Valuing Art in Public Spaces - Liliana Harding and Corina Nani

Public art defines and enhances the world that we inhabit. Here we propose to use its expression in the urban and virtual environment as a mediator for our understanding of how people of various social backgrounds, skill, or disability engage with various public spaces. The article thus reflects on how wellbeing is generated in inclusive public spaces, by drawing on the experience of moving art and culture to the virtual environment. We start from the recent experience of the pandemic and draw on the example of street art – a form of culture designed with the widest public in mind. As new limits have been imposed to the accessibility of traditional forms of culture, public art has been extended and reshaped in the virtual space. This has reopened questions of the value we place in public spaces and to what extent public art can promote inclusivity by making culture more accessible in the real and virtual environment alike. The main reference point are public art projects around which we build an inter-disciplinary dialogue. We start with the perspective of an artist and urban designer and a social scientist. The wider public is drawn into the discussion through a series of podcasts focused on the value we attribute to public spaces.*. Ultimately, we reflect on opportunities to achieve an inclusive public space, by drawing lessons from the integration of virtual and urban street art – as experienced in the example of the Fisart and Virtual Fisart street art festivals **.Article by Liliana Harding and Corina Nani, illustrated by Corina Nani, read by Nicoleta Finariu Andreihttps://theanthro.art/valuing-art-in-public-spaces-liliana-harding-corina-nani/