The initial intention of this thesis was to amalgamate two distinct tendencies that evolved in the author's art work over the period of twenty-four years. The illusionary and corporeal qualities of his painting and sculpture had become amalgamated with social concerns, which emerged from his installation and performance work between 1975 and 1985. The moment the artist makes a gesture on a painting surface is a culmination of memory, the immaterial and the corporeal. That moment expresses his judgement about himself, and the world in illusionary form. By bringing together of the self and one's worldview, the corporeal and the immaterial, the past and present, the artist is provided with the authority to make judgements and to change themselves and their surrounding community, as well as gaining insights into changes in values in his community and family. The emphasis of the everyday in the artist's work has become an expression of universal social issues. / Master of Arts (Hons) Contemporary Arts

The dissertation thesis gives a real picture of Czech artistic works from late 1980s to the present day that use the language of Conceptual and Action art for a reflection of current problems in our society. The study is to encompass socially-oriented art or tendencies that want to communicate with the inartistic context and its focus is on the social-political aspect of contemporary art. The first part of the text is focused on basic concepts, moreover, it describes the most important exhibitions, theoretical contexts or considerations associated with the concepts of political or engaged art and it includes a brief reference to examples of older socially oriented art of the 20th century. The thesis strives to give a picture of the main themes through which artists reflect on humanity within a current societal system with its various old or new phenomena. The topics and the particular relevant artworks are described in four main chapters that should reveal the working methods or the development of the artists approach or strategies of artistic groups that have simultaneously reflected changes in the Czech art scene for the past 25 years. The prime motives are classical or newborn topics like reflection on motherhood, transformation of the present-day family, attitudes to the phenomenon of age,...

This thesis will examine the practice of relational aesthetics as it involves the viewer, as well as the way in which it plays out within and outside of the institutional setting of the museum. I will focus primarily on two unique projects: that of The Machine Project Field Guide at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on November 15, 2008, produced by Machine Project, a social project operated out of a storefront gallery in Echo Park; and David Michalek's Slow Dancing at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York City, July 12-29 2007.