PARTICIPATORY ARTS
Participatory arts are those instances of art practice that engage audiences in some way in the conception and realisation of artwork. Although the term itself has seen increasing usage since the 1990s, the roots of such practice can be traced to the European avant-gardes, the participatory politics of feminism and the civil rights movements of the 1960s, or even further back in history. Since they are a part of emancipatory social and artistic traditions, participatory arts are broadly related to attempts at decentralisation, participation of amateurs and non-professionals, decolonisation and overcoming the regime of contemporary art institutions. Such practices thus potentially open and expand art worlds for new knowledge, regimes, aesthetic, political and ethical transformations of social constellations, communities, and spaces of new articulation. Participatory arts can be media-specific, like participatory theatre or visual arts, but they can also be interdisciplinary.
Although important distinctions between them are debated, the following terms are used to denote similar practices: relational aesthetics, dialogical art, socially engaged art, community art, interactive art, and many others. The abundance of such related terms only proves the changing role of spectators in the field of contemporary arts.
At the very core of the participatory artwork are the participants themselves. In fact, unlike in other forms of art, like painting, sculpture, writing, or musical composition, in participatory art practices the presence of participants is necessary. When Rirkrit Tiravanja makes dinner in a gallery or Tania Bruguera opens school at an arts festival, those artworks do not exist without participants. This is why there are several important aspects debated and experimented with in the field of participatory arts. One is the question of invitation for participation and participant recruitment: who and how is invited to participate? Should consent for participation be given or not? What is the ambient setting for participation? Other issues concern power dynamics and relations. The question here is: Who decides and what is the relation between an artist and participants? And further, what is the role of arts institutions within the project? Finally, what is the outcome of participatory arts, what is the status of such ‘artwork’ (which is oftentimes ephemeral), and who owns it?
Participatory arts are very important for any kind of emancipatory cultural policy. They are at the forefront of experimentation with citizen participation and cultural democracy, and many issues raised within participatory art projects are at the same time crucial for democratic cultural policy as well. (VK, GT)
See also: Audience development; Amateurism