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A Restless Art

A Restless Art

How participation won, and why it matters

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  • The book
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    • Welcome words
    • Acknowledgements
    • Photography credits
    • Bibliography
    • A Restless Art in 10 minutes
  • Case studies
    • Fun Palaces
    • The Portland Inn Project
      • O Portland Inn Projeto – Um caso de estudo de arte participativa
    • ‘Men & Girls Dance’, Fevered Sleep
      • ‘Men & Girls Dance’, Um caso de estudo de arte participativa
    • Movimento de Expressão Fotográfica
      • Movimento de Expressão Fotográfica – Um caso de estudo de arte participativa
    • ‘We’re here because we’re here’
      • ‘We’re here because we’re here’ – Um caso de estudo de arte participativa
    • ‘Bed’, Entelechy Arts
      • ‘Bed’, Entelechy Arts – Um caso de estudo de arte participativa
    • Welfare State International
      • Welfare State International – Um caso de estudo de arte participativa
    • Festival de Música de Setúbal
      • Festival de Música de Setúbal – um caso de estudo de arte participativa
  • Projects
    • ‘L’Ego do Meu Bairro’ Olho.te
    • Project links
    • The Cabbage Field Opera (Lithuania)
    • Valleys Kids (Wales)
    • ‘I am the Museum’ (Bosnia Herzegovina)
    • El Colegio del Cuerpo (Colombia)
    • Multistory (UK)
    • Restoke (UK)
    • Streetwise Opera
    • Toinen Koti (Finnish National Theatre)
    • Dotrščina Virtual Museum (Croatia)
    • Geração SOMA, Vo’Arte (Portugal)
    • A Bao A Qu (Spain)
    • The Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company (UK)
    • Banlieues Bleues (France)
    • Mahatat for contemporary art (Egypt)
  • Resources
    • Community art in Britain
    • Community art in Ireland
    • Community art in Portugal
    • Community art in the Netherlands
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      • Arts education
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    • Reports and research
      • Guides and handbooks
      • Reflexive practice
      • Online journals
    • Community and participatory art beyond Europe
  • About
    • François Matarasso
    • Contact me

Category: History

March 13, 2020 Art and older people / England / First Generation

A story that deserves telling

Yesterday I got an email from a research student called Chloé Bradwell who wanted to contact artists who had worked

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October 17, 2019 A Restless Art / Art in criminal justice / Film / Northern Ireland / Projects / Theatre / Third generation / Where do you stand?

None of this is easy

A couple of days ago, I gave a lecture about art in criminal justice contexts. It’s not a field in

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October 3, 2019 A Restless Art / Cultural democracy / Democratisation of culture / England / Europe / social change / Third generation

It’s Fun Palaces weekend

When I was a young and earnest community artist, I bridled at the word fun. The art we made wasn’t

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September 4, 2019 A Restless Art / Cultural democracy / First Generation / Research

Looking back at Bath Arts Workshop

In the course of working on A Restless Art, I’ve met many people from what I think of as the

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June 29, 2019 A Restless Art / Art and young people / Ethics / Spain / Third generation / Visual art

‘Here we found a space to think’

When I argued – as I still do – that people benefit from participating in art, it is because of its potential for learning, emancipation and empowerment. Experience changes us. Powerful experiences, such as those that come from creating art with other people, can change us deeply. But that change is something we do for ourselves: it is not done to us

June 13, 2019 Italy / Skills / Third generation

Resource: ‘The Art of Dialogue Cookbook’

The ideas vary in style, duration and resources, from a short workshop to projects lasting several months There’s are lots of nourishing stuff, some you might want to adapt and replicate, some that could just spark new ideas in your own work

May 29, 2019 A Restless Art / Cultural democracy / England / Second generation / Writing

I Remember: Leicester

The books have arrived, and I’m making 12 parcels of authors’ copies and more for people who’ve helped along the

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March 24, 2019 A Restless Art / Cultural democracy / Film / Portugal / Projects / Third generation

‘Cidade’, Terratreme

The Portuguese edition of A Restless Art will be published on 9 May 2019, and we are making final corrections

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March 14, 2019 A Restless Art / Ethics / First Generation

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.

February 22, 2019 Book extracts / Cultural democracy / Music / Poland / Projects / Third generation

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.

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