Public Art Lab

Allgemeine Informationen

Public Art Lab (PAL) is a Berlin based platform of experts in the fields of urban planning, new media art and IT in Berlin, directed by curator Susa Pop. PAL realises networking urban art projects that catalyse artistic processes and public awareness in temporarily occupied urban settings. They encourage audiences to participate in the creative process and experience their daily environment from different perspectives. These projects aim at fostering community development, identity building and communication among the city inhabitants. Such exemplary projects include nomadic communities like Mobile Museums (2004) and Mobile Studios (2006), Mobicases (2007, 2009, 2011) and Round Table Ukraine (2011-2013).

Since 2007 PAL investigates the communicative and cultural potential of urban screens and media facades. In an action research process PAL initiated the pilot project of the Media Facades Festival Berlin 2008 together with the urban planner Mirjam Struppek, the German Architecture Center (DAZ), Berlin and the Media Architecture Institute, Vienna. Berlin-based artists have been invited to develop a participatory art project for the commercially used media facades and urban screens around Berlin.

In 2010 PAL continued the Media Facades Festival on a European level by connecting 7 cities through the medium of urban screens. The participating cities and partners have been: iMAL / Brussels, m-cult / Helsinki, FACT / Liverpool, Ars Electronica Futurelab / Linz, Medialab-Prado / Madrid and Kitchen Budapest supported by the European Union / Culture Programme 2007-2013.

Together with the German Ministry of Science and Education PAL organised the Innovation Forum Urban Screens 2011 which consisted of 5 expert workshops and a 2 days conference. In this context and in cooperation with the worldwide and local network of Public Art Lab, Susa Pop published the handbook Urban Media Cultures (avedition2012) .