspeter Hofmann (CH), Guerilla Girls (USA), Franz Burkhardt (D), Daniele Buetti (CH), Beat Keusch (CH), and anonymous.

PUBLIC VIEWING is a temporary intervention in our apparently familiar world to enable people to experience inhabited space and the position of the individual in this space in a new light. The interplay of place and motif, and the association between the art intervention PUBLIC VIEWING and the history of the place, generates statements that are messages whose statements, in turn, are modified with each change in location.

On account of its unexpectedness, the intervention questions perceptions of familiar spaces, thereby creating a new awareness. PUBLIC VIEWING analyses, comments and illustrates.

PUBLIC VIEWING intervenes in a public space that is also defined by promotional aesthetics and permeates it with the artistic forms of communication. At the same time, it explores the boundaries between art and everyday life. PUBLIC VIEWING is moving images that touch people and redefine the individual's position with respect to his environment.

Areas of application for PUBLIC VIEWING include: pedestrian precincts, cultural and social events such as art fairs, premieres, public events, department stores, etc. The "sign manifestations" can be deployed singly or as a sequence. The dramaturgy for the deployments has been set in advance in writing.

PUBLIC VIEWING is conceived as a global art action. The start/premiere takes place in Shanghai on 5 September 2007, parallel to the opening of the Shanghai Contemporary, the New International Contemporary Art Fair in Asia. The art intervention PUBLIC VIEWING runs from 5 to 9 September 2007. The art manifestations will be deployed night and day in the heart of Shanghai. Plans are being drawn up for further PUBLIC VIEWING interventions in the following cities: New Delhi, Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, New York, London and Berlin.

PUBLIC VIEWING is the latest intervention by Littmann Kulturprojekte in the public space. Similar projects in the past have included: Skultur 2000; Frontside 2001; Engel 2002; Strassenbilder 2003; Punktleuchten 2004; Move for Life 2006 ( www.moveforlife.org ).

Concept and realization: Klaus Littmann / Littmann Kulturprojekte, Basel-Switzerland
In Cooperation with: Remy Toledo, Art Projects, NY.
Powered by: Tally Weijl, Basel-Switzerland

For further information, please contact:
Klaus Littmann +41 76 370 63 23. Email: info@klauslittmann.com