Three Stages in the Art of Public Participation: The Relational, Social and Durational by Paul O’Neill, Eurozine:

“Participation is not only a form of co-production but also an end product in itself”. Curator, artist and theorist Paul O’Neill traces a development from the site-specific artwork to long-term participatory urban art projects.

“Participation is currently an all-inclusive term for art’s ability to engage with its publics as collaborators, co-producers or other active agents. Regardless of its ubiquity, the term remains contested territory in recent writing on art. This essay charts one possible reading of participation – as a flexible term for variant modes of engagement with art, through its relational, social and durational aspects. In the process, participation is considered not only as a form of co-production but also as an end product in itself, which provides art with its durational and public dimension.” Continue reading here or download PDF here.