ABSTRACT
On a warm summer evening in July 2017, the author had a fortuitous encounter with the street artist Andrea Tarli who, exactly one year before, had painted one of the flagship artworks of our event, Paratissima Lisbon. EBANOCollective’s urban interventions are described in works as site-specific participatory projects, supported by ethnographic research, tackling local community issues and larger social and urban questions. As agents directly involved in processes, in this chapter, the author addresses tensions between carnival and spectacle, critically assessing some of our own public art projects. Despite the recent positive image of a neighbourhood that is popular, traditional and multicultural, Mouraria experiences an urban condition crossed by innumerable setbacks and heterogeneities. In recent years, the literature on instrumental use of cultural dimension in urban regeneration has grown considerably, analysing the impact of mega-events, flagship facilities or the creation of artistic districts and general cultural agglomeration in the political agenda for local development and international competition.
