public works is a critical design practice set up in 2004 that occupies the terrain in-between architecture, art, performance and activism

Together with our interdisciplinary network, we re-work the city’s opportunities towards citizen driven development and nurturing their rights over the city.

public works’ projects are interested in what constitutes civic in the city and how to re-design structures that restrict it. The work gives space to and facilitates civic practices which promote direct involvement and collective action in order to transform and re-appropriate contemporary public life.

We create long sustained relationships that build commonality, trust and enable co-authorship. This method allows, engagement be it informal and intimate or political and academic.

Our outputs are not limited to buildings, or art objects. Our outputs include discursive events, research, campaigns, urban strategies, participatory art and architecture across all scales. 

Our means of output is defined by what is most appropriate for the project and the urban context, ranging in scale from pamphlets to urban strategies. Its aesthetic and spatiality are determined by external collaborators involved, which makes every public works project aesthetically varied.

public works

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