The 2023 edition of Counterpublic extended across six miles of St Louis through 30 new commissions, public programmes and community partnerships.
The triennial was developed after a year-long consultation involving approximately 800 residents.
Public memory outside conventional galleries
Participants repeatedly raised the absence of neighbourhood histories from official narratives and the contested role of monuments.
The exhibition responded by placing works in community museums, streets and sites carrying specific historical claims.
One major initiative supported efforts to rematriate Sugarloaf Mound, the last surviving Indigenous mound in St Louis, to the Osage Nation. New Red Order documented the legal process, while Osage artist Anita Fields developed an installation around the site.
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith presented a large map painting near streets named for Indigenous nations and leaders.
Permanent work and distributed sound
At the Griot Museum of Black History, architect David Adjaye began a permanent earthwork accompanied by a two-year fellowship intended to support interpretation and conservation.
Mendi and Keith Obadike created Slow Drag, in which cars moved through the city while playing variations of a musical composition.
Cannupa Hanska Luger developed an augmented-reality work visible across the exhibition route.
The triennial’s first edition in 2019 had used spaces including a tea shop, yoga studio, punk club, convenience store, Buddhist temple and Mexican bakery. The 2023 edition continued that refusal of a single central venue.
Counterpublic argued that art should contribute to long-term civic change rather than disappear after a three-month event. Its strongest projects joined artistic form with concrete questions of land ownership, historical recognition and institutional capacity.