Project outcomes and local processes

Thanks to Art4Rights: When a Space becomes a Place, we have started working in a new way and we have also come to view our mission through different eyes. Linköping Art Gallery is not just a place where art is displayed; it is also a place where every resident of Linköping belongs and should be able to be part of the democratic societal development. We are very pleased to have had the opportunity to participate in this project!

Being part of the project Art4Rights - "When a Space Becomes a Place" opened up knowledge about the possibilities of the photographic medium for the participating youth. What I would like to highlight as the most important part is the conversations that arose in relation to the exhibition, where together we could reflect on how a place is described, who describes it, and how it can affect our perception of it. It became an opportunity to raise questions about the photographic gaze and how we should approach it both from a critical perspective and as a starting point for dialogue and inquiry. Additionally, it was positive that they themselves had the opportunity to take their own pictures and contribute their own description of the place based on the conversations we had during the workshop.

The main elements in Art4rights project were European Values and the method was community art. The slogan “When a space becomes a place” made us focus on creating in collaboration with citizens something new from something that already existed. Through the elements of Art4rights project, our local project of renovating an accessible hiking path evolved into a form of community art where individuals became co-creators and stakeholders in the artistic process. “

Thanks to the Art4rights project, we were able to understand together with our citizens that the main impact is described by three elements: 1. Public spaces are social places and important for local and European democracy 2. The values of the EU are universal and at the same time they have an individual meaning for each one 3. Participatory public arts leads to inclusion of different generations and groups The project in Landkreis Kassel wants be easily accessible, visible, sustainable and communicative.

Art4Rights project was an opportunity to work in collaboration and to think about participation in art. This project was very important to us because it enabled us to explore new creative areas and strengthen our relationship with the local communities, especially the one from Alto do Moinho Neighborhood. On the other hand, it also stimulated our internal communication with other municipal departments, such as the Heritage, Construction and Archeology Teams towards a participative approach to public space and its human dimension. The work with the Portuguese artist Aheneah offered a new vision to the project as well as an external view of the city and its community, since she noticed aspects we didn’t because we’re so deeply connected to Amadora. The project’s impact influenced the way we think about the city and it turned out to be the first artistic intervention on a windmill, which gave origin to the project we’re starting to implement in the city, which is going to be an artistic route of the windmills in Amadora, where we’re expecting to artistically intervene in more than 20 ruins spread across the urban landscape.

Art4rights was an important experience because it offered me the opportunity to learn about public art and participative art as well as to see other projects and ideas, which were very inspiring to me. It also enabled me to meet other people, with different backgrounds and perspectives on how to implement and develop cultural and artistic projects. With the local meeting in Amadora, we were able to provide a great collective experience and show our city to a wider audience, which made us understand more about how to welcome and host foreign groups and develop a personalized experience in accordance with their expectations.

Being part of Art4Rights project, Daugavpils municipality sought inspiration both internationally and locally. Participation in all international project meetings gave a solid base of knowledge and ideas of what processes participatory art action implemented in urban setting can catalyse. At the same time, the most powerful previously existing local participatory art projects sparked inspiration for Art4Rights installation in Daugavpils.

Involving citizens, active artists and representatives from many other fields, young students and anybody who was interested in designing the participatory art action within Art4Rights project, Daugavpils city has indeed transformed one more “city space” into a “city place”. One of the challenges was to reach the larger number of target groups, to involve them in brainstorming of project ideas. It was a great opportunity to raise awareness on the EU Charter on Fundamental rights, EU contribution to the development of local actions, to increase the sense of ownership and mutual understanding about European rights among citizens. It was achieved through every publication about the project, discussions, cooperation, doing something together and talking to each other.

Il Comune di Imola ha deciso di essere capofila di questo progetto europeo di arte pubblica per valorizzare i diritti fondamentali. Consapevoli della rilevanza che ha assunto in questi anni per le scuole e per la cittadinanza imolese il percorso di partecipazione civica Quando un Posto diventa un Luogo, lo abbiamo proposto ad altri Paesi europei uniti dalla volontà di valorizzare i diritti e le libertà dei cittadini europei attraverso l'arte pubblica. Con "Quando un posto diventa un luogo" ogni anno, ridiamo vita a monumenti imolesi che così, da "posti", spesso non conosciuti, approfondendone la storia diventano "luoghi", di cui aver cura. Insieme ai partner abbiamo messo al centro il tema della partecipazione attiva dei cittadini per preservare e valorizzare i diritti fondamentali dell’UE attraverso progetti di arte pubblica partecipativa: in questi due anni siamo stati protagonisti di una serie di iniziative, confronti e scambi culturali che hanno coinvolto tutti i partner europei.

Today in collaboration with the municipality of Imola and Sern, the national project “When a space becomes a place” has become a European project where we have created a net with eight European partners (Croatia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Portugal, Sweden) where we look together for “spaces” to become “places” again. We noticed that, sometimes European values and needs developed in a different ways from country to country, so now we are grounding a common platform in order to respond to the need for a new lifestyle not only to be remembered, but to be renewed and re-inhabited, under the banner of commitment, responsibility, resisting, create, evaluate in order to learn to "live" and not just to “exist".