Four decades of making, accompanying and researching community art in around 40 countries have culminated in these reflections on “How participation won and why it matters” by François Matarasso. 

Based on interviews with artists and visiting participatory art projects, A Restless Art looks at how community and participatory art has evolved over the past 50 years, charting its history from its roots to today.

François Matarasso views participatory art as a democratic space to discover, understand and share experiences and to analyse and interpret it in contemporary practice, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of this restless art, where professionals and non-professionals cross different territories, disciplines, borders and concepts. “A stimulating yet at times challenging adventure”, says the author of writing this book, stating that “it is a kind of dialogue between current practice and past experience, between today’s artists and those of my generation, between emerging ideas and tested ones”.