Repolititzar l’espai públic

Citizens' relations with and in the public space are not stable; they mutate over time at the mercy of successive social, political and cultural changes. In this sense, for some years now, initiatives have been developed from multiple perspectives that demand a rethinking of who deserves to be commemorated and remembered and how they deserve to be commemorated and remembered.

Little by little, public space has ceased to be considered as a place of consensus and is now being reclaimed as a space in which to manage conflicts and make more or less forgotten or hidden issues visible. On the other hand, in the field of contemporary art, more and more practices are being carried out that attempt to rethink questions related to temporal, representational and, why not, formal motifs.

The public art policies carried out recently in Catalonia (almost non-existent) and the changes we have discussed make it necessary to hold a conference that serves not only as a reflection on what has happened in recent years but also with the aim of proposing new areas of action in the present. We demand that the 1% of the cultural budget should also be allocated to initiatives linked to contemporary art and that these should be carried out through mechanisms that promote public competitions in dialogue with the public.

Debate tables:

- Art and public space, 21 December, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Speakers:

• Higo Mental (artists)
• Lara Almarcegui (artist)
• Alex Gimenez (architect)

Moderator: David Bestué (artist and vice-president of PAAC)

- Politics of Memory, 22 December, from 4 to 8 p.m.
Speakers:

• Marta Echaves (curator and researcher)
• Gabriela Wiener (writer)
• Jordi Font Agulló (historian and cultural manager)
• René Pacheco (archaeologist)

Moderator: Nancy Garín (artist)

By Plataforma Assembleària d’Artistes de Catalunya (PAAC)

Design and programming of creativities: Phantasia Services and Carlos Carbonell