The CityLeaks Urban Art Festival was brought to life through a desire to demonstrate that public space belongs to all of us and that we, as inhabitants of this city, should demand more rights and involvement in the decision making and creative processes that shape it.
It is for this reason that CityLeaks Urban Art Festival hold the very first CityLeaks Congress in 2015, which will open up, in particular, the discussion around our right to the city as well as issues concerning art and creativity in public space, with leading experts and active participants from the fields of politics, administration and representatives of a variety of interest groups.
As an art festival, our messages are primarily communicated through artistic positions. Art is an expression of personal views and is, as such, relative and often controversial. Art becomes accessible to everyone through its positioning in the public realm, exposing it to criticism. Art is independent and draws attention to things that require abstraction on the visual level. It sends coded messages that we sometimes need to decipher. The works of art produced during the festival are gifts to the city and its inhabitants. They are intended to touch us, to evoke feelings in us, to inspire us to take on responsibility for our city, to demand our right to the city, to express our opinions and our right to living space and life quality. CityLeaks is a space for debate and will host forums and workshops, in collaboration with various partners, tackling the questions of what art is capable of doing in public space and what should be considered by city planners and the city’s inhabitants in dealing with public space. The title of this year’s festival, »The city that does not exist«, points to the fact that, in our strongly individualised and commercialised society, a huge variety of wishes and demands are made of the city space.
