Jagoda Dobecka & Marta Romankiv – Art in Action: A workshop on participatory art, 15–16 Oct 2026
Jagoda Dobecka & Marta Romankiv – Art in Action: A workshop on participatory art15–16 October 2026
10:00–16:00 (lunch break 12:00–13:00)
classroom U1/202
The workshop offers an introduction to participatory and socially engaged art, combining the discussion of selected contemporary art practices with practical exercises. Its aim is to introduce participants to the basic tools and approaches used to design and facilitate participatory activities, while developing an awareness of group dynamics, power relations, and the responsibilities of the artist when working with others. A particular focus will be placed on designing artistic situations that emerge through relationships with participants and involve them as active co-creators. In this context, we will explore different methods of working with groups, including selected facilitation tools, ways of observing group dynamics, and approaches to recognising and responding to the needs of a group. We will also examine the conditions that foster trust, openness, and collaboration, as well as the significance of social context and power relations in participatory situations. Another important topic will be the artist’s responsibility towards the group, particularly the ways in which relationships may function after a project has ended, as well as different possibilities for bringing a collaboration to an ethical close. The theoretical component will be complemented by practical activities in small groups. Participants will have the opportunity to try out selected facilitation exercises, design short participatory actions, and discuss and analyse them collectively. The workshop will also provide an opportunity to reflect on how a small intervention, a gesture, or time spent together can function as an artistic action and become a starting point for a longer-term relational practice.
Jagoda Dobecka is a visual artist, researcher, and curator. She graduated in Painting from the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław and completed her PhD at the Doctoral School of the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. Her practice explores themes of grief, longing, and loss, seeking ways of collectively experiencing states of transition and vulnerability, as well as gestures that can restore a sense of safety and community. She is interested in art as a practical tool for building and expanding relationships and for questioning social hierarchies. Performative dinners are an important format within her practice, creating spaces for encounter, the exchange of experiences, and collectively moving through processes of loss.
Marta Romankiv is an interdisciplinary artist and sociologist working at the intersection of art, social sciences, and activism. She creates installations, video works, and participatory social situations that address themes of civil and labor rights, social exclusion, migration, and identity. Since 2021, she has been actively supporting Ukrainian migrant women, co-founding and co-organizing the Domestic Workers’ Committee within the Workers’ Initiative trade union in Poland.
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| Short URL | https://www.favu.vut.cz/en//f26745/d369571 |