Beware of the Art! Artworks from the Public Art Agency’s collection

Can we cancel an artwork? Should art come with a warning sign? The exhibition Beware of the Art! brings together works of art from the Public Art Agency Sweden’s collection that has touched or unsettled the public.  Artworks that were possible to display yesterday might be unthinkable today. Why is that? What does it tell us about the beholders?

Can you show anything in a public environment?

After almost a century of purchases, there are currently more than 100,000 works in the Public Art Agency’s collection. Artworks from the collection are placed in various government workplaces such as district courts, government offices and universities. But can you really show anything in a public environment such as a workplace? What significance does the context play for the understanding of the artwork? Works of art that were possible to display yesterday may be impossible today. Why is that? What does it say about us who experience the art?

In this exhibition, we want to reflect on how likes and tastes change over time and explore why. These perspectives are interesting for public art, as freedom of expression is easily curtailed when the artworks leave Public Art Agency’s storage shelf and become part of someone else’s everyday life.