This research contributes to knowledge by conceptualising a post-foundational theoretical base to assess the significance of social art practices and their political dimension, whilst allowing, at the same time, for such a foundation to remain permanently contingent. Thereby, I discus the key terms: society, the social and the political in relation to art. In so doing I identify the two main criteria for social art practices namely non-identitarian solidarity and minimal politics which, I argue, constitute and define the possibility for the political in social art practice. The (post-foundational) criteria for minimal politics are organisation, strategy, collectivism and the aim of becoming a majority (Marchart 20 I 0: 318). In order to distinguish the political potential of social art practices from any form of totalitarian political art they have to be democratic and have to be at least based on principles such as freedom and equality. I then claim that social art practices also have the potential to become radically democratic, as soon as they base their practice on the principle of difference and root their practice in non-identitarian solidarity. Prerequisites for social art practices developed in this thesis contend that art becomes a social practice as soon as it intervenes aesthetically into social conditions by oscillating between the poles of aI1istic dialogue and aesthetic autonomy. The artistic component of this PhD project is the website project The Political Sphere in Art Practices, which is based on interviews that I conducted with experts in the field of social practice art. The interviewees are Grant Kester, Margit Czenki, Christoph Schafer, Roger Behrens, Neala Schleuning, Mary Jane Jacob, Gregory Sholette and Nora Sternfeld. The project provides an interactive dialogical platform constructed as a modular system of questions, answers and categories.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:692824 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Krenn, Martin |
| Publisher | Ulster University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Page generated in 0.0022 seconds