Art as Obligation and Opportunity
Doris Sommer
The current “United Nations Guidelines on Safer Cities” take a new and welcome people centered approach to improving urban life. Until recently, safety was generally understood as security and pursued in top-down strategies of policing and infrastructure. The visual effect of the new document adds participatory arts to the agenda for urban safety; but there is yet no verbal link between art-making and safety. The Guidelines show pictures of collective arts that reduce violence but don’t comment on what the arts do for safety. A brightly painted barrio graffiti murals, hip hop singers, break dancers, and a gender balanced drumming band all appear as decoration, it seems, rather than illustration.This is a costly blind spot. Read More