This thesis presents a theoretical and historical account of how artists have responded to politics of democracy since the late-1980s. Three questions guide the direction of this analysis. Firstly: why, during its apparent apotheosis in recent years, have numerous artists critiqued democracy as the political, critical and aesthetic frame within which to identify their work? Secondly: how have artists undertaken this critique? Thirdly, and most importantly: what aesthetic and political discourses have artists proposed in lieu of the democracy that they critique? Particular case studies of art from Europe help us to address these questions, for Europe has been an important crucible for vociferous, and often fraught, arguments about democracy in recent aesthetic, philosophical and political discourses. The first chapter of this thesis rigorously contextualises these discourses in relation to historical mobilisations of democracy since the Iron Curtain??s collapse. Relying on writings by Pat Simpson, Slavoj ??i??ek, Alain Badiou and Mario Tronti, I chart the significant imbrications of political ideology, philosophy and what I call ??aesthetics of democratisation?? from the end of European communism, through the democratisations of postcommunism to the militarised democratisations of Iraq and Afghanistan after 2001. Notions of democracy shift and change during this period, becoming what ??i??ek calls a problematic ??transcendental guarantee?? of assumed values and self-legitimation. These shifting values in turn propel the concurrent critiques of democracy that are the subjects of the five subsequent chapters: Ilya Kabakov??s ??total?? installations; Neue Slowenische Kunst??s mimicry of the nation-state during the 1990s; Thomas Hirschhorn??s large-scale works from the late-1990s onwards; Christoph B??chel and Gianni Motti??s collaborative ventures; and the co-operative practices of Dan and Lia Perjovschi. Through examination of the artists?? installations and voluminous writings, and based primarily on archival research and interviews, this thesis examines how their aesthetic politics emerge from the remobilisation of nonconformist art histories, through self-instituted contexts and alternative models for art production, exhibition and interpretation. These models, I argue, counter our usual understandings of art practice and its politics in Europe. They cumulatively assert ??postsocialist aesthetics?? as an impertinent, yet urgent, prism through which to analyse contemporary art.

This thesis presents a theoretical and historical account of how artists have responded to politics of democracy since the late-1980s. Three questions guide the direction of this analysis. Firstly: why, during its apparent apotheosis in recent years, have numerous artists critiqued democracy as the political, critical and aesthetic frame within which to identify their work? Secondly: how have artists undertaken this critique? Thirdly, and most importantly: what aesthetic and political discourses have artists proposed in lieu of the democracy that they critique? Particular case studies of art from Europe help us to address these questions, for Europe has been an important crucible for vociferous, and often fraught, arguments about democracy in recent aesthetic, philosophical and political discourses. The first chapter of this thesis rigorously contextualises these discourses in relation to historical mobilisations of democracy since the Iron Curtain??s collapse. Relying on writings by Pat Simpson, Slavoj ??i??ek, Alain Badiou and Mario Tronti, I chart the significant imbrications of political ideology, philosophy and what I call ??aesthetics of democratisation?? from the end of European communism, through the democratisations of postcommunism to the militarised democratisations of Iraq and Afghanistan after 2001. Notions of democracy shift and change during this period, becoming what ??i??ek calls a problematic ??transcendental guarantee?? of assumed values and self-legitimation. These shifting values in turn propel the concurrent critiques of democracy that are the subjects of the five subsequent chapters: Ilya Kabakov??s ??total?? installations; Neue Slowenische Kunst??s mimicry of the nation-state during the 1990s; Thomas Hirschhorn??s large-scale works from the late-1990s onwards; Christoph B??chel and Gianni Motti??s collaborative ventures; and the co-operative practices of Dan and Lia Perjovschi. Through examination of the artists?? installations and voluminous writings, and based primarily on archival research and interviews, this thesis examines how their aesthetic politics emerge from the remobilisation of nonconformist art histories, through self-instituted contexts and alternative models for art production, exhibition and interpretation. These models, I argue, counter our usual understandings of art practice and its politics in Europe. They cumulatively assert ??postsocialist aesthetics?? as an impertinent, yet urgent, prism through which to analyse contemporary art.

The thesis called The Interventional Function of Public Art in Public Space and Society focuses on public art that confronts society and improves or even transforms public space. It attempts to point out the necessity in using knowledge from various disciplines such as urban anthropology, sociology, philosophy and semiotics in order to analyse public space and the role of public art in it. The aim is to look for the potential and the functions of public art and how it can be both accomplished. This will be discussed over the work of Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn, who challenges issues arising in today's society. Thesis will conclude with a study of art work called the Gramsci Monument. Keywords: public art, public space, city, Thomas Hirschhorn, society, intervention, Gramsci Monument

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Ce travail aborde la question des lieux d'art non pas, comme c'est souvent le cas, pour leurs répercussions sur leur voisinage, mais pour leur apport à la création plastique elle-même. Dans sa première partie sont précisés les termes de la recherche : le mot "stratégie" à la fois dans le contexte artistique et dans d'autres contextes ; les "quartiers d'art" selon leur usage: création, exhibition et habitation ; les "gens de l'art", considérés comme le groupe qui crée, conceptuellement, l'œuvre d'art. La deuxième partie présente, en plus d'une synthèse historique, six territoires de l'art contemporain : le Fbg Saint-Denis (Paris), qui constitue la colonne vertébrale de ce travail, la Macarena (Bogota), San Telmo (Buenos Aires), Belleville (Paris), le Red Hook (New York) et la ville de Berlin. La troisième partie analyse le travail individuel de sept personnalité de l'art ayant habité le Fbg Saint-Denis depuis l'année 2000 : Nathalie Heinich, Nicolas Bourriaud, Jean-Philippe Antoine, Thomas Hirschhorn, Esther Shalev-Gerz, Pierre Huyghe et Olga Kisseleva. La dernière partie relie cette recherche avec l'œuvre de son auteur. La conclusion met en évidence une série d'hypothèses qui se dégagent de cette étude : les lieux d'art comme instrument d'identification des différents groupes œuvrant dans l'art ; la notion de débat comme forme de stratégie, avec un niveau interne (qui participe et à quel titre) et un niveau global (le rôle de l'art dans la société) ; les artistes considérés non pas comme une catégorie socio-professionnelle, mais comme "produits" de chaque groupe social ; l'art comme une forme de participation à un territoire commun plus que comme un espace en soi. / This work concerns the question of art territories, but not, as is often the case, for their repercussions on their neighbourhood, but for their contribution to the plastic creation itself. In the first part, the terms of the research are defined: the word "strategy" in the artistic context as well as in other contexts; the "art districts". according to their use: creation, exhibition and residence; the "people of art", considered as the group that creates, conceptually the artwork. The second part presents, in addition to a historical synthesis, six territories of contemporary art: Faubourg Saint-Denis (Paris). which is the backbone of this work, Macarena (Bogota), San Telmo (Buenos Aires), Belleville (Paris), the Red Hook (New York) and the city of Berlin. The third part analyses the individual work of seven contemporary art personalities who lived in Faubourg Saint­Denis since 2000: Nathalie Heinich, Nicolas Bourriaud, Jean-Philippe Antoine, Thomas Hirschhorn, Esther Shalev-Gerz, Pierre Huyghe and Olga Kisseleva. The last part links this research with the work of its author. The conclusion highlights a series of hypotheses emerging from this study: places of art as an instrument of identification of the different groups working in art; the notion of "debate" as a form of strategy, with an internal level (who participates and in what capacity) and a global level (the role of art in society); artists considered not as a socio-professional category, but as "products" of every social group; art as a form of participation in a common territory more than as a self-space.