The Institute for Public Presence was established in 2015 within the Israeli Center for Digital Art as a new platform for research, scholarship and discussion of art and action in public space. The institute’s activities include the development and promotion of long-term art projects, a program for members of the public, discussion and action groups, screenings and lectures, as well as the archiving of artworks and actions in public space. The institute is a unique venue where art and scholarship coalesce into a joint form of action. Its core lies in challenging and expanding the discourse on the meaning of public space in our lives and the role art can play within it, as well as in stimulating research to enable the writing of different histories and narratives with regard to this presence, based on ongoing collaboration with artists and scholars. The establishment of this new institute for research using artistic tools had developed out of the ambition to create models inspired by the art world and informed by academic research, together with other areas of scholarship and public activism. A key activity of the Institute for Public Presence is scholarship and research groups that bring together artists, researchers and others. The groups hold exclusive as well as public meetings on specific issues, destined as points of departure for joint and long-term practices. In addition, the institute supports several artists in developing focal projects related to the issues it addresses. Udi Edelman, Director
Yael Messer, Curatorial Fellow
Omer Krieger, Curatorial Fellow
