What are the advantages of having a collaborative process instead of a single authorship to build a public monument? Is the result really a reflection of the communities’ values? How do the various agents interact? The paper focuses on the evaluation of a collaborative art process in Portugal.

Paper co-authored with Filipa Ramalhete, Maria Assunção Gato and Sérgio Vicente, and presented at the 2014 European Association of Social Anthropologists Congress, which took place at the Tallinn University, Estonia, between July 31 and August 3.

Abstract

Participatory public art processes have been led to recent interesting experiences and results in some European cities. In Portugal, a unique case-study of participated public art was developed which combined methodologies for participation in public art developed in Barcelona with others used to promote public participation in regional planning.

This case-study consists in the conception of a three piece monument built through a public art collaborative process in Almada, Portugal, between 2011 and 2013. This collaborative process involved several agents – the municipality, the experts’ team, local associations and inhabitants – and was based on a sequential and progressive working methodology, through a dynamic and iterative process in which territory and community were the operative concepts for the monuments’ conception.

This participatory process is currently under evaluation and several questions arise: did this participatory public art process represent an added value for the agents involved? Which kind of values did the participants wish for? Were the prime expectations converted in real benefits? This presentation proposes to discuss the different roles and empowerment levels of the different agents (sculptors, residents, anthropologists, local technicians and politicians) involved in the collaborative process.

Full paper available at academia.edu