François Matarasso

Lying fallow

Someone asked me yesterday what I was doing now that the book was finished. ‘Resting,’ I replied, and then, since we’d met in a work situation, I went on, ‘Resting my mind.’ It was an unconscious clarification, but an accurate one. Without intending or even realising it, I have let go of ideas that have…

‘Cidade’, Terratreme

The Portuguese edition of A Restless Art will be published on 9 May 2019, and we are making final corrections before the book goes to print. This edition includes six Portuguese projects not in the English edition: here is one of them. The late-20th century transformation in how culture is produced, distributed and valued opened new…

Questions I can’t answer

It’s messy, difficult, compromised—but at its best community art can be joyously emancipatory. It shows us that we will only find pathways to a better place if we work together. We need each other. And we need to keep asking questions we can’t answer.

The Ethics of Change

By what right does an artist set out to produce even the conditions of change in others? And what responsibilities does she have towards those who may be put in the path of change, without being fully aware of that possibility or its effects?

I remember workshops

For several weeks, I’ve been facilitating creative writing workshops in Leicester. The project, commissioned by Writing East Midlands with the local NHS Trust, is for elders, here meaning people aged over 55, a category that includes me. We don’t have very long—five ‘taster sessions’ with community groups, and ten two-hour workshops. At the beginning of…

Chór POLIN

The POLIN Choir is an ambitious and sustained initiative to develop the relationship between a new museum and the community in which it stands.