"The museum is a public space, I don't think art in public space means out of the museum. Museums can be deeply public and I think there has been a strange dichotomy with the culture of public art and public space. The differences are not absolute, they are more gradual. The idea of public art as we used to know it, particularly as it was so prominent in the 80's has maybe a little less visibility. Maybe now is the time to really reconnect to that whole dimension of public art and how public art can produce realities. For example with the per cent for art scheme how can we avoid squeezing practices into schematic parameters?"
Hans Ulbrich Obrist is a Swiss curator, currently Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects, Serpentine Gallery, London.
Excerpt is from a recorded interview with Sheena Barrett, Arts Officer, Dublin City Council for CREATE news, issue no. 6, March 2009.