Co-creation is

A Selfless Art

This site follows the evolution of a book that develops and rebalances my last, A Restless Art . Its concern is the practice of co-creation, as I have known it. A Selfless Art complements and completes its brother, yin to its yang, moon to its sun, dark to its light. Subjective, imperfect and incomplete, it is personal, final and open-ended; it might never be finished or published.

François Matarasso, August 2026

  • Learning to Listen: 1 The Problem Solver

    About 15 years ago, I did a course on coaching, not because I wanted a change of direction but to reflect on my work in co-creation from another perspective. I learned a lot, both from the teachers and my fellow… more ›

  • What art can do

    Exactly forty years ago, on 13 November 1985, the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in the Colombian Andes produced one of the worst volcanic events in centuries. Lava and mudflows poured down the valleys at a speed of 30mph, catching many people… more ›

  • Making peace with the past

    For a writer (or an artist of any kind) there’s only one thing worse than being unknown and that is being known for one book (or song, or film, or image). An outstanding success does just that: it stands out.… more ›

  • Human capabilities, imagination and magic

    The concept of human capabilities – as elaborated in the writings of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum – is central to the new direction that A Selfless Art represents for me. It is, to some extent, a more sophisticated, but… more ›

  • Seeing a way forward

    The talks I gave this month have helped me see a way forward out of the marsh in which I have floundered for several years. I had not spoken in public for more than two years, partly because no one… more ›

  • Heroic Optimism

    Following Rebecca Solnit’s distinction, I’ve always preferred to speak of hope. Optimists and pessimists, she writes in Hope in the Dark, believe they know the future and so do not need to do anything: Optimists think it will all be… more ›

  • In praise of Ivan Klíma

    I’m in Prague today, for a symposium about the arts in rural areas. I called my talk ‘Heroic Optimism’ and took resistance as my theme. I will write about that next time, but now I want to salute Ivan Klíma,… more ›

  • Raising my voice

    On Wednesday, I will speak to an audience of artists and activists in Prague. I will do so with some trepidation. It will be more than two years since I last spoke in public, in Vienna, and that was with… more ›

  • Responsibility and Joy

    One reason for starting a new site, and one where words take first place, is to allow my thinking to breathe, expand and explore. I don’t know where it will take me – that is the point – but I… more ›

  • Welcome to ‘A Selfless Art’

    Co-creation (which I have called community art for most of my working life) is an infinitely rich and diverse practice that unites professional and non-professional artists in making art together. I have seen co-creation in visual art, theatre, dance, writing,… more ›