Participatory art projects
Public art is often participatory these days. Many new public artworks resemble playgrounds more than art objects meant to be viewed. The processes by which artworks are created are also increasingly participatory. What can participatory public art be and how is it created?
There are countless ways to implement inclusion in public art:
As inspiration or selection committee during the design phase of the work
An artist can collect ideas, texts, images or other material from a desired group of people and use it as the basis for their own design work.
The artist can make several sketches, from which the community can choose the work to be realized.
The artist can convene workshops where the work is conceptualized, sketched, and designed together with residents of the area, building users, or other stakeholders.
Collaboration during the implementation phase of the work
The artist can create the work together with volunteer participants, guiding them step by step.
An artist can instruct people to independently perform certain actions or objects, which ultimately together form an actual work.
After the work is completed, as part of the work
The work can act as an impulse for the actions of those who experience the work, for example through a suggestion, instruction or rules of the game.
The work may change in interaction with the experiencers, for example, the shadows of passers-by are part of the work.
The artist and the volunteers who participate in the creation of the work form temporary communities. Mapping the resources of these communities is an important step in the creative process. The community resources of a participatory artwork are the expertise and interest of each participant. Many hands carry out large-scale work phases quickly. The artist's professional skills are to choose the right materials, plan suitable working methods and divide the tasks into suitable subtasks for the volunteers. At best, a smoothly progressing creative process is created, which gives all participants a sense of success and a high-quality end result. When the artist creates the work together with the volunteers, the collaboration becomes part of the work. Shared authorship enriches the meaning of the work and creates memories related to it for all participants. Those memories may last longer than the work itself.