Useful Art Association

The Useful Art Association (Asociación de Arte Útil) is an initiative and theoretical platform developed by the Cuban artist Tania Bruguera, which champions the concept of "useful art" (arte útil) — art as a process that has a real, practical impact on society rather than being a rare experience of passive contemplation. Within this approach art is understood not as an object in a museum but as a tool that offers concrete solutions to pressing social, political and economic problems. Bruguera and the project's co-creators assembled an archive of historical and contemporary examples of "useful art" — initiatives that rethink resources, spaces and institutions for the public good. The key criteria of arte útil are that a project should propose a new use of art in society, challenge established understandings of the artist's role, work with real communities and produce a measurable result. This concept is connected to broader currents of socially engaged art, participatory and relational practices. The Useful Art Association was realised through exhibitions and "museums of arte útil," including in collaboration with institutions such as the Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands, becoming an influential model of activist art in the twenty-first century.