2019 Visible Temporary Parliament, Hôtel de Ville, Paris

Main advocate for

· Trampoline House, Morten Goll and Tone Olaf Nielsen

Also advocating for

· CareForce, Marisa Morán Jahn

· Blank Noise, Jasmeen Patheja

What happens when art becomes part of something else? How can we curate socially engaged artistic practices that demand spaces of existence beyond representation? And equally, what happens when curating becomes advocating?

On 16 November 2019, a jury of more than 100 people (professionals from art and social fields, civil society) gathered at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris for a day-long debate around the 10 shortlisted projects. As junior curators from the CuratorLab research course at Konstfack, we advocated for each of the 10 projects, engaging with the jury in a process of collective learning and debate within the conceptual and physical space of an actual parliament as a power structure.

The public’s engagement in the assessment and voting on the art projects transformed the Visible Award into an occasion for collective learning and the expansion of the discourse instigated by and around the projects. The jury session is not merely a dialogue between experts, to select an exemplary socially engaged art project, but also a moment to reframe the narratives through which we speak about art and its role in processes for social transformation. While assessing the criteria through which we collectively decided the recipient of the 25.000 euros award, the temporary parliament offers an opportunity to deepen the debate around artistic engagement in the public domain.

Initiated by curators Judith Wielander and Matteo Lucchetti, the Visible Project started in 2010 as a platform for socially engaged aimed at collecting processes, as opposed to artifacts.