Social Sculpture
Art as a collective, participatory act — shaping society and human relationships as the primary medium.
What is Social Sculpture?
Social Sculpture is a concept originated by German artist Joseph Beuys, who believed that every human being is an artist and that the shaping of society is the highest form of art. For Dr. Rivera, Social Sculpture extends this idea into the borderlands between cultures, languages, and communities.
Through participatory actions, public interventions, and collaborative projects, Social Sculpture transforms everyday spaces and human interactions into living works of art.
Sticker Art as a Social Tool
When deployed during art actions and public interventions, stickers and yard signs cross the boundary between art object and social tool. In Dr. Rivera's practice, these works function as seeds — planted in public space to spark dialogue, mark presence, and assert cultural identity.
Unlike gallery-bound artwork, stickers travel with people, appearing on walls, lampposts, and windows — becoming part of the social fabric of the city.
More Sticker Art →
Projects
To People of Hungary
This social sculpture was created and presented in Hungary in 2013. Large-format posters bearing the message "A better world is possible if we honor the sanctity of life" were placed in public spaces including bus shelters, bringing the work directly into the everyday environment of the city and inviting passersby into an unannounced encounter with art and social reflection.
Displaced Colombians
This social sculpture project was conducted with displaced Colombians in 2019. Through an art workshop, participants engaged with the experience of displacement using indigenous inks and painting as a form of personal and collective expression. The project treated artmaking as an act of witness — giving visible form to the trauma of forced migration and the enduring search for belonging.
Peace: Straight Ahead Only
This work is inspired by an iconic road sign seen in Bosnia & Herzegovina designating "straight ahead only." Dr. Rivera repurposed the graphic and combined it with the word Peace to address the physical and psychological isolation of the pandemic years — and to prompt reflection on the divisions within our respective countries. Produced as digital artwork made into stickers and buttons (4 × 4 inches), the work was distributed and activated as a social sculpture during the 2022 Artnauts exhibition in Sarajevo.
Rorschach Art Workshop: Wounds, Fears & Healing
Dr. Rivera presented this workshop at International Burch University and the ARKA Art & Education Center in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Participants received paper and Amazon Rainforest ink and were invited to create Rorschach images in response to a personal wound or fear, and then a wound or fear they perceived in their country. The workshop used artmaking as a social act — creating a shared space for vulnerability, dialogue, and the possibility of healing through the act of making and looking together.