'Critical spatial agency in public space: towards a framework for collaboration and contestation through curatorial spatial practice': an article by Elian Stefa

The article 'Critical spatial agency in public space: towards a framework for collaboration and contestation through curatorial spatial practice', authored by DINÂMIA'CET-Iscte researcher Elian Stefa has been published by Taylor & Francis.

Curatorial work has increasingly transcended the confines of traditional cultural institutions, intervening in diverse urban contexts, from prominent public squares to marginal and disused sites. This article positions ‘the curatorial’ as a form of critical spatial agency, interrogating how curatorial thinking and practice mediate public interests, contest institutional power, and reimagine civic life.

By critically examining the overlap between curatorial practice and spatial agency, this paper argues that curatorial interventions are not merely symbolic or aesthetic, but embedded within the complex dynamics of urban governance, cultural economies, and struggles over space.

This paper's central aim is to map the spectrums of curatorial action that emerge when practice engages with these complex urban dynamics. These actions can range from gestures focused on artistic practice or engaging a specialised audience, to more locally-situated interventions whose explicit intent is to address structural urban challenges, such as spatial justice, contested memory, or public access to power.

It calls for a more rigorous and situated understanding of curatorial processes in the urban realm, attentive to local contexts, sustainability, and power asymmetries, in order to better address the entanglements of cultural production and urban transformation.

Full article available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13604813.2026.2662092