Intellect Ltd. (Publisher)

Description

Art, Architecture and the Commons, Art &the Public Sphere, Vol 9, Issue 1&2A special issue of the Art & the Public Sphere journal inviting the SPACEX collaborators to respond to the provisional question posed by the SPACEX project (EU RISE2020). How does art, design and architecture enable empathetic and inclusive ways of living together? How do these spatial practices effect public exchange and opinion formation in urban spaces? SPACEX identifies five problems(including COVID-19)1.Demise of public spaces and public spheres of opinion formation: Seemingly common spaces such as parks and squares, though publicly accessible, are increasingly privately owned. This restricts the way in which these spaces are used, such as the right to free assembly, and enforces oppressive forms of civic behaviour. 2.Contemporary cultural policy and gentrification practices: Art and culture are often employed as key tools in urban regeneration schemes. While the inclusion and social engagement goals of these schemes are well intentioned, they are often dominated by commercial interests. Therefore, regeneration can be instrumentalised as a vehicle for gentrification and capital accumulation, with the result that existing low-income and ethnically diverse communities are displaced to the suburbs, out of sight of further commercial development.3.Dominance of the economic in the assessment of cultural value: Cultural institutions are expected to justify their public subsidies through the provision of evidence-based reports that include simplistic quantitative data on audience access, attendance and satisfaction. Many extant reports limit their focus to these narrow parameters of measurement and make little allowance for how spatial practices effect public exchange and opinion formation, give minority social groups visibility, and reinvigorate democracy.4.Lack of archival material and the under-utilisation of archives by secondary audiences: Spatial practices are rooted in complex sets of social encounters and dialogical exchanges and tend to have a predominately ephemeral nature. Documents, photographs and recordings provide the only evidence of the complex range of social relations they generate. Future archives could play a key role in assessing the ways in which spatial practices effect public exchange and opinion formation in urban spaces.5.COVID-19: We are interested in considering COVID-19 in relation to opportunities for social and spatial change, as well as the impact it will inevitably have upon our bodies in shared and commercial spaces.

Period	15 Jun 2021
Type of publisher	Publisher
Degree of Recognition	International