Walking the city: Handshake 302 and reinventing public art in Shenzhen

Abstract

This article analyses the practice of Handshake 302, an art collective based in Shenzhen, as an exemplary case of the recent development of urban public art in China in which public participation has become central. Defining itself as an experimental public art project, Handshake 302 adopts an interdisciplinary, open-ended, collaborative and socially conscious approach in designing its various participatory tactics. Advocating that ‘art should belong to everyone who contributes to the city’, it has charged itself with the task of creating opportunities to enable people of disparate backgrounds ‘to participate in art activities and unleash their creativity’. In practice, it embraces a wide range of forms/ methods to engage urban residents of Shenzhen, involving them in art making, exhibitions, research, workshops, dialogues, tours and field trips, among others, with the mission of enabling ordinary people to engage with creative activities that deal with Shenzhen’s diverse urban spaces. Discussing key programmes carried out by Handshake 302, I posit that urban public art has become an expanded field for critically minded art professionals to initiate grassroots urban interventions and social innovations and the working of this art collective sheds light on this new artistic and civic movement that can be called socially engaged participatory public art.