Oral sources for Documenting Socially Engaged Art: Applications and Theoretical Reflections from the Case Study of Contenuto Rimosso

This study examines the possibility of incorporating participants' voices into the documentation practices of socially engaged art (SEA), using the interview as a tool to record and convey narratives that reflect the dialogical nature of these experiences. The analysis arises from certain criti...

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Main Author: Tanya Cecere
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Bologna 2025-06-01
Series:piano b
Subjects:
Online Access:https://pianob.unibo.it/article/view/20256
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author Tanya Cecere
author_facet Tanya Cecere
author_sort Tanya Cecere
collection DOAJ
description This study examines the possibility of incorporating participants' voices into the documentation practices of socially engaged art (SEA), using the interview as a tool to record and convey narratives that reflect the dialogical nature of these experiences. The analysis arises from certain critical issues observed in current documentation practices: on one hand, artists often struggle to keep track of participatory, context-specifc and long-term processes; on the other, critics must rely on data and testimonies that are frequently fragmented, while the theoretical debate on the subject remains marginal. In this context, documentation tends to be reduced to photographs, videos, or descriptions of the method – materials that rarely succeed in fully including the perspectives of stakeholders, who are both active agents in the creative process and its primary audience. This study thus proposes the interview as an epistemological device capable of capturing subjective viewpoints, offering a tool to explore the intersections between personal, collective, and public memory, and contributing to a more nuanced historicization of SEA practices. Supporting this thesis is the case study Contenuto Rimosso, a community art project initiated by Chiara Trivelli in 2012 in Lorenzago del Cadore. Through an archive of thirty video interviews later made public, the project illustrates how including participants' perspectives becomes a central element in achieving a polyphonic and participatory form of documentation – one that activates collective memory and redefines the boundaries of artistic authorship.
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spelling doaj-art-e8f6c2a70c5443208cc34571cdd59cb52025-08-20T03:28:21ZengUniversity of Bolognapiano b2531-98762025-06-019112210.6092/issn.2531-9876/2025618626Oral sources for Documenting Socially Engaged Art: Applications and Theoretical Reflections from the Case Study of Contenuto RimossoTanya Cecere0https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9209-0899Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro"This study examines the possibility of incorporating participants' voices into the documentation practices of socially engaged art (SEA), using the interview as a tool to record and convey narratives that reflect the dialogical nature of these experiences. The analysis arises from certain critical issues observed in current documentation practices: on one hand, artists often struggle to keep track of participatory, context-specifc and long-term processes; on the other, critics must rely on data and testimonies that are frequently fragmented, while the theoretical debate on the subject remains marginal. In this context, documentation tends to be reduced to photographs, videos, or descriptions of the method – materials that rarely succeed in fully including the perspectives of stakeholders, who are both active agents in the creative process and its primary audience. This study thus proposes the interview as an epistemological device capable of capturing subjective viewpoints, offering a tool to explore the intersections between personal, collective, and public memory, and contributing to a more nuanced historicization of SEA practices. Supporting this thesis is the case study Contenuto Rimosso, a community art project initiated by Chiara Trivelli in 2012 in Lorenzago del Cadore. Through an archive of thirty video interviews later made public, the project illustrates how including participants' perspectives becomes a central element in achieving a polyphonic and participatory form of documentation – one that activates collective memory and redefines the boundaries of artistic authorship.https://pianob.unibo.it/article/view/20256socially engaged artdocumentationoral sourcescontenuto rimossochiara trivelli
spellingShingle Tanya Cecere
Oral sources for Documenting Socially Engaged Art: Applications and Theoretical Reflections from the Case Study of Contenuto Rimosso
piano b
socially engaged art
documentation
oral sources
contenuto rimosso
chiara trivelli
title Oral sources for Documenting Socially Engaged Art: Applications and Theoretical Reflections from the Case Study of Contenuto Rimosso
title_full Oral sources for Documenting Socially Engaged Art: Applications and Theoretical Reflections from the Case Study of Contenuto Rimosso
title_fullStr Oral sources for Documenting Socially Engaged Art: Applications and Theoretical Reflections from the Case Study of Contenuto Rimosso
title_full_unstemmed Oral sources for Documenting Socially Engaged Art: Applications and Theoretical Reflections from the Case Study of Contenuto Rimosso
title_short Oral sources for Documenting Socially Engaged Art: Applications and Theoretical Reflections from the Case Study of Contenuto Rimosso
title_sort oral sources for documenting socially engaged art applications and theoretical reflections from the case study of contenuto rimosso
topic socially engaged art
documentation
oral sources
contenuto rimosso
chiara trivelli
url https://pianob.unibo.it/article/view/20256
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