DORTMUND.- How can public space be defined today—and who has access to it?

With public preposition, Mischa Kuball addresses these questions directly in urban space and transfers them into the exhibition context of the Baukunstarchiv NRW in Dortmund. The project is grounded in the observation that public space is not a static condition, but emerges through relationships between places, people, and movement. Kuball renders these relational networks visible by foregrounding historical, political, and everyday contexts and rearticulating them in new ways—through three interventions in Dortmund’s urban space, an exhibition conceived as an ongoing process, and an in-depth symposium on March 6, 2026 at the Bauhausarchiv NRW.

public preposition—art that makes relationships in urban space visible

In the project series public preposition, Mischa Kuball situates the question of public space within a broader social and political framework. Employing diverse artistic strategies, he explores the potential of art that deliberately leaves the protective confines of institutional settings—prompting a re-evaluation of the urban environment and its audiences. Public space, in this understanding, is defined not only by accessibility, but by the possibility of participation. Kuball’s temporary interventions respond to social, political, and communal specificities, activating new perceptions of seemingly familiar urban contexts. Central to this approach is the exemplary character of the individual installations. The term “preposition” refers to words such as on, under, or next to, which denote spatial relations and direct attention to the connections between historical sites and their surroundings.

Interventions in urban space and performative processes in the archive

Against this backdrop, Kuball’s public preposition in Dortmund initiates a debate on how public space, public life, and participation are experienced today—and on the scope we have to actively shape them. In early January 2026, the artist realised three public interventions in Dortmund’s urban space in preparation for the presentation at the Baukunstarchiv NRW. Construction fences were fitted with banners from the public preposition series and installed at a prominent location in the city centre for one week. These banners are subsequently transferred to the interior of the Baukunstarchiv NRW on Ostwall, where they are complemented by additional banners and video projections featuring international projects from the broader context of the work. QR codes on the banners link to image and text-based content from other cities. The themes will be explored further in a symposium on the role of art in public space on March 6, 2026.

With the opening, the exhibition reveals itself as a process: while the upper fence elements are already installed—requiring the use of a lifting platform—the lower segments initially remain empty. In a performative gesture, these spaces are filled during the opening with projects from the urban space and the international public preposition context. This process continues throughout the exhibition period, underscoring the project’s open-ended and evolving nature. The gradual installation of the works is carried out by students from Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, under the direction of Achim Mohné, among others.

March 6, 4–8pm
Symposium
Contributors: Georg Elben, Vanessa Joan Müller, Lea Schleiffenbaum, Wolfgang Sonne, Jacques Heinrich Toussaint (provisional list)
With a lecture-performance by: Esper Postma

As debates around monuments and sites of memory move beyond institutional and academic spheres, the city increasingly emerges as a contested terrain—one in which identity, history, and spatial narratives are continuously renegotiated. This symposium at the Baukunstarchiv NRW examines how artistic and architectural practices engage with the built environment to propose new, dynamic forms of remembrance.