Alexandra Pirici & Manuel Pelmuş: Public Collection

The new work of Alexandra Pirici & Manuel Pelmuş “Public Collection” approaches art  history from the moment of the appearance of the public museum as an institution that archives, historicizes, collects cultural items and reflects on society.

The focus of this new work is to challenge the idea of a material collection which stands as a cornerstone for the very concept of the museum. Without attempting an exhaustive overview, it consists of enacting and actualising significant artworks and events (both iconic and forgotten) using only a few human bodies.

The artists conceive their continuous action as an exhibition with immaterial objects. Public Collection uses similar strategies as previous works (such as the “Immaterial Retrospective of the Venice Biennale” or “Just Pompidou It. A Retrospective of Centre Pompidou”) but attempts to address a larger context: the public museum.

The work is imagined as an ongoing action, where the visitors can spend the time they  want with the work, being able to leave and to come back. There is no beginning and no end. The bodies of the performers are there present, alive, in tension and dependence to one another. This ongoing action proposes the possibility of an immaterial collection.