Hewitt, A. (2015) Public art against the 'public': does state funded art, participatory art practices and socially-engaged art benefit the public? In: Differences, Inequalities and Sociological Imagination: ESA 2015: 12th Conference of the European Sociological Association 2015: Abstract Book. European Sociological Association and Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. 9788073302726. p. 152.
| Item Type: | Conference Proceedings |
|---|---|
| Abstract: | Socially engaged art practices connect with a tradition of avant-garde perspectives on art’s potential for emancipatory change and for democratic politics. These have been variously named as socially engaged art practice, community-based art, experimental communities, dialogical art, littoral art, and participatory art. Socially engaged art is associated with an impulse to democratize both art production and society. Participation is a term commonly used in both cultural policy and in the theories and practice of socially engaged art. In this paper I address the question, ‘What do funders and commissioners want from socially engaged art practice and what forms of participation are produced?’ I reflect upon ‘participation’ in art in the context of Third Way cultural policy; forms of practice, theories of participative art and the expectation of commissioners and policy makers. I propose, that, forms of participation and participative art, produced via Third Way cultural institutions, aim to promote affirmative social relations and hence operate as steering media for the state. Therefore, cultural policy colonizes the public sphere with official state culture in order to funnel citizens’ behaviour and to limit dissenssus. I propose that such cultural production has negative repercussions for democracy. I argue for a social art practice that is ‘properly’ public, this includes understanding the public as a contingent body of citizens with a degree of shared purpose rather than a placid community of abstractly equal individuals. |
| Subjects: | N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) > N8700 Art and the state. Public art |
| Creators: | Hewitt, Andrew |
| Publisher: | European Sociological Association and Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences |
| Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: | Faculties > Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology > Fine Art |
| Date: | 28 August 2015 |
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Page Range: | p. 152 |
| Title of Book: | Differences, Inequalities and Sociological Imagination: ESA 2015: 12th Conference of the European Sociological Association 2015: Abstract Book |
| Event Title: | 12th Conference of the European Sociological Association (ESA 2015): Differences, Inequalities and Sociological Imagination |
| Event Dates: | 25-28 August 2015 |
| Event Location: | Prague, Czech Republic |
| Event Type: | Conference |
| Number of Pages: | 1 |
| Language: | English |
| ISBN: | 9788073302726 |
| Status: | Published / Disseminated |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Related URLs: | |
| URI: | http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/8186 |
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