‘Urban cowboyism’ and beyond: The boundary-spanning potential of Brussels participatory arts practices

Abstract

In the course of the last decades, the rise of participatory arts practices has been advocated on the basis of a series of possible answers to complex societal issues, especially in urban areas. This article focuses on Brussels, the capital of Europe, where ‘mixture and pluralism’ are valued as the main cultural features of the city and its international, young and strongly connected character creates a context in which participatory arts practices would thrive perfectly. Yet, the Brussels context is one of contradictions and paradoxes and the presence of participatory arts practices is not a matter to be taken for granted. Whereas the urban context is described in terms of a large potential for dynamism due to the extraordinary mixing of cultures, resulting from both previous and recent migratory flows, the institutional context continues to cling to its inherited two-community framework, established along Flemish and French-speaking community lines. Using the theoretical concept of ‘boundary spanning’, we analyse how, in spite of these institutional cleavages, many participatory arts practices succeed in finding their ground in this context. Based on semi-structured interviews with practitioners across different layers of the Brussels participatory arts scene, we aim to explore what these practices are actually doing in Brussels, as well as the strategies they use to deal with institutional barriers.