ATLAS is an artistic and social laboratory that unites a collective of artists, critical thinkers and cultural workers. This temporary collective works around four central themes of the European project BEPART: power dynamics, collective policy, redefining the public, and the significance of a particular place. 

Their collaborative practice consists of two components:

• a book of mappings
• and a multimedia happening based on these mappings.

In turn, the practice also generates new mappings for the book.

ATLAS Teaser from Kunstencentrum Vooruit on Vimeo.

1. ATLAS is a book
   an ever-transforming document

ATLAS is a collection of mappings, a document that unites and makes visible a multiplicity of existing participatory practices, linking these with other artistic work, social initiatives of resistance and reflection on their layered meanings.

The point of departure are the participatory artworks that have been slowly taking shape in recent years, through the support of the Arts Centre Vooruit (Ghent, Belgium). The intention is not to create an exhaustive overview, but to document this evolving experiment of collaborative artistic and social practices. The aim of ATLAS is to make this work known to new

audiences and, in the context of the European project BEPART, to link it with artistic and social projects from other countries/contexts. ATLAS is a reflective tool that we hope will inspire cultural programmers, young makers, curators, students, etc. to re-think about the art and social engagement at a time when cultural practices have been confronted with very challenging conditions of working and producing.

In addition to this, ATLAS is an interactive and multidisciplinary artwork in itself: it has no fixed form but is an ever-changing blend of drawings, photos, sketches, mind maps, essays, poetry, lists, field notes, cartography and more. It is a visual and associative artist book that is continually added to and modified. ATLAS will land in 2023 at the closing symposium of BEPART in Riga, Latvia.

2. ATLAS is a multimedia happening
   a dynamic activation of its mappings

ATLAS is a like a guide book that calls for being embodied in performative, audio, text and visual outcomes. ATLAS develops in every collective encounter of the group. The meetings in different cities take place in relevant contexts with local initiatives of resistance, artistic and social. Each context breathes life and informs the practices and questions of the group. Action, reflection, poetry and participation will meet seamlessly in a multimedia and modular live event accessible to both local and international audiences in different cities where it is being organized.