Cultural diversity in a global community demands our tolerant understanding of one another. Participatory art projects can be instrumental in facilitating equal-footing en­counters and creative communication between people from different cultures that transcend language barriers. Used as a methodology for synergistic exchange and exploration, they represent a useful tool for the study and advancement of alternative solutions to development-related themes, particularly where non-verbal communication is either essential or advantageous.This report considers an independent arts-based project, “How to Talk to Dragons”, which was carried out in Phnom Penh, Cambodia by cultural workers from Berlin. The inter-cultural project chose the art form of shadow puppetry to explore the country’s culture and the experiences of its people, and to exchange ideas and perspectives in an engaging and socially just forum. The question guiding this cultural voyage of discovery was how the symbolic dragon, a mythical creature with a global resonance but subject to different perceptions in Europe and Asia, might be used as an agent for opening the way to revealing insights into human nature.The report also explores the links between How to Talk to Dragons and ComDev practices and, by incorporating an auto-ethnographic approach, considers how this method can serve to provide a better understanding of practice and add value to project analysis from a practitioner's perspective.It finds that open concept projects offer an exceptional flexibility to adapt to local and cultural conditions and makes the case for the Cambodian shadow theatre known as Sbek Touch (literal meaning: small leather) as a valuable emancipatory tool for promoting communication across social, economic and cultural borders. It recommends further studies into its potential for raising and identifying sometimes controversial issues in a humorous manner and for uncovering collective solutions, particularly among marginalized communities and classes. Ultimately, the report points to Hooks’ “Practice of Love” as an overarching concept that can inform and transform activities designed to engage with and embrace diversity.

The thesis deals with visual culture and digital photography in art education of pre-school children. The main objective is to uncover children's ability to work with a specific type of picture - photographic picture. The educational project is based on theoretical knowledge of digital media provided in the first part of the thesis and on practical experience gained during several years of practice with pre-school children. The project offers children to use digital photographs as another form of art expression. Talking with children and monitoring their reactions have shown that working with digital photographs is equally beneficial to them as any other art technique.

This research project examines an array of art prompts and projects that have been used in program-based art making workshops to facilitate creative expression amongst those who have been impacted by a cancer diagnosis. The review of literature emphasizes the value of this research, as the field of healing arts programs/expressive arts workshops in cancer care is varied and sparse. While there is substantial research that indicates art therapy to be a highly valued and accepted clinical intervention used in cancer care, there is little research that focuses on the specific role of art making with cancer patients/survivors and even less research on program-based art making workshops. As an artist and cancer survivor, this research incorporates my lived experiences to inform the cataloging, evaluation, and analysis of five art projects completed and used as inspiration for a program-based art-making workshop. The artworks included are an altered book, a cloth doll, a paper mask, a wooden box, and a Styrofoam head. The five central themes that arose from these five particular projects include that they were fun/engaging, encouraged play/experimentation, increased self-understanding, fostered the need to creatively express unexpressed emotions, and offered a sense of pride/accomplishment. This preliminary research project suggests that a broader investigation is needed in order to gather a deeper understanding of the impact of program-based expressive arts workshops as a healing modality with this patient population.

Denna undersökning kretsar kring att lyfta offentlig konst och medborgarinflytande. Teorier och tidigare forskning som lagts fram har skapat förståelse för hur konst är ett betydelsefullt verktyg i stadsmiljön, som kan användas för att förbättra människors upplevelse av en plats. Därför är det viktigt att man inkluderar individer i framtagandet av de konstnärliga verken. Denna inkludering har undersökts i uppsatsen genom fallstudier på tre specifika konstprojekt. Två av dessa projekt valdes för att en av författarna hade deltagit i dem och kunde återberätta sin upplevelse. Dessa projekt är Street Art och Närlunda Tunneln, som utfördes av Helsingborgs stad. Det tredje projektet var den statliga satsningen Konst händer av Statens konstråd. I de kommunala projekten hittades ingen dokumentation som utförligt beskrev process och resultat. Därav utfördes intervjuer med deltagare i respektive projekt. Gällande Konst händer däremot, hittades nyanserad dokumentation som redovisade projektets process och resultat. Resultatet av studien visade att alla tre projekt inkluderat civilsamhället på olika sätt. Individerna fick vara en del av gestaltningen i både Street Art och Närlunda Tunneln. Genom intervjuerna gick det även att konstatera hur de kommunala projekten fortfarande inspirerar deltagarna än idag. Däremot är det Konst händer som har inkluderat människor i störst utsträckning, genom att låta dem påverka projektet som helhet fram tills att resultaten var nådda. Den övergripande slutsatsen som dras är att de tre projekten lyckats förhålla sig till forskningen kring offentlig konst och deltagande. Förhoppningen med studien och dess resultat är att uppmuntra till ökad medborgarinflytande i framtidens konstprojekt. / This thesis serves to elevate public art and civic influence. Theories and previous research has created an understanding of how art is a meaningful tool in the urban environment, which can be used to improve people’s experience of a place. Therefore, it is important to include people in the production of these artistic works. This inclusion has been investigated in the thesis through case studies on three specific art projects. Two of these projects were chosen as one of the authors had participated in them and was able to recount her experience. These projects are Street Art and Närlunda Tunneln, which were carried out by the municipality of Helsingborg. The third project was the state initiative Konst händer by the public art agency of Sweden. In the municipal projects, no documentation was found that described the process and results in detail. For this reason, interviews were done with participants in the respective projects. On the other hand, nuanced documentation was found that reported the process and results of Konst händer. The results of the study prove that all three projects included civil society in different ways. Individuals were a part of the design of both Street Art and Närlunda Tunneln. Through the interviews, it was further possible to ascertain how the municipal projects still inspire the participants to this today. Although, it is Konst händer that has included civic engagement to the greatest extent, by letting the people influence the project as a whole until the results were reached. The overall conclusion that is drawn is that the three projects succeeded following the research regarding public art and participation. The ambition of this study and its results is to encourage greater citizen influence in future art projects.