Alba Baeza

Alba Baeza (Barcelona, 1986) is a curator and writer based in Stockholm, where she obtained an MA in Curating Art at Stockholm University. She currently works at Stockholm Konst, where she commissions contemporary art for public space. Her practice focuses on the relationship between artistic production, institutional frameworks and public contexts, with an emphasis on long-term and collaborative processes.

From 2016 to 2026, she was a member of the curatorial team at Public Art Agency Sweden, now part of Moderna Museet. There, she developed site-specific public art commissions in contexts such as train stations or universities, collaborating with artists including Danh Vo, Katharina Grosse, Huang Yong Ping, Maider López, Hanna Ljungh or Allora & Calzadilla. She also contributed to knowledge development within the organisation, with a focus on expanding and critically interrogating the field of public art.

Between 2012 and 2018, she worked closely with Rosa Martínez, Artistic Director of the 51st Venice Biennale (2005), and took part in several international exhibitions. She has recently served as curatorial advisor with Martínez for the 2nd edition of the Malta Biennale 2026.

Alongside her institutional work, Alba Baeza has curated exhibitions and public programmes in Sweden and internationally, including Palestinian Cinema: Solidarity Through Film (2017) at Tensta konsthall or The Roaming Institute (2017) at Index - The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation. She regularly lectures, leads conversations with artists, and contributes to exhibition catalogues and art publications. Her recent research paper, Re-enchanting the Public Sphere: Curating Public Art through the Lens of the Commons (2026), was developed at Stockholm University. The paper addresses the process leading to Maider López’s public artwork Moving Plants, commissioned by Public Art Agency Sweden in Hammarkullen, a suburb north of Gothenburg, where the role of the local community was decisive.

Re-enchanting the Public Sphere. Curating Public Art Through the Lens of the Commons.

At a time when several of the major institutions working with public art in Sweden are facing political challenges and undergoing significant transformations, their future role appears as a pressing issue. These circumstances call not only for defending public art, but also for reconsidering how publicness itself is produced, negotiated and shared through curatorial practice.

I propose to rethink the curatorial dimension of public art through the lens of the commons, a concept that has regained urgency in contemporary political and cultural thought. Understood not simply as collectively held resources but as practices through which access, agency, knowledge and social relations are negotiated and shared, the commons offer a framework for reconsidering the role of public art today.
Curating through the lens of the commons can be an effective approach to reclaim the political potential of contemporary art in the public sphere while broadening the collective narratives it conveys.