Arte Útil has to do with understanding that art, only as a proposal, is not enough. Arte Útil goes from the state of proposal to that of real implementation. It has to do with understanding that proposals coming from art must reveal the next step and be applied, must leave the sphere of what is unattainable, of desired impossibility, to be part of what exists, of the real and functional sphere: to be a feasible utopia. – Tania Bruguera, reflections on Arte Útil, in “What’s the Use,” Valiz, Amsterdam, 2016
Arte Útil roughly translates as “useful art.” But it goes further, meaning art that operates beyond representation, as a tool or device to effect reality through social change. At the core of this research is an open-source archive maintained by the Asociación de Arte Útil. This growing database comprises almost three hundred case studies, from 1827 to today, describing projects that imagine, create, and implement tactics that foster civic engagement and re-evaluate institutions to make them work for the people.
