Panmela Castro’s participatory artworks call upon the public to assume an active role in the artistic process. Unlike interactive works, which are activated by predetermined commands, here participation is not mechanical but relational. These works only come into being in the presence of people, since it is their gestures, affections, and actions that activate, complete, and often redefine their meanings.

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By proposing an art founded on relationships, Panmela claims affection as a political practice. In this gesture, the aesthetic experience shifts into the ethical and social sphere, becoming an exercise in redistributing affection.

 

Thus, her work is not limited to the exhibited object: it reveals that affection does not belong to the private domain, but is configured as a collective and political practice.