This thesis examines the increase and diversification of participatory art practices that have occurred over the past two decades. To help break down the terrain, it presents a typology according to four divisions: 1) Participatory Commissioning and Consultation, 2) Interactive Participation, 3) Social Participation and 4) Collaborative Participation. The formalisation of each approach will consider how the participation is actually created, who owns the work (or with whom it is identified), and how much agency or control is allocated to the participants. It also looks at the participatory action involved in each approach and how this functions in terms of the creation of the artwork. Engaging with a range of arts practices, from visual arts to theatre (and forms that work between and beyond such categories), it focuses on the various uses of 'participation', as a term, an ideology, a discourse and a practice. It considers the possible reasons for the current surge in participative work and the relationship it may have to the broader socio-political and technological landscape. For instance, a perceived 'loss of the social bond' informing many practices is often sought to be repaired through participatory work. Similarly, participating in the arts is frequently perceived as evidence of the 'democratisation' of art. To help explore some of the political assumptions around perceptions of participation and community in the arts, it draws, in the main, on post Marxist thinkers Jacques Ranciere, Chantal Mouffe and Jean-Luc Nancy. Contrary to popular conceptions of democracy, which often perceive of it in terms of 'the will of the people', it will examine the ways in which democracy has functioned historically to produce political change in the West. I hope to challenge, therefore, the idea that participatory art is inherently political through its 'bringing people together', invitation to participate or broader claims of inclusivity

In this thesis, I discuss critically contemporary visual art exhibitions that have addressed the Balkans as a structure of representation. These exhibitions, fourteen in number, have been organised by international and local curators in Western and Central European cities and in the Balkan region between 1999 and 2006. I consider these exhibitions as ideological mechanisms which in their effects formulate Balkan "otherness", and sustain neoIiberal policies and market cultural particularities. Curatorial discourses are examined in relation to critiques of stereotypical representations of the Balkans, systematised in the discourse of Balkanism. The critique of Balkanism was elaborated in the 1990s and 2000s by theorists notably Maria Todorova and draw a distinction to Edward Said's notion of Orientalism. I adopt two methodological axes to provide the basis for my analysis of the exhibitions. The first axis addresses the Balkans as a concept which reflects the immaterial character of Western domination in the region; the second defines Balkan particularity in opposition to the universaIism of humanism and Marxism. These provide the critical basis for the analysis of "the Balkans" as a concept that systematises Balkan ambiguity as cultural particularity disregarding the materiality of the capitalist structures in which it has been formulated as yet another cultural product. In the exhibitions, the imaginary, immaterial character of the Balkans is manifested in the particularity of Balkan ambiguity and in concepts such as Balkan in-betweenness, heterotopia, invention, becoming, utopia and glocalism, all used in different ways to undermine the often rigid and authoritative universalist assumptions. In my view, the curatorial representations of the Balkans far from disputing Balkan stereotypes serve to typify Balkan particularity which is constructed as a brand name, and by so-doing naturalise the ideology of the universality of globalised capitalism which I understand as "false consciousness" and "cynical reason". Drawing upon Slavoj Zizek's idea of "parallax view", I contend that the Balkan stereotypical representations can only be contested if we change perspectives, engage with the universality of the "part of no-part" or class struggle and, therefore, question the very logic of capitalism which sustains the concept of the Balkans.

This is a case study looking at the production of site-oriented works in 'Outlook', a large international exhibition that took place in Athens in 2003 as part of the Cultural Olympiad (2001-2004). The study examines the processes that led to the production of site-oriented works, reflecting the range of the artists' conceptualisations regarding the city of Athens at a particular moment. The aim is to explore the co-operation of the curator with the artists, from the initial proposals for the works to the final products. Theoretically this undertaking draws upon the discourse on large international exhibitions and on curatorial and artistic innovations as they have developed since the 1960s. In the case examined in this study, the site-oriented works were approached from a critical position emanating from dated curatorial views and authoritative practices, and on the artists' side from a relative absence of critical reflection on the curator's specifications for such works. The findings of this research challenge the argument that the international character of contemporary large exhibitions can be realised through the new roles of the global curator and the itinerant artist in the context of post-Fordist capitalism. Contrary to this argument, 'Outlook' has brought into focus the quasi-ethnographic practices of itinerant artists, who often replaced knowledge of the place with pre-existing artistic patterns capable of application to a variety of settings. Furthermore, the findings question the claimed 'osmosis' between the global curator's and artists' practices, in the light of a strong curatorial figure who set specifications and to some extent shaped not only the list of participants but their final works, too. 'Outlook' generated works that either conformed to the spirit of the exhibition or were in the process of preparation distorted and misinterpreted.

This dissertation examines conditions for and forms of artistic production in two cities, Beirut and Sarajevo, in the aftermath of violence and civil strife. Through primary research into the fragile recreation of conditions for the making, exhibiting and dissemination of contemporary art in two post-war situations, the dissertation identifies the historical, political and social frameworks within which singular interventions have been made by four artists inscribing differentiated experiences of violence and trauma. In four case•studies, the thesis performs cross-exploration of the impact of war in contemporary an. In a video / installation by Danica Dakic, depersonalized autobiography touches on the experience of exile during the siege of Sarajevo and of belonging to a diaspora ceaselessly moving across languages. In the performance based practice of Maja Bajevic, the artist positions herself beside 'witnesses of horrific events. Lamia Joreige's video practice reveals the way violent memories map the space of the city and beyond to reach over borders of time and space. Paola Yacoub, an architect working in photography, seeks a photographic form in which to register how war acts on the urban fabric of Beirut or a landscape in Southern Lebanon, hidden behind our habitual way of looking. Through the approach of the post-traumatic, a term mainly used in literary and cinematic contexts and rarely applied to visual arts, my writing grounds these specific art practices within the historical, social, geopolitical and cultural contexts of the post-traumatic fabric and cultural institutions of two cities. Walter Benjamin's theoretical ground in using literary style of the fragment provides an appropriate form of narration in the face of disruptive events and the accumulating burden of shattered pasts.

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Late Twentieth Century accounts of art history reveal crises across different artistic disciplines. More recently, the deepest recession since the Great Depression has destabilised the globe. These combined instances of turbulence and conflict shape the context of this research. Using different concepts of instability this study attempts to locate specific images, in art and in a wider cultural sphere, which demonstrate a strong connection to the concerns and processes of my own art practice. In order to do this I explore recurring examples of collapse through assorted definitions of its 'image'. A description of collapse involving the English comedian Tommy Cooper, together with its transposition into a stilled photographic image, forms the fundamental basis of this study. I utilise this image of Cooper's collapse to articulate a form of instability, both in terms of its physical appearance and the less apparent meanings made visible as a consequence. Examined in relation to uncertainty through illustrations of symbolic and 'real' death the signatures of collapse are then further explored in a variety of image studies throughout this thesis. These examples are then used to ascertain how meanings are constructed, transmitted and repeated through the image. Combining phenomenal accounts with first-hand interview material, a detailed case study of the artist Mike Nelson is used to advance this enquiry and to situate a comparative assessment of my own practice. These findings help to support a transferable system of image reproduction across different representational categories as the formula for a fragmented compositional strategy in my work. The results uphold the theory of a shift from art-history into image-history, whereby artworks in different mediums take on some form of equivalence. This then is the definition of my working processes, realised through the reproduction of different 'image forms' manifest as interspersed arrangements of (art) objects and other image components.

The Doctoral research was carried out with the primary purpose of reviewing past practice designs and for identifying how body movements contributes to these designs. The context in which the body movements are understood are that of discipline enforced by culture and other physio-biological restraints. A discussion on the relationships of body experience in restricted conditions are carried out, which includes the interaction between movement and space in the application of painting, moulding, biological markers, and moving images. The discipline, socially acceptable practices and regulations present in the researcher’s personal life and culture frame the artworks and a fascinating exploration of dynamics between freedom of movement in artwork construction and restrain of behaviour has been analyzed. In the process of art production, significant points discussed were with respect to the identification, succession and repetition of habitual acts. In addition, bodily movement could be considered as a synthesis of spatiality and temporality. The key point which contains the elements of time and space remains relevant to my creative practice and theoretical research. The core interest of my practice is in understanding the settings and simple rules for bodily movement, which is inspired by the past and forms a possible creation for the future. In this research, the attempt was not to display a comprehensive understanding on how body influences the design of art but rather to explain how understanding body movements provides a trace of my works, from origin, the working process and to completion. Relevant artworks and reflection of personal experiences are discussed as needed to help the reader gain more insight on the interactions of body in art creations.

This PhD aims to create a reading strategy for the subject of the female boxer in order to intervene in the ways in which this figure is utilized and understood in contemporary culture. Ultimately, I am positing the limits of social constructivism and social science as a way to understand the boxing body and, specifically, the female boxer. Readings arising out of the philosophy of phenomenology, among other areas of thought, are more useful as a way to understand and capture this. Art can draw on the difference and also the intersection between these understandings, as well as add new meanings to our thinking around the subject. I am considering the female boxer as a cipher to explore questions around the representation and vulnerability of moving bodies. My interest is in the contradictions present in the plurality of the subject; on the one hand, a political need exists to count the particular body of the female boxer as a body that matters; on the other hand, the female boxing body is an example of physicality and potentiality that is not totally captured by current semantic, cultural definition. I will discuss depictions and conceptualizations that exist both in the sociological definition of the boxing body and in methods of artistic representation, with the intention of articulating an understanding of the subject that allows for its inconclusivity as a lived body. Brian Massumi writes, “in motion, a body is in an immediate, unfolding relation to its own non-present potential to vary.” The charge of indeterminacy as carried by a body is inseparable from it, as long as the body is dynamic and alive. This thesis describes, addresses, and challenges the ways in which the female boxing body is functioning and being defined as a sociological signifier, specifically the practice of gender construction as it frames the boxing body in art and theory. Via an understanding of the female boxer as vacillating, as being both irresolute and situated, my project engages with particular works of contemporary art that are attempting an alteration of our existing interpretations of the subject. My ultimate intention is to elucidate the becoming female boxer as a generative prism, and to investigate the ways in which art could be engaging with the ensuing spectrum.

This thesis examines the geographies of a new festival of contemporary art, film and music in North East England between 2003 and 2012. As a hybrid process of cultural production, renewal and consumption, the arts festival offers an important site to examine how cultural encounters are produced and performed through a set of entwined place based imaginaries. Using the curatorial practice of AV Festival as a case study, the thesis assembles histories of art, curating, cultural policy and regional geography to evaluate how the organisation sought to advocate a progressive sense of place. The thesis addresses how AV Festival was situated within its locality in three ways. Firstly, analysing the ecology of relations that created AV Festival demonstrates how the artistic ethos of a new cultural organisation was shaped to mediate the perceived demands of the regional cultural economy of North East England. In doing so, the thesis makes an important contribution to regional cultural history with a particular emphasis on how festival was deployed as a strategy towards economic and social regeneration, a subject that is underrepresented in scholarly work. Secondly, two significant artwork commissions are examined in order to show how AV Festival developed a particular practice of situated artistic commissioning. Drawing on the concepts of territorialisation and mediation, analysis of the YoHa project, Coal Fired Computers (2010) shows how curatorial and artistic practice can intervene in ideas of locational identity. Building on this, the discussion of the recreation of John Cage’s 1966 performance, Variations VII in 2008 in Gateshead demonstrates how the hybridity of AV Festival was performed as an assemblage of proximate and distant social, material and cultural relationships, the scale of which did not necessarily converge neatly around territories or temporalities. Finally, the thesis emphasises mobility as a critical concept for understanding the arts festival. Examining AV Festival as a mobility system shows how festivals privilege corporeal and material co-presence. Through tracing the movements of people and objects in AV Festival, the thesis explores the concepts of slowness and friction and demonstrates how the process of festival can intervene and disrupt normative spatial rhythms. Set against the pluralisation of arts festivals, including visual art biennials, in Europe and beyond, over recent decades and a broader festivalisation of cultural institutions, this thesis makes a significant contribution to the field in offering a reconceptualisation of festival. The thesis reimagines festival as a relational process, showing how festival necessitates a continual assembly and dispersal within the production, renewal and consumption of public culture. The study provides theoretical support to those interested in the intersections between art, festival and place in the twenty-first century.