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François Matarasso

François Matarasso

Thinking about culture as if people mattered

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    • ‘Talking Until Nightfall’ (2020)
    • ‘A Restless Art’ (2019)
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    • ‘A Dead Good Life’
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      • Winter Fires (2012)
      • Bread and Salt (2013)
      • The Light Ships (2014)
      • A Wider Horizon (2015)
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1 January 2021 For itself / Thinking

Because I am involved in humankind

A little over 30 years ago—in May 1989 to be exact—the Communist authorities in Hungary began to dismantle the barbed

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10 November 2020 Essays / Experiences / Research / Thinking

Reflecting on culture and development

For the past 18 month or so, I have been working with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

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30 October 2020 Community arts / Regular Marvels / Thinking / This changes everything

Art and love

Last night, in an effort to arrest a rapidly-rising Covid-19 infection rate, France returned to a strict lockdown. Until at

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9 July 2020 For itself / Thinking

Memory becomes history.

Can there be anything left to say about the Shoah? Surely every story has been heard, every angle covered, every

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6 July 2020 This changes everything

What do you do with £1.57 billion for culture?

It took a while, and a lot of concerted pressure, but the British government has decided not to be remembered

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5 July 2020 For itself / Thinking

Glacial advances

The dreadful killing of George Floyd has further consciousness of Black Lives Matter as an idea, a movement and an

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1 July 2020 This changes everything

‘Don’t be too severe upon yourself, or underrate yourself, but do yourself justice’ (Sydney Smith)

Several weeks ago, I wrote a post called ‘Right now, kindness might be more important than creativity’. I regretted the

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21 June 2020 Thinking / This changes everything

Untold losses

History is what happened. Historians interpret – yesterday’s hero, recast as today’s pariah – but they can only work with what is

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18 June 2020 This changes everything

Why projects don’t work

Since the start of the pandemic, I have been preoccupied by its traumatic effects. Some of the losses are obvious,

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14 June 2020 Thinking / This changes everything

Captive minds

Call me naïve, but when I learned this week that the ushers working in a concert hall are on zero-hours

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11 June 2020 Thinking / This changes everything

Give ’em shelter

Honestly, how are you feeling? The adjectives that cycle through my contacts with people in the arts are increasingly consistent: tired,

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7 June 2020 For itself / Thinking / This changes everything

Thinking about white privilege

My father, Robert, was born in Salonica (Thessaloniki, in Northern Greece) in 1927. His father, Isaac, was a doctor, while

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5 June 2020 Thinking / This changes everything

Talking in the dark

Last night, Arlene Goldbard hosted our second shared conversation about community art, for which we were joined by about a hundred

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  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Writing
    • My European Home
    • Reflection Papers on Culture and Development (2020)
    • ‘Talking Until Nightfall’ (2020)
    • ‘A Restless Art’ (2019)
  • Community art
    • Wish You Were Here (2021)
    • I Remember: Leicester
    • ‘A Dead Good Life’
    • Regular Marvels (2011-15)
      • Where We Dream (2012)
      • Winter Fires (2012)
      • Bread and Salt (2013)
      • The Light Ships (2014)
      • A Wider Horizon (2015)
  • Research
    • Evaluation
    • Place-based cultural research (1994-2016)
    • Social impact studies
    • Programmes
      • 2001-05 Living Heritage (SE Europe)
      • 2005-08 Rural Cultural Development (UK)
  • Downloads
    • Publications 1994 – 2019
    • Art books
    • Research reports
    • Evaluation reports
    • Papers and articles
    • Speeches and talks
  • About me
    • Contact me
    • Why ‘Parliament of Dreams’?
    • Support
      • Organisational development
      • Facilitation
      • Workshops
    • Speaking

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  • A Restless Art

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François Matarasso

François Matarasso

I'm a community artist, writer and researcher, working in Europe. My latest book, 'A Restless Art' (London 2019), is about the history, theory and practice of participatory art.

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  • Regular Marvels
  • Parliament of Dreams
  • A Restless Art

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