ABSTRACT
The chapter explores the political possibilities of creative art practices as they engage with the built environment of old urban centres. Public art, such as statues, and murals' influence on urban beautification and regeneration processes is a well-documented phenomenon in the global north. This chapter moves beyond this causal relationship between art and public spaces and looks at sporadic public art festivals which do not necessarily get enrolled into the discourse of urban regeneration and gentrification. It looks at two events in Kolkata, India, where public art is inspired by the existing socio-spatiality and cultural production of the space. However, these public art events chose to interact with the built environment in different ways raising questions about art's political commitments. Rong Matir Panchali, a two-day art festival organised by Kumartuli Art Forum, transformed an impoverished neighbourhood into a momentary space of spectacle. On the second instance, Chitpurer Chalchitra, another three-day public art trail organised by Chitpur Craft Collective, interweaved its creative process with the existing built environment foregrounding spatial performativity and tuning into Chitpur's existing visual aesthetics.
