public works

public works is a UK based not-for-profit critical design practice set up in 2004. It occupies the terrain in-between architecture, art and performance. public works’ projects are interested in what constitutes civic in both urban and rural environments 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.

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

public works presented work as part of AND Festival 2021.