Structures of Community: Art, Architecture and Social Engagement

Open to all, this 3 day public art symposium and associated programme examining the role of social engaged art practice in public art is contextualised the 2022 Brighton Festival programme co-directed by Marwa al-Sabouni. The symposium will also feature the launch Brighton & Hove City Council’s new 10 year Public Art Strategy and will mark the unveiling of three major public art works in the city at Brighton Station, Preston Barracks and Brighton CCA.

The symposium is produced by Brighton CCA in partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council and Towner Eastbourne.

Taking as it’s starting point the work of Syrian architect Marwa al-Sabouni (co-director of Brighton Festival 2022) the third day explores the role of built environments in shaping the people and cultures that use them.

How do public spaces and structures shape our sense of belonging and the narratives that define our social interactions? This symposium will consider how public art can make more diverse voices heard within the public realm and so shape our environment. Thinking about public art in relation to architectural, design and material environments, it will ask how these sources of culture can sustain and develop our communities through inclusive and engaged practices.