Public, Private, Secret has been the premiere exhibition at the new ICP Museum, located at 250 Bowery, New York City.

The Public Private Secret debut show and events program explored the concept of privacy in today’s society and studies how contemporary self-identity is tied to public visibility.

The subject of privacy as a social issue runs deeply through the show.  Curator-in-Residence, is the capable Charlotte Cotton, with ICP Associate Curator Pauline Vermare and Assistant Curator Marina Chao.

This thought-provoking exhibition underlines the contrasts between our need for public visibility, and the disturbing ways in which activities are being tracked and monitored, often without our knowledge.

Public Private Secret presents a wide range of historical and contemporary works by artists including Zach Blas, Martine Syms, Natalie Bookchin, Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin, and Andy Warhol.

The exhibition creates a physical experience through which to examine photography’s role in breaking and resetting the boundaries of social and personal privacy.

ICP Curator-in-Residence Charlotte Cotton stated:

“Public, Private, Secret’s non-hierarchical organization allows for dialogue between and about the diversity of photographic and visual culture in a wholly unique and unexpected way.”
“It’s like the Bible of the selfie, right?”
“You can’t talk about celebrity culture and how it’s being framed right now without Kim Kardashian.”

Also a streams of real-time images and videos from various social media sources, sharpen and heighten attention towards the social implications of our image-centric world.

The social media sources were curated by Mark Ghuneim and ICP’s New Media Narratives students.

Additionally, Public Private Secret is complemented by a curated book experience, created by Spaces Corners.

Facial Weaponization Suite (2012), a particularly compelling video from Zach Blasm, looks to fight invasive data collection efforts by creating a “collective fag face mask,” as he writes.

The Public, Private, Secret exhibition website was also an integral part of the show experience. On the website the curators included interviews with artists and curators and essays related to the exhibition’s themes, as well as images of works in the exhibition, a schedule of upcoming events, transcripts of past events, and press.