This week FreqOUT! took part in the Total Regeneration symposium at cSPACE studio, a conference and round table discussion on roles, agendas and impacts for cultural practitioners within socially engaged and collaborative art practice.
Of particular interest was the presentation of the artist and researcher Aida Sancehz de Serdio from the University of Barcelona about
Artibarri, a online network of community art projects. For Artibarri, participation and collaboration between artists, politicians and communities is the corner stone of socially engaded art practice and evaluation is the biggest challenge.
The question, "is it possible to evaluate objectively the outcome of socially engaged art practice?", was debated extensively amongst the attendees. Artibarri's position was that artists, politicians and communities should be engaged in a constant reflection, analysis and dialogue, and that the creation of these networks of experience can and should inspire new practices but that community art projects, "should not be evaluated by any measuring processes but by constructive criticism". Thier philosophy received general agreement amongst the symposium public, which was mainly composed of artists and politicians involved in community practices.
There was also unanimity at cSPACE that a future challenges lies in the consideration of external viewers approaching community art projects and their relative outcomes.
Article by Daniela Boraschi
For more information go to:
cSPACE studio
