ST. LOUIS — Suspended mid-leap with nothing below, the future lies outside of the frame. What’s certain is the split-second decision: to soar forward or look back over one’s shoulder; to plunge into the unknown or pause — perhaps, to plummet.
Inspired by the moment in a video game when a character jumps off a cliff and is suspended midair — taken from artist Alice Bucknell’s commissioned work of the same name — Coyote Time marks the third edition of the Counterpublic Triennial, a sweeping exhibition of public art well suited for a city that can feel both frozen in time and ripe for a wildly revitalized future.
Counterpublic’s roots go back to 2015, when original co-founders James McAnally and Brea Youngblood sought to integrate the project of their gallery, The Luminary, into the urban fabric of the surrounding neighborhood. Incorporated in 2021 as its own non-profit organization, the three-month exhibition has since exploded in both renown and ambition — nearly doubling the number of artists from 2023 to cascade across St. Louis City and into the Metro East region beyond the Mississippi River.
Creatively pollinating parks, community gardens, vacant lots, and even an abandoned vending machine factory, this year’s Counterpublic is organized into five major hubs and boasts an international guest curatorial team, including Stefanie Hessler, Raphael Fonseca, and Wanda Nanibush. The exhibition features major artists like Glenn Ligon, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Nick Cave, alongside regionally notable artists such as Rachel Youn, Anika Todd, and Jamie Lee Harris. On its opening weekend, visitors flocked from near and far despite the stifling heat, a current running through the city rivaling that of its mighty river.
At its best, Counterpublic artworks invigorate, channeling the energy of St. Louis’s established arts districts to empty, under-utilized, or under-recognized urban spaces — capillaries warming appendages gone numb from decades of neglect. Hipsters rub shoulders with retirees; elites share tables with the hoi polloi; outsiders are forced to reassess, if not jettison, the harmful preconceptions wrought by a “flyover” mindset toward the region.
