The conceptual figure of UC is a way of thinking about a project as a process rather than a one-time event. Instead of focusing attention on the “work” at the moment of its premiere, it structures both the course of work and the roles within the team in such a way that actions undertaken during the project do not remain merely superficial, but generate solutions that users will want to care for.
The PROPOSAL → USE → MAINTENANCE axis functions here as a simple framework: first, we define what is meant to work, for whom, and why; then, we examine how it actually lives in the hands of those who use it; finally, we make sure that what has emerged has meaning and continuity within the local community. Crucially, the axis does not close the matter — feedback loops back to PROPOSAL, allowing initial assumptions to be revised on the basis of experience.
This conceptual figure is useful in socially engaged art because it simplifies decision-making in situations involving multiple stakeholders. It provides a shared language that does not impose an aesthetic or a single “correct” form, but instead helps maintain meaning and proportion. Rather than focusing on the overproduction of ever more openings and premieres, it encourages designing for what will actually be used and what has a chance of lasting — even if only in a simplified version, with a different frequency, or with a different group of people caring for the project. In this way, the conceptual figure becomes a matrix for discussion: it makes it easier to grasp the whole, to distinguish what is working from what is still only a promise, and to translate conclusions into subsequent, better-adapted proposals.
Axis of action: PROPOSAL → USE → MAINTENANCE
(with feedback leading back to PROPOSAL)
(with feedback leading back to PROPOSAL)
PROPOSAL — defining the possibility of use more precisely (what / for what purpose / for whom / under what conditions);
USE — the implementation and use of practices, confirmed by traces;
MAINTENANCE — continuity of use over time, made possible through roles, resources, and shared responsibility.