François Matarasso

What art does

• (Oresh dance project from the Living Heritage programme, Bulgaria, 2004)

Time in participatory and community art

Time is an important factor in differentiating in participatory and community art. The shorter the project, the less potential for the participants to influence its development. People may share a meal with an artist in a gallery or stand naked in the street to be photographed but their influence on the resulting work is marginal.…

Remembering Craigmillar Festival Society

‘Art was always used at Craigmillar as a frontline activity, as a language of regeneration: it was about fighting talk, where the people of Craigmillar would not take no for an answer.’ Craigmillar Festival Society was one of the pioneering community arts organisations in Britain. It was particularly important in being created and controlled by…

Connections and differences between participatory art and community art

One reason why this blog (and the book it supports) is called ‘A Restless Art’ is to escape the trap of what to call the artistic practice I’m writing about. There is a huge range of terms: participatory art, socially engaged art, relation practice, geologic aesthetics, community art, interactive art, activist art… the list goes…

Feeling at home in your own city

Community theatre performances in Catalunya During a recent visit to Barcelona I was able to meet people involved with two remarkable theatre performances. 1 – Vulnus Towards the end of the 30 minute performance, four or five people were slowly, ritually tied to chairs with white rope. As each ligature was added, sometimes over their mouths,…

Openings

In a French country church, a few dozen people are gathered for a concert on a warm Saturday night. The programme is dedicated to Francis Poulenc’s sacred music, some of it composed during the composer’s visits here in the 1930s. The singers have travelled far to perform. All are amateurs, gifted singers in this highly…