Art in the community

Abstract

This article discusses the culture-making and place-making initiatives created at the intersection of ethnology and cultural anthropology, art and cultural politics. The focus is on the ways in which joint ethnological and artistic involvement can change the dynamics within the local community. As a case study, the authors use the project ArtintheCommunity:RedefiningHeritageof theAssociationofArtists‘Zemlja’(Croatia, 2018 – 2020). The project was based on naïve art and educational work of a renowned painter Krsto Hegedušić. In the locality where Hegedušić had worked and found inspiration – Hlebine – contemporary artists rethought his heritage and brought it to life. The project included local naïve artists from Hlebine and students of Visual Arts and Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology from Zagreb. The text analyses the potentials and challenges in working with different stakeholders on the region’s cultural scene who take part in the project in order to affirm, negotiate, or redefine their culture-building strategies.