This publication is a recording and material proof of the first symposium of the Outdoor Gallery of the City of Gdańsk, which took place on 26 February 2011 at the Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art in Gdańsk.
The symposium, entitled Art and Public Space, was the first attempt at reflecting on the actions of the Outdoor Gallery of the City of Gdańsk, which resonate on an international scale. Speeches given by members of the jury and the Gallery’s advisors, which form the gist of the present publication, demonstrate the various aspects of the presence of art in the public space, touching upon the problems and challenges created by this difficult and fascinating relationship. Their common context was a specific area of the city: the squalid Dolne Miasto district surrounding Laznia and actions undertaken there. It is precisely there that the artworks selected in the first four editions of the closed international competition are being implemented. The publication is enriched by texts, which, albeit not directly connected with the symposium, pertain to the transformations which occur due to the mutual relationship between the public space and art shown there.