Artistic participatory practices as a vehicle for togetherness

In all its functions and possibilities art has the option to be more embedded in societies, in dealing with social and political issues, than ever before. For example, community art became a common art practice during the previous decennia: artists temporarily work within communities to create art together with participating citizens. Also in design and design research we see a growing use of participatory practices in which the knowledge, experience and creativity of community members are valued beyond inspiration. But how can artists deal with the notion of togetherness when they are outsiders to the communities they work with? How can they overcome the us-and-them dichotomy that is still a common handicap in community art and in other forms of artistic participatory practice? This exploratory paper discusses some conditions that can help in the creation of a temporarily 'we' during participatory practices. Anthropological approaches and design methods are brought together with self-discovered insights of the artist-writer, picked up during many years of participatory practice and her artistic PhD research involving Arctic indigenous communities.