In her contribution “The Commission”, Nora Sternfeld considers the work of Heiner Müller in examining the significance of commissioning a work of art. Sternfeld focuses on the practice of the New Patrons of transferring to citizens the power to commission, as well as the mediation of the process and scrutinizes whether these constitute fundamental changes to the system. Whether and how the fulfilment of a commission correlates with the needs and possibilities of art production becomes the central point of her consideration.
Nora Sternfeld is an art mediator and curator. She has been Professor of Art Education at the HFBK Hamburg since 2021. From 2018 to 2020 she held the documenta professorship at the Kunsthochschule Kassel, and from 2012 to 2018 she was Professor of Curating and Mediating Art at Aalto University in Helsinki. She publishes on contemporary art, educational theory, exhibitions, historical politics and anti-racism.
The series Commissioned by – Art in Relation sheds light on the special features of art in the citizens’ mandate from perspectives of art theory, sociology, anthropology, architecture, urban development, economics and mediation
Museum Abteiberg is an anchor point of the New Patrons in the Rhineland. In Mönchengladbach, Ruth Buchanan’s A Garden with Bridges (Spine, Stomach, Throat, Ear) will be realized in 2022 as the first major Mönchengladbach art project commissioned by citizens.