Cultures in Action. Public Art and Political Participation

The research discussed in this chapter assumes the ‘new genre of public art’ as a field of analysis for the ‘maximalist’ and ‘multi-sited’ forms of political participation, activated within the symbolic domain of art and oriented to influence the decisions of policy-makers. This study focuses on Italy, considering contemporary artists who address the political dimensions of societal life in the territory, and who encourage the involvement of citizens in various processes of representation, discussion, and transformation of public spaces. Drawing upon Dahlgren’s analytical framework of civic cultures, this chapter highlights the knowledge and skills that artists need to act politically; the importance they recognize in the substantial and procedural democratic values of this genre of artistic communication; the multi-layered participatory practices they propose to their publics; the (dis)trust they accord to political institutions and to the other citizens involved in their artistic processes; their discursive strategies for making sense of their membership of political collectives; and their perception of effectiveness in producing social change through politically engaged art in which performances are temporary, even if of variable duration.