The city of St. Louis now has a new reason to look upward. A major exhibition of public art called the Counterpublic Triennial Pollinates a Budding St. Louis has spread across the city and into the Metro East region beyond the Mississippi River. This is its third edition, named Coyote Time, which takes its title from a moment in a video game when a character jumps off a cliff and is suspended midair. That reference comes from the commissioned work of the same name by artist Alice Bucknell.
For three months, the show brings together major artists such as Glenn Ligon, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Nick Cave with regionally notable artists including Rachel Youn, Anika Todd, and Jamie Lee Harris. On its opening weekend, crowds turned out in numbers, drawn by the stifling heat that was sweeping through the city, a current as powerful as that of its mighty river.
From Gallery to City
The project began in 2015, when James McAnally and Brea Youngblood, who were the original co-founders, decided to bring the work of their gallery, The Luminary, into closer contact with the neighborhood around it. It became its own non-profit organization in 2021, and from that point forward its goals grew much larger.
The show nearly doubled the number of artists from 2023, with installations stretching from St. Louis City across into the Metro East area on the far side of the Mississippi River. This year’s Counterpublic is built around five major hubs and counts Stefanie Hessler, Raphael Fonseca, and Wanda Nanibush among its international guest curators.
The show plants its work across parks, community gardens, vacant lots, and even an abandoned vending machine factory. Its purpose is to direct the energy of St. Louis’s well-established arts districts toward empty, under-used, or overlooked urban spaces — channels feeding blood back into limbs grown cold after years of neglect.
The Works That Draw Crowds
The name Coyote Time comes from a moment of hesitation Bucknell’s work captures: to soar forward or look back over one’ experienced at his shoulder, where he had to decide whether to rush forward into uncertainty or stay still — or maybe fall. The title points to a city that sits between stagnation and change, a strain that the show attempts to bring together.
The show’s major attractions include:
- Glenn Ligon
- Rirkrit Tiravanija
- Nick Cave
- Rachel Youn, Anika Todd, and Jamie Lee Harris
Who Curated It
Three guest curators are involved: Stefanie Hessler, Raphael Fonseca, and Wanda Nanibush. Their presence points to a show that goes beyond the city’s borders.
The People Who Came
From all corners, people came to see the exhibition on its opening weekend, even though the heat was oppressive. What matters most about its success is not simply the number of people who attended, but its reputation and its scope. The show’s reach extends across St. Louis City and into the Metro East region beyond the Mississippi River, a scale that matches the ambition of its organizers.
What It Means for St. Louis
When they work at their most effective, the pieces in this exhibition energize neglected urban spaces, turning abandoned, overlooked, or underappreciated areas into lively extensions of St. Louis’s already vibrant arts districts. These works bring warmth to neighborhoods that have grown cold after years of neglect, much like capillaries warming an appendage long left numb. The show suits a city that can feel stuck in the past even as it holds promise for a wildly revitalized future.
Going past the Mississippi River into the Metro East area shows a wider goal. The exhibition sets art within parks, community gardens, and old factories, treating public space as a canvas meant to drive social change rather than simply dress it up. By placing work in these sites, the show aims to draw attention to places that might otherwise go unseen.
Key facts:
- Founders: James McAnally and Brea Youngblood
- Incorporated: 2021 as its own non-profit organization
- Guest curators: Stefanie Hessler, Raphael Fonseca, Wanda Nanibush
- Major artists: Glenn Ligon, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Nick Cave
- Regional artists: Rachel Youn, Anika Todd, Jamie Lee Harris
- Works: Placed across parks, community gardens, vacant lots, and an abandoned vending machine factory
The exhibition’s title, Coyote Time, captures this tension perfectly. The show asks viewers to consider the split-second decision Bucknell’s work represents — whether to soar forward or look back, to plunge or to pause.
The project delivers on its goals. It transports world-class art to unusual venues, gathers a wide range of people, and gives equal weight to local artists and foreign ones. It stands as proof that public art can work equally well as cultural enrichment and as a way of engaging citizens.
A triumph of ambition and execution, The Counterpublic Triennial Pollinates a Budding St. Louis turns the city itself into a living gallery, one sculpture, installation, and mural at a time.
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