Liminal museum. Artistic installations at the threshold of public realm

Abstract

The concept of liminal museum looks at the potential of public art in the liminal space of exhibition venues, in between urban realm and the interior of public buildings, as an innovative locus of social engagement. More specifically, we study the status of artistic interventions that take place on the façade through the definition of three fields of investigation: juxtaposition, ephemerality, media. We present the case study of a curatorial project developed in Altamura, Italy, within the dimension of living labs used for citizens’ engagement in art production and education. This leads to the issue of co-habitation of museum institutions with surrounding neighbourhoods, interpreting the façade as a symbolic interface that mediates values and languages of art.