Here, I bring communication theories into conversation with peace and conflict scholarship. Specifically, I explore how the ways in which women narrate their experiences of violent conflict through sewing collectives can inform conflict transformation work. I engage in this exploration within the framework of narrative theory, using Kenneth Burke’s dramatistic pentad to analyze the narratives presented in a selection of textile pieces created by women in Chile, South Africa, and Northern Ireland. I situate this project within literature pertaining to feminist approaches to rhetoric, discussions of bridgework in identity negotiation from intercultural communication, concerns related to conflict transformation, and work with socially engaged art. Finally, I bring these analyses into conversation with one another to consider how women rhetors may inform conflict transformation through their textile work. In particular, I discuss how each of these rhetors offers the narrative elements to reconstitute collective identities, providing an avenue toward peace in their own settings.

Through this practice based research I argue that cultural democracy as a way of thinking contests dominant models of commissioning art to effect social change. A method of generative metaphor of critical distance emerges through four projects based on a contextual and theoretical framework that tests the conditions for recognising cultural democracy as a critical practice. Cultural democracy is distinct from the democratisation of culture, which means providing free, accessible professional culture to all. The socially engaged art commission is, I argue, an example of the democratisation of culture based on predefined economic, aesthetic and social values. Cultural democracy disrupts expected forms of participation and communication of culture, drawing attention to these values. As an uninvited act of disobedience, it is thought and practised as individuals reclaim the right to express themselves, creating conflicts with expected norms of behaviour. This research project began in 2006, nine years into New Labour's administration, and reflects an urgent question of the time: what are the implications of increasing dependency on a culture of commissioning art to effect social change that might perpetuate, rather than radically rethink, social injustices' These concerns are even more significant in a political and economic climate where public funding for critical, non-conformist participation in culture slips further down the agenda. My own career is a symptom of New Labour's neoliberal policies of social inclusion and the arts. A new period of 'austerity' may imply fewer paid opportunities for this professional class of socially engaged art workers, coupled with a distancing of the recognition of cultural democracy as a possible alternative, with further reliance on free, precarious cultural labour. For this reason, I hope this research will be of use to those who also find it an urgent task to address these issues critically and practically.

In African folklore, there is a Swahili tale which depicts the relationship between a monkey and a shark; a story about the needs of two creatures living in two different worlds. The shark needs the heart of the monkey to give to his king and the monkey agrees to go on the journey to learn and experience new things. Unaware of each other’s intentions and goals they fall prey to a relationship of mutual distrust and suspicion. Many opportunities to use art as a tool for social engagement through service-learning exist in Higher Education. However, good intentions do not always equal good outcomes. The story above illustrates the importance of open communication around goals and motives. My past experiences in community engagement projects have taught me that more harm than good can result when communities are not involved in relationship-building and decision-making processes which affect them. It is therefore imperative that students collaborate with communities in every phase of the engagement process, so that they will learn and benefit from each other in meaningful ways. This qualitative research explores and describes the engagement between Intermediate Phase education students and community youth, the findings of which will be used to design a service-learning module in Creative Arts. The aims of the study were (i) to explore what the students and the community participants can learn from such a process, (ii) to explore what aspects of the engagement process can enhance the attainment of mutually beneficial learning outcomes, and which detract from it, and (iii) based on the findings, to suggest recommendations that can inform the development and design of a future service-learning module in Creative Arts programmes for teacher educators. A qualitative design situated within a critical theoretical paradigm employing a participatory action research approach to inquiry was utilised to achieve the aims of the study. Availability sampling was used to select participants in the engagement between the campus students from the Creative Arts department in the faculty of Education Sciences at the North West University (NWU) Potchefstroom, and the community youths from a nearby township area. The data generation process consisted of four cycles which embraced seven interactive activities, including visual, oral, art, and text-based techniques that were employed in a participatory process. Semi-structured reflective interviews towards the end concluded the research study. Data documentation was obtained through verbatim transcriptions of video clips, visual diaries, and visual charts. The engagement process was systematically monitored, inductively analysed, and thematically interpreted. Trustworthiness was verified by overlapping and multiple data generation strategies, and maintained by reflective member checking and own critical reflections on the process. Ethical requirements included the approval of the Ethics Committee of the NWU Faculty of Educational Sciences, Potchefstroom campus. Signed consent of participants was obtained in writing before the data generation began. Consent was obtained from the participants for visual material to be used for the research study and the presentations thereof. Three themes emerged from the data collection. Theme 1: the process allowed participants to gain insight into each other’s worlds. Theme 2: the participatory action research (PAR) process shifted power relations. Theme 3: the participants experienced personal and professional development through the interactive process. My findings on the student-community youth engagement suggest that the participatory (PAR) process is well suited for socially engaged art-based practices in service-learning as it promotes reciprocal learning through interactive activities. The activities unlocked value-laden and meaningful learning between the participants. Working collaboratively and in groups benefitted the participants in several ways. They gained confidence and self-determination, began to understand each other, improved personal and working relations, and increased their level of professional development. Limiting aspects included language barriers, short time frames, and unpredictable community events. The role of the researcher as change agent required shared leadership of collaborative groupwork, and it was necessary to structure topics in service-learning that evoke challenging and critical responses between participants from diverse backgrounds. These findings have significance for the design and development of a service-learning module for Creative Arts education, provide recommendations for future community partnerships in art-based practices, and for further research in service-learning. / MEd (Curriculum Development), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

In African folklore, there is a Swahili tale which depicts the relationship between a monkey and a shark; a story about the needs of two creatures living in two different worlds. The shark needs the heart of the monkey to give to his king and the monkey agrees to go on the journey to learn and experience new things. Unaware of each other’s intentions and goals they fall prey to a relationship of mutual distrust and suspicion. Many opportunities to use art as a tool for social engagement through service-learning exist in Higher Education. However, good intentions do not always equal good outcomes. The story above illustrates the importance of open communication around goals and motives. My past experiences in community engagement projects have taught me that more harm than good can result when communities are not involved in relationship-building and decision-making processes which affect them. It is therefore imperative that students collaborate with communities in every phase of the engagement process, so that they will learn and benefit from each other in meaningful ways. This qualitative research explores and describes the engagement between Intermediate Phase education students and community youth, the findings of which will be used to design a service-learning module in Creative Arts. The aims of the study were (i) to explore what the students and the community participants can learn from such a process, (ii) to explore what aspects of the engagement process can enhance the attainment of mutually beneficial learning outcomes, and which detract from it, and (iii) based on the findings, to suggest recommendations that can inform the development and design of a future service-learning module in Creative Arts programmes for teacher educators. A qualitative design situated within a critical theoretical paradigm employing a participatory action research approach to inquiry was utilised to achieve the aims of the study. Availability sampling was used to select participants in the engagement between the campus students from the Creative Arts department in the faculty of Education Sciences at the North West University (NWU) Potchefstroom, and the community youths from a nearby township area. The data generation process consisted of four cycles which embraced seven interactive activities, including visual, oral, art, and text-based techniques that were employed in a participatory process. Semi-structured reflective interviews towards the end concluded the research study. Data documentation was obtained through verbatim transcriptions of video clips, visual diaries, and visual charts. The engagement process was systematically monitored, inductively analysed, and thematically interpreted. Trustworthiness was verified by overlapping and multiple data generation strategies, and maintained by reflective member checking and own critical reflections on the process. Ethical requirements included the approval of the Ethics Committee of the NWU Faculty of Educational Sciences, Potchefstroom campus. Signed consent of participants was obtained in writing before the data generation began. Consent was obtained from the participants for visual material to be used for the research study and the presentations thereof. Three themes emerged from the data collection. Theme 1: the process allowed participants to gain insight into each other’s worlds. Theme 2: the participatory action research (PAR) process shifted power relations. Theme 3: the participants experienced personal and professional development through the interactive process. My findings on the student-community youth engagement suggest that the participatory (PAR) process is well suited for socially engaged art-based practices in service-learning as it promotes reciprocal learning through interactive activities. The activities unlocked value-laden and meaningful learning between the participants. Working collaboratively and in groups benefitted the participants in several ways. They gained confidence and self-determination, began to understand each other, improved personal and working relations, and increased their level of professional development. Limiting aspects included language barriers, short time frames, and unpredictable community events. The role of the researcher as change agent required shared leadership of collaborative groupwork, and it was necessary to structure topics in service-learning that evoke challenging and critical responses between participants from diverse backgrounds. These findings have significance for the design and development of a service-learning module for Creative Arts education, provide recommendations for future community partnerships in art-based practices, and for further research in service-learning. / MEd (Curriculum Development), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The aim of this this diploma thesis is to explore the relationship between the art galleries and the public. The key focus is to analyze indispensable approaches galleries should employ in order to survive on the cultural market. Firstly, the thesis discusses the economic aspects with the particular focus on the value added to the management and marketing of galleries. The next part deals with the social aspects. In addition to the gallery visitors and the influence of gallery interior on the visitor, the division of art on commercial and non-commercial sphere is explored. Furthermore, the term "socially engaged art" will be specified. The final discussion then shows the previous research by presenting practical examples to illustrate the importance of the issue, particularly focusing on the Egon Schiele Art Center in Český Krumlov.

Reading the book Perform or Else by Jon Mckenzie along with the social distancing, isolation, and all the ongoing challenging and forced experiences of the 2020-21 Covid-19 pandemic era, on one hand, and my interests in performance art and physicality, on the other hand, made me think how can I create a work that represents an image of the body, the concept of action, and the idea of togetherness which are all essential for performance art, and/or for any performance. All art disciplines combine theory and practice in order to depict the relationship between bodies, art, and education, and as history proves, theory is always intended to be put into practice. The theoretical and practical in this written thesis begins with its title This Is Not a Thesis; continues by furthering the idea of Perform or Else, asking instead Thesis or Else; and goes on to serve its purpose of being a theoretical concern, a narrative, a genre in and of itself, an exercise in authorship, and furthermore, function as a documentation of documentation of my art – performance – practice. The series of written pieces, performances (rejected proposals), and images (documents) compiled here are meant to create a space between authorship and performance art. This Is Not a Thesis demonstrates the rejection and acceptance of the same thing at the same time.

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No description available.

I use my art practice in conjunction with environmental behaviour research and Michel de Certeau’s practice of the everyday, to enable a re-examination of socially engaged art and through art to activate environmental behaviour change. Questions Clarify contemporary debate about demonstrable and desirable aspects and issues of socially engaged art practice and through my own practice identify its key characteristics. Examine the claim for change offered by many socially engaged practitioners. Context The socially engaged artist operates outside of the gallery, in everyday lives and real situations, often engaging in issues of meaning to society at large, where participation and facilitation of dialogue are the common characteristics. I identify participation, the ambition of social change, aesthetic representation and a failure to communicate beyond the participative event as key considerations. (Bishop 2004; Bourriaud 2002; Kester 2004; Kwon 2004) I propose an aesthetic of presence, to recognise community as a creative vernacular and as pooled knowledge. Drawn from Michel de Certeau’s research into everyday life (Michel de Certeau 1985; Michel de Certeau et al. 1998a) this also provides a refocusing on participation through conversation and describes rupture events, which signify change occurring. Method This thesis compares research in an alternative field, environmental behaviour, which investigates the impediments to change (the value-action gap), how change happens and identifies the change agent, as essential to encourage change at a personal level. (Ballard and Associates 2005b; Darnton et al. 2006) I use the value-action gap, the tension point between knowing about climate change and failing to make changes in our own behaviour, (Blake 1999; Darnton 2004b; Kollmus and Agyeman 2002) as a direct impetus to make participative artwork that examines the idea of a sustainable lifestyle. My art practice recognises a three-stage process: an admission of my own environmental behaviour; encouraging reciprocal participation and conversation and enabling personal reflection; representing conversation offering shared vernacular knowledge and enabling others’ engagement with the artwork and behaviour change. Equating the socially engaged artist with the environmental change agent, I synthesised the Model for Change Agents (S. Ballard and Ballard 2005a; Ballard and Associates 2005b) with research on participation in the arts (Matarasso 1997), as a basis for understanding how participation occurs and how change could happen in socially engaged artworks. An analysis of pilot artworks extends this model to identify the conditions for change, which also equate to the aesthetic aspects of the artwork, in a new model for Practice, Participation and Progression. Outcomes I propose key characteristics for socially engaged practice based on analysis of contemporary commentators and the model for practice, participation and progression. The role of the socially engaged artist is identified as comparable to the change agent. Representing conversation, addresses an issue of socially engaged practice to communicate beyond documentation of the event’s provocation and participation. I develop discussion of the discursive site beyond participation itself to a community of common sensibility and pooled knowledge as a demonstration of personal agency that is able to redefine the public ideal and challenge dominant culture. Re-presenting conversation is a means of sharing knowledge, stimulating change and expanding community. Contributing to environmental behaviour research my art practice reveals our ability to abstract behaviour, identifies our main areas of concern within lifestyle, our motivations for making change and the importance of the preservation of personal agency. I also comment on de Certeau, identifying the problems with individual resistance through the everyday, exploring mini-rupture events signaling change and proposing a reversal of the aesthetic of absence to an aesthetic of presence creating a new narrative that utilises personal agency.

The research presents a practice-based examination of the politics and poetics of the manifesto form, drawing on feminist theoretical writing and activism alongside contemporary iterations of socially engaged art. It offers feminist manifestos as a lens through which to reconsider the form and intentions of socially engaged art, which is reframed in the light of these feminist insights as social art practice (Ross, 2000). To draw feminism alongside social art practice the research occupies the metaphorical territory of the manifesto in order to open up a dialogue with, and directly experience, unfolding forms of social art practice. The thesis is structured in the form of an archive, consisting of three distinct but interrelated concepts – the manifesto, hospitality and archives. This structure sets out to highlight the relational and political nature of archives suggesting their potential to be reimagined as manifesto forms. In addition the structure reveals how both manifesto and archive function as explicit, politically radical forms of hospitality. These topics are discretely contained in physical form within three archival boxes, one for each concept, and in an online audio archive ‘giving voice’ to each of the concepts. Taken as a whole the thesis articulates a missing feminist history within current critical discourse around social art practice -­ despite the early presence of important feminist artists like Lacy and Ukeles. This research explores the implications of this absence, seeking to acknowledge the effects it could have not only on feminism as a political and intellectual practice but on the criticality and depth of social art practice. It is possible to encounter the archive as a cartography that can be laid out, navigated and read in any order. This movement between forms of knowledge mirrors the subjects it approaches which are conceived as interstitial forms, negotiating multiple perspectives to produce active subjectivity. Each section juxtaposes knowledge about practice, engaging with history to search for precedents, and knowledge with practice as a generative method, curating events and producing written contributions. Moving between these two methodologies the research sets out to find an appropriate voice to articulate the complexities of social art practice and its feminist histories.