
The Story of Public Art
MAPS presents its largest international exhibition to date, The Story of Public Art, on March 22nd, 2025. The exhibition tells the story of groundbreaking artistic experiments in public spaces from the 1960s to the present.
MAPS presents its largest international exhibition to date, The Story of Public Art, on March 22nd, 2025. The exhibition tells the story of groundbreaking artistic experiments in public spaces from the 1960s to the present. The Story of Public Art presents over 120 artists from more than 40 countries in an organic and dynamic exhibition format that will evolve throughout its four-year duration.
The Story of Public Art explores what artists do in public spaces. The exhibition draws connections to the lives we live and address, through the artist’s perspective, significant societal themes across time and geography. The exhibition offers an experience of art’s international reach and significance, created in dialogue with its contemporary context. It highlights time-based works that have become landmarks for future generations, as well as pieces that have changed our perception of identity, power structures, biopolitics, desire, labor, social relations, nature, and reality.

VENUS by Göksu Kunak with Felix Beer, Bugra Büyüksimsek, Markus Hausmann, Nomi Sladko originally commissioned by Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin Germany. Photo by: Jiri Abendt.
The Story of Public Art will transform the museum building and branch out into public spaces.
The exhibition is divided into two parts:
Dancing in the Streets (On Power) – The first part of the exhibition showcases artists’ performances, actions, manifestations, and media interventions in cities worldwide. From Warsaw and Rio de Janeiro to Tamale and Times Square – and across media from the 1980’s Spectacolor billboards to today’s AI world-building.
Explosions (On Expansion) – The second part of the exhibition explores artistic experiments in landscapes and the tension between nature and the human-made. From the 1960’s Arte Povera and Earth Art to contemporary artistic investigations of art forms that merge with organic life forms and artificial nature.
MAPS’ atrium will, as part of The Story of Public Art’s opening, be transformed into a live performance installation by the Cypriot artist Maria Hassabi. The installation will explore the museum space through movements, reflections, and encounters, offering new perspectives on art as independent public spaces.

Photo: Maria Hassabi: I’ll Be Your Mirror, 2023. Installation views, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong. Courtesy the artist; The Breeder, Athens.
Dancing in the Streets (On Power) opens on March 22, 2025. The second part of the exhibition,Explosions (On Expansion), opens on October 4, 2025. The Story of Public Art is curated by Senior Curator at MAPS, PhD Charlotte Sprogøe, and designed by Milan-based, internationally recognized design fi rm FormaFantasma, which has previously designed the main exhibition Milk of Dreams at the Venice Biennale 2023 and received numerous international design awards.
Concept og Design: Andrea Trimarchi, Simone Farresin
Design Development: Gabriele Milanese
Graphic Design: Alexis Mark

Photo: Hélio Oiticica, Roberto Cavalcanti Wearing Parangolé P32, 1972. Cesar and Claudio Oiticia.
MAPS exhibition program 2024-2026 is supported by Det Obelske Familiefond. The Story of Public Art is also generously supported by New Carlsberg Foundation, The Augustinus Foundation, A.P. Møller and wife Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller’s Foundation for general purposes, Beckett-Fonden, 15. Juni Fonden, and The Danish Arts Foundation.
Sponsors: Besana, Expromo, Værksted for Fotografi
Credit header:
Lawrence Lek, NOX – ‘Day Five: Equine Therapy’, 2023. Video Still. Commissioned by LAS Art Foundation, Berlin. Courtesy of the artist and Sadie Coles HQ.