unpacking designboom’s top 10 public art PROJECTS of 2023

Poignant, ephemeral, mystical, and optically deceptive — these are just some of the words used to describe the most striking public art interventions of 2023. Visionaries like MAD Architects‘ Ma Yansong, Jim Denevan, Anish Kapoor, and el Anatsui shook up the art scene, magnifying their creative genius by transforming seemingly ordinary elements into extraordinarily poetic and show-stopping installations. Whether to celebrate the natural world, breathe new life into derelict architecture, or comment on the tragedy of human realities, each of these artworks emblematize the incredible power of manipulating scale, material, and shape to craft unforgettable masterpieces. Stick around as we continue our roundup of BIG STORIES with the TOP 10 public art projects featured on designboom throughout the year 2023.

MAD ARCHITECTS WRAPS CHINESE LANDMARK IN MULTICOLORED VEIL

image courtesy MAD Architects

Lightly enveloping and cladding the abandoned Taiping market building in Guangdong, China, ‘Timeless Beacon’ by MAD Architects emerges as a symbol of rebirth for a once bustling commercial hub. The practice’s lead architect Ma Yansong was invited by the Guangdong Nanhai Art Field to complete the ethereal and colorful art installation, currently on show at Taiping Xu Art Zone until the Summer of 2024. Taiping Market is the largest abandoned building in Taiping Xu, a once popular fair established during the late Ming Dynasty. It kept flourishing for centuries until the 1980s, when fishermen, businessmen, and villagers gathered there for trading. But the modern-day urbanization boom changed everything, pushing young people to seek opportunities outside the Chinese village. Even more, the rise of the internet era has overshadowed the need for physical markets, leading to a slow abandonment of the formerly buzzing fair.

JIM DENEVAN’S MONUMENTAL LAND ART FROM DESERT SANDS AT MANAR ABU DHABI

images © Lance Gerber

Artist Jim Denevan takes to Abu Dhabi to create his latest large-scale land art installation ‘Self Similar,’ which has been sculpted as a central part of a city-wide light art exhibition, Manar Abu Dhabi, curated by Reem Fadda and Alia Zaal Lootah. Situated on the capital city’s Fahid Island, the otherworldly artwork spans nearly one square kilometer and reaches a towering height of twenty-seven meters. Located where the city meets the desert and flanked by the Arabian Sea, the installation is monumental in both its grand scale and delicate materiality of sand.

ANDRÉS REISINGER TO UNVEIL HIS FIRST-EVER PHYSICAL ‘TAKE OVER’ INSTALLATION AT MIAMI ART WEEK

image courtesy Andrés Reisinger

Renowned digital artist and designer Andrés Reisinger presents Take Over Miami, bringing his viral digital art series to physical life for the first time ever. The public art installation will be showcased at the Miami Design District during Miami Art Week 2023 (see designboom’s guide to Miami Art Week here!), open for viewing from December 4 to 10. Infusing the city with a vibrant pink-hued creative energy, Reisinger seamlessly transcends the boundaries between the digital and physical realms, unveiling a tangible manifestation of his acclaimed digital Take Overs.

JR REIMAGINES SCAFFOLDING OF PARIS’ OPERA HOUSE AS ENTRANCE TO A VAST CAVE

image courtesy of JR via Instagram

Alongside the buzzing energy coming out of Paris Design Week 2023, French artist JR reveals his latest show-stopping installation in the heart of the French capital. As part of the Palais Garnier’s renovation, the Opéra National de Paris invited the artist to transform the scaffolding of the historic landmark into the entrance of a vast cave, evoking a passage filled with rocks and light. Titled Retour à la caverne – Act I – L’entrée de la caverne, this project is an extension of JR’s trompe l’oeil projects, which have taken over iconic sites like the Louvre Museum, Trocadero Esplanade, Farnese Palace in Rome, and Florence’s Strozzi Palace. The installation is open to the public until September 25, 2023.

ANISH KAPOOR’S NEWEST ‘BEAN’ NESTLES INTO STREETS OF NEW YORK

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image © designboom

At long last, Anish Kapoor‘s first permanent public work in New York reaches completion, the amorphous and reflective sculpture commonly known as The Bean. The work is snugly squeezed beneath the cantilevering slabs shading the base of 56 Leonard Street, the 2017-built ‘Jenga’ tower designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Hill West Architects. It shows clear influence from his well-known Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago — the original ‘Bean.’ Now a recognizable addition to the city’s skyline, the building houses a four-bedroom apartment which Kapoor himself had purchased in 2016.

EL ANATSUI STITCHES THOUSANDS OF METAL BOTTLE PIECES FOR HYUNDAI COMMISSION AT TATE MODERN

image © Tate / Joe Humphrys

Alongside Frieze Art Week 2023, Tate Modern and Hyundai Motor Company have launched a new monumental commission by artist El Anatsui in London. Titled Behind the Red Moon, the artwork is part of a series of new, site-specific works by international artists in response to the unique context of the the museum’s Turbine Hall. Staged in three acts, viewers are invited on a journey of movement through Anatsui’s dynamic metallic sculptures. The sculpture comprises thousands of metal bottle tops and fragments have been stitched together into three expansive abstract compositions. These undulating forms, the artist’s largest work to date, cut through the vast industrial space of the museum‘s Turbine Hall, reflecting on the expanse of human history and the elemental power of the natural world. Each sculpture refers to Anatsui’s interest in the movement and migration of goods and people during the transatlantic slave trade. The installation is on view between October 10, 2023 and April 14, 2024.

CARSTEN HÖLLER’S LUMINOUS DOTS ENGAGE MANAR ABU DHABI IN VIBRANT PLAY

image © Lance Gerber

At the 2023 edition of the Manar Abu Dhabi festival, conceptual artist Carsten Höller unveils his latest public light art exhibit, titled Abu Dhabi Dots. As the second installment in the artist’s Dots series, the immersive installation takes center stage at the beach, where 20 spotlights in vibrant colors, follow the movements of the participants and allow them to play a ‘reward and punishment’ game with each other. In this game, initially comprising 14 red, three blue, two green, and one white dot, players have the freedom to ‘upgrade’ their assigned color. Red dots can progress to blue by overlapping with a blue dot, followed by advancement to green and then white. Overlapping causes others to be downgraded by one color step. If all red dots form an unbroken chain, all 20 dots become white. The game continues until seven or more white dots no longer overlap, signaling the end, and the dots reset to their initial configuration.

UKRAINE’S WAR-WRECKED CARS SHOWCASED IN POIGNANT EXHIBITION BY MARTIN VELCOVSKY

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image © Julius Konttinen

In reaction to Russia’s most recent invasion of Ukraine and the near year-long devastation that followed, Czech designer Maxim Velcovsky showcases a poignant sculptural installation of burned-out cars. Entitled ‘Possibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living,’ the installation comprises four civilian cars destroyed almost beyond recognition. Each war-wrecked car had been transported from Ukraine to be displayed to the public at the Signal digital art festival which took place at Mariánské Square in Prague this past October. As the artist says, ‘The civilian cars are a stark testament to the horrific tragedy that is still unfolding just a few hundred miles away.’

JEPPE HEIN’S WATER ROOMS APPEAR AS A LIQUID PAVILION AT BASEL’S PUBLIC FREILAGER PLATZ

During the annual Art Basel fair, held in Basel, the city becomes a hub for art enthusiasts, bringing together collectors, galleries, and artists from various parts of the globe. If you happen to be in the city during this event and enjoy exploring, you can also visit the public square Freilager Platz, which is hosting Jeppe Hein’s water pavilion, open to people of all ages. The project, known as Appearing Rooms, and described as a liquid sculpture by the Berlin-based artist, undergoes a continuous transformation. The installation features four external water walls that form a square shape, while inside, it is divided into smaller areas by four independent walls. With a height of over two meters, these walls, made of flowing water, unpredictably rise and fall, determining who can enter and who must wait. Visitors can pass from one water space to another or peer through the transparent walls, enjoying the surrounding square, architecture, people, and the sky. Appearing Rooms takes shape as a living sculpture that can be experienced from the outside and within, inviting passers-by to linger and explore‘its inner and outer worlds,’ as Jeppe Hein describes.

YELLOW INFLATABLE INSTALLATION SQUEEZES INTO VOID SPACE IN BARCELONA

Art collective Penique Productions introduces ‘Niu’, an inflatable ephemeral installation inside the semi-open atrium of Llanterna de L’Auditori in Barcelona during the parallel program of MODEL festival (see more here). The temporary structure completely occupies the void space spreading a set of giant plastic sheets that blow outwards within the boundaries of the built form through the use of high-powered fans. designboom wanders inside the inflated nylon balloon that blends the realms of sculpture and performance. The public artwork counteracts the ‘Ordinance on Measures to Promote and Guarantee Citizen Coexistence in the Public Space of Barcelona’, one of the most restrictive regulations imposed in Spain, which prohibits painting, singing, playing, drinking, begging, selling, undressing, showering, lying down and sleeping. Through the immersive volume of vibrant yellow color, the piece aims to restore the freedom of individuals to reclaim public spaces and be active and present.