Towards a socially engaged curatorial practice

In the UK, socially engaged art practices have been prominent in placemaking agendas and urban development schemas. Considering this increasing volume, and visibility, of such art in processes of urban regeneration, it is not a surprise for it to be used as an example of art instrumentalised, often against its own rhetoric, for economic gain and art-washing. Socially engaged art has held a complex position within both the contemporary global city and the artworld. The constructed narratives of place and the empowerment, and the disempowerment, of its inhabitants are often entangled in such art. In acknowledging these are problematic sites to negotiate, this paper readdresses the curatorial, as a fundamentally collaborative and dialogical praxis, to explore strategies for socially engaged art that is entangled in the changing city. By reflecting on a large-scale project in inner London, ideas for a socially engaged curatorial practice will be presented, where art projects can be co-produced with communities to create small, yet critical sites for narrative construction, discourse and exchange. These temporary sites can be conceived as ‘un-curated’ rather than spaces controlled by a curator as a mediator of civic and cultural engagement.