ARTIVISM

Arcadi Poch & Daniela Poch

Hardback 208 pages

The new Creative Activism, or, as it is usually called, Artivism, is becoming a common way of denouncing conflicts, of being a megaphone of the unfairness, demanding more public space or pushing political and social agendas; in short, to highlight what does not work well.

Artivists use art as a weapon of public and social exigency charged with particular doses of shrewdness, inventiveness, imagination, sense of humor and, above all, social impact, either throughout impressive pieces or the most subtle and invisible actions. Tricks and provocation are allies of our artists who, by the means of their wit, can tease the Russian KGB, face corporate giants that no lawyer in the world would face or simply seek the urban poetic beauty to open a new relationship of the Citizens with their own city.

Arcadi Poch is a sociocultural explorer devoted primarily to the research and development of social and art projects in public spaces. In 2008, together with Sara Compte he founded Kognitif, an international network of artists and professionals using arts and culture as a stimulus for collective consciousness through the development of cultural projects in public space, design, urban art projects, audiovisual works and exhibitions. He is co-author, along with Daniela Poch, of the books Creaticity, Creative Expressions in Contemporary Cities (Lemo, 2013) and Urban Creativity Experience (Lemo, 2014) and along with the artist Vinz Market, Photography and Contrapublicity in Urban Art (VINZ ED, 2013). Currently he is setting up the Culture department of Montana Colors and is the founder and Ceo of Ytic Urban Creativity Lab.

Daniela Poch, is a stage language explorer, theater creator and dramatist specialising in street dramaturgy and urban creativity interventions. She is the co-founder of Eléctrico 28 collective, dedicated to working with public space and its inhabitants, questioning social and theatrical conventions and rethinking the role of the audience and create site-specific projects. She has been part of the platform Kognitif since 2009, assuming curatorial and coordination functions and from which she commits to research on creative cities. She has worked as a bookseller, tourist guide and editor.