Social Art and New Institutionalism.
Examining how the Art Institutions have responded to sociallyengaged and participatory art practices.
Niamh Brennan
In partial fulfilment of the Limerick School of Art & Design, (LIT)
Bachelor or Arts (Honours) Degree in Fine Art –Printmaking.
2012/2013
Table of Contents
Title Page
Table of Contents
1
List of Illustrations
2
Introduction
4
Chapter 1
Considering the Discursive Context;
The Theories of “Social” Art.
8
Chapter 2
“New Institutionalism”;
The “New Institution” and its Relationship with Social Art.
20
Part 1
21
Part 2
32
Conclusion
38
Bibliography
40
List of Illustrations
1. Rirkrit Tiravanija - “Untitled 1990 (Pad Thai)”.
Project Room, Paula Allen Gallery, New York, NY, 1990
http://www.great.szpilman.de/index.php?/t/tiravanija-rirkrit/ Downloaded 14.05.13
2. Rirkrit Tiravanija - “Untitled (Pad See-ew)1990/2002”.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2002.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_M9HsFF0UB5Q/TUglw8_KQAI/AAAAAAAAAEE/Wny
qV0wqLZw/s1600/Rirkrit+Tiravanija+%2527Untitled%2527+2002.jpg Downloaded
14.05.13
3. Kunstverein München - final edition of “Kunstverein München Drucksachen” under
curator Maria Lind. 2004.
http://www.kunst-buecher.de/shop/article_11719/GesammelteDrucksache.html?shop_param=cid%3D63%26aid%3D11719%26 Downloaded
14.05.13
4. Salt Galata, Salt Istanbul. Public research archives and library.
http://www.saltresearch.org/primo_library/libweb/images/iwan.baan.corrected.smallS
ALT-IST-0172.jpg Downloaded 04.05.13
2
5. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. “The Curious Museum…” research project. Response
‘tags’ attached to museum title cards. http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/browseall/?tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bptype%5D=29&tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bproject%5D=704
&cHash=40c97a2063 Downloaded 05.05.13
6. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. “The Curious Museum…” research project. Response
‘tags’ attached to museum title cards.
http://vanabbemuseum.nl/typo3temp/pics/9575232a18.jpg Downloaded 05.05.13
3
Introduction
The critical theorist George Dickie has developed an “institutional theory of art” 1, it is a
theory which puts forward the idea that a “work of art” is understood as art because of its
position and acceptance within a cultural framework that understands it as art. 2 This cultural
framework according to Dickie is a “social institution” 3 that has been labelled the “artworld”,
which includes the artist, the artworld public and a collection of “systems” that construct a
“framework for the presentation of a work of art by an artist to an artworld public” 4
In the course of defining these concepts Dickie makes the claim that;
“In their earliest [primitive] manifestations, the central roles of artist and artworld public
pretty much are the culture’s artworld. Later the artworld contains many other roles: art
galleries entrepreneurs, museum curators, art critics, art theorists, philosophers of art and
others, All of these sophisticated roles are parasitical on the central roles of the artist and
artworld public, the cultural framework that persists through time and constitutes the core of
the art-making enterprise.” 5
Today there are many practitioners that feel this “sophisticated” “artworld” structure has
complicated the “art-making enterprise” to the point that the contemporary postmodernist
artworld has become an abstruse and insular institution. High levels of specialised arthistorical and theoretical knowledge are required by “artworld publics” to fully understand
1
Dickie, George Art and Value. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers (2001) p. 2
Martin Irvine, “The Institutional Theory of Art and the Artworld” Georgetown University.
http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/visualarts/institutional-theory-artworld.html Accessed
07.07.13
3
Martin Irvine, “The Institutional Theory of Art and the Artworld” Georgetown University.
http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/visualarts/institutional-theory-artworld.html Accessed 07.07.13
4
Dickie, George Art and Value. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers (2001) p. 61
5
Ibid. p.62
2
4
and participate in the appreciation of “works of art”. For publics uninitiated in these spheres
of high cultural knowledge “fine” art and its institutions present a highly intimidating façade,
against which accusations of elitism and self-serving self-interest have been made.
Over the last twenty, years certain artist have begun to question and challenge this recondite
and “parasitical” institutional paradigm that Dickie illustrates in the above statement.
These artists are in a way perhaps, trying to return to a more direct relationship between the
artist and the public. Trying to establish a face to face practice that doesn’t require the
specialised intervention of artworld and art institutional players to mediate the importance,
meaning and relevance of art and art pieces. Many of these artists are circumventing the
traditional spaces of the artworld; the galleries and museums. They are trying to blur the
boundaries between the cloistered cultural world and the wider socio-political world beyond
the gallery walls. More than just creating art for or in public spaces however artists have been
developing whole new approaches and paradigms to making, experiencing and understanding
art. These artists are reimagining what art is, and what it is capable of achieving.
The art these artists are making takes many different forms and follows many different
patterns. They also go under many different names, socially engaged, community-based, new
genre public art, littoral art, dialogical art. These practices vary subtly from label to label,
however they tend to have certain characteristics in common. Many of these artists have
developed practices that aim to entirely collapse the distance between creator and observer.
Since its earliest emergence this type of artistic work has engendered consternation, conflict
and debate. For many decades it has been largely rejected as a “high art” activity and been
largely disregarded and ignored by the central institutions of the fine art-world. However, this
situation has been gradually changing since the late eighties and early nineties. Critics and
curators began to become interested in grass roots artistic activities operating on the fringes
5
and margins of the creative cultural spheres, artists were challenging predefined ideas of art
and its potential role in a wider society, through the subsequent advocacy of such institutional
players, there has emerged and spread an expanding/growing awareness and acceptance of
these artistic practices and paradigms.
Still, despite such growing acceptance this field of art remains a contentious cultural
minefield. These socially engaged artistic strategies still engender debate and elicit much
antagonism, and not simply amongst tradionalist or formalist artworld aficionados. Serious
tensions exist internally within the field; between various critical advocates and theorists of
this art, between artists and theorists and between artists and the paradigms, structures,
hierarchies and procedures of the artworld, the art and cultural institutions.
In this thesis I wish to examine these tensions, contentions and contradictions that are
characterising and affecting this entire field and area of artistic practice. To examine the
critical, theoretical discourses that have been developed by formal members of the academic
cultural institutions, to help understand and establish how the such practices are being
understood, through their definition in and by the establishments of the cultural world
. I will consider demonstrations of institutional artworld acceptance of this socially-engaged
trend, examining steps measures and models that have been developed to adopt, embrace,
cater for, and present these practices within the physical and discursive spaces of the
institutional bodies of the artworld. I shall also examine, how artists are affected by these
attentions and interactions, and their responses to them.
My first chapter shall aim to provide a clearer picture of what these practices consist of and
what characterises these practices. In this chapter I shall undertake to examine some of the
key critical, and theoretical texts that have been written and become key in the discussions
and discourses pertaining to this field of socially engaged or participatory art. I hope, in this
6
chapter, to help to define what constitutes the understanding of socially engaged art practice,
by exploring the academic theorisation and problems in this area of discourse.
In chapter two I wish to examine the relatively recent moves, and attempts by players within
the worlds of gallery and museum institutions to embrace and adopt participatory art
practices.
7
Chapter 1
Considering the Discursive Context:
The Theories of “Social” Art.
“Socially-engaged” or “participatory” art has been gathering increasing respect and
recognition in recent discourses of cultural production. This art is an emergent and ascending
force in the mainstream consciousness of cultural participants, but just what kind of practices
and values do terms such as “socially engaged” represent? In the schools of critical cultural
discourse, contrasting and frequently antagonistic approaches have accompanied attempts to
classify the trend.
In this chapter my aim is to establish a general understanding of the characteristics and
objectives common to much of this “socially engaged” artistic field. However at the outset it
is important also to acknowledge that there are fundamental differences and variations in the
artistic and theoretical values that distinguish various types of “participatory” art. These
differences have complicated the field of “participatory” art and have led to the confusion and
conflation of certain artistic praxes. In order to examine these differences I intend to turn to
the discourse that surrounds this wide ranging field of practice. By examining works of
critical theory I hope to identify some of the main differences and tensions that exist between
various forms of practice, doing so I hope shall also allow a clearer picture of what defines
“socially engaged” art to emerge. Focusing on theoretic works that have become
instrumental to the development of the critical reasoning that is shaping the thinking and
8
approach of both artists and institutional bodies, I intend to construct a brief comparative
study of the major works of curator and critic Nicolas Bourriaud and the academic theorist
Grant H. Kester.
The field and scope of “socially engaged” art is vast. It is not limited to any one form, style or
method. Many artists over the last twenty years have been making work that is increasingly
responding to the social conditions that shape the way people exist in the world. The range of
issues addressed by artists is as varied and complex as the socio-political conditioned
experiences of everyday life. The strategies used to address these issues differ entirely from
artist to artist.
Many forms of art corralled in this area of production claim ostensibly to stand in opposition
to the hegemony of capitalist culture and incumbent consumer values. Efforts are made to
subvert traditional models of artistic production and consumption. Often this subversion
involves a radical reimagining of the function of gallery space, for some artists the
involvement of a gallery is eschewed entirely in favour of direct intervention in an alternative
public environment. 6 Often contributing to this desire to subvert rarefied codes of
institutional practice, is the aspiration to bridge class and cultural barriers that many perceive,
historically, fine art has presented. Artists attempt to circumvent an elitist fine art by adopting
models of engagement, interaction or participation that redress the opaque or evasive
qualities of preceding modernist and post-modernist art forms. The attempt to find points of
reference in the “everyday” is a common feature. This concern with the everyday can trace its
origins to the theoretical work of Henri Lefebvre and the Situationist International, their
6
Lynn Frogget, Robert Little, Alastair Roy, Leah Whitaker, “New Model Arts Institutions and Public
Engagement, Research Study; Headline Findings”, University of Central Lancashire, Psychosocial Research
Unit,
http://www.bluedrum.ie/documents/Newmodelartsorganisationsandpublicengagementemergentfindings.pdfDow
nloaded …, p. 2 - 3
9
tenant, the unification of the production of art with life “directly lived” 7, even if not directly
referenced by all artists, correlates with the socio-political outlook of many socially engaged
practices.
A collective concern with social relationships (economic, cultural political, race, age etc.) is
another key interest across the fields of social art, as such most “socially engaged” art pieces
involve some aspect of human interaction or communication. It is this characteristic that has
provided the basic conceptual outset in the theoretical works of the curator-critic Nicolas
Bourriaud and the academic theorist Grant H. Kester. Each of these writers has generated
theories premised on the aesthetic value of conversation that is produced in the course of, or
as a result of an artistic practice. Both writers contend that by being produced conversation
becomes a subject worthy of aesthetic contemplation and analysis. Bourriaud and Kester both
value and champion artistic practices that allow for or facilitate a production, of conversation
or dialogue, between multiple parties; however their theoretical approaches and the artistic
practices they foreground are very different. Their theories in fact illustrate a major divide
between two major types of “participatory” or “engaged” practice.
“Relational Aesthetics”, written by the curator and theorist Nicholas Bourriaud, represented
the first attempt to explore and define a growing trend of interactive art often based on
models of alternative artistic exchange. For Bourriaud this exchange featured some element
of an inter-personal interaction. Bourriaud labelled this trend “relational art”, “an art taking as
its theoretical the realm of human interactions and its social context,” 8. He defined
“relational” as “a factor of sociability and a founding principal of dialogue” 9. “Relational” art
7
Guy Debord, Donald Nicholson-Smith,(trans.), “The Society of the Spectacle”. New York: Zone Books
(1995), p. 12
8
Nicolas Bourriaud, “Relational Aesthetics”, Dijon: Les presses du reel (1998, French. 2002, English), p. 14
9
Ibid., p. 15
10
as described by Bourriaud encourages” immediate discussion” 10 , individuals become
participants and an element in the realisation of an artwork in which they are encouraged to
make a direct face-to-face contact and engage in, ideally, a direct conversation. This art
ideally creates a space that is apart from and opposes a socio-economic environment
otherwise dominated by empty modes of communication. 11
Bourriaud’s text aimed to identify and define the artistic value of non-object based ‘relational
practices’. 12 The most convincing example of such a practice referenced by Bourriaud in
“Relational Aesthetics” is created by the artist Rirkrit Tiravanija. Tiravanija’s signature work,
involves cooking for groups of people, within a gallery setting. The meals he cooks are
served, and the visitors invited to enjoy a free meal. What both Tiravanija and Bourriaud
have identified as the object of significant value in this mode of work is not the food
produced, but the conversation that is generated and the convivial social space that the
sharing of food facilitates.
10
Ibid., p. 16
Ibid. p. 17
12
Ibid., pp. 20 - 23
11
11
(Image 1.) Rirkrit Tiravanija, “Untitled 1990 (Pad Thai)”.
At the Project Room, Paula Allen Gallery, New York, NY, 1990.
(Image 2.) Rirkrit Tiravanija, “Untitled (Pad See-ew) 1990/2002”.
At the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2002.
12
Bourriaud’s aesthetic theory claims that works such as Tiravnija’s present “a state of
encounter” 13 that establish, “ways of living and models of action within the existing real”. 14
However these “models” are subject to particular aesthetic criteria, they should conform to a
materialist “form” 15. This form relates to a “coherent unit, a structure… which shows the
typical features of a world” 16. These “relational worlds” for Bourriaud can exist only in “a
space partly protected from the uniformity of behavioural patterns” 17, the perceived
hegemony of the real world. Bourriaud advocates the creation of “micro-utopias” 18 , intimate
worlds that not so much undermine as escape the hegemonic isolation of contemporary social
structures. Bourriaud demands that these micro worlds, contained within galleries and
museums, create “a specific ‘arena of exchange’” 19 and “sociability” 20 that “must be judged
on the basis of aesthetic criteria” 21, criteria such as form, symbolic value and image.
Much criticism has been levelled at Bourriaud and his theoretic model for its retreat from
reality and what amounts to its refusal to consider the world beyond the gallery walls. 22 In an
article entitled “Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics” Claire Bishop critiques Bourriaud’s
failure to address the serious socio-political issues and antagonistic realities of intersubjective relations. 23 For Bourriaud, the practices and the goals of “relational art” remain
ultimately aesthetically disinterested, more concerned with the symbolic form and poetic
choreography of a gesture or event. In the work of relational artists such as Rirkrit Tiravanija
the generation of simplistic face-to-face conversation or a “convivial” exchange, is a
sufficient aim. Bourriaud remains largely uninterested in the potential that this ‘conversation’
13
Ibid., p. 18
Ibid., p. 13
15
Ibid., pp. 18 - 19
16
Ibid., p. 19
17
Ibid., p. 09
18
Ibid., p. 31
19
Ibid., p. 18
20
Ibid, p. 15
21
Ibid., p. 18
22
Ibid., p. 31
23
Claire Bishop, “Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics”, October110, Fall (2004) pp. 67 - 68
14
13
could possess to enact the possibility of change or action in the ‘real’ world, he even seems to
suggest that attempts to do so, to be ”directly” critical” 24, may be disparaged as “futile” 25.
His outlook represents in truth a reiteration of an inward-looking, self-reflexive
postmodernism, he is content to oversee self-serving “microtopias”, isolated islands of a
certain cultural consensus and conviviality.
The theoretical work of the academic Grant H. Kester represents a very different approach to
the understanding of ‘social art’ and a very different view of its role and possibilities. Grant
Kester’s book “Conversation Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art”, also
endeavours to build a paradigm of aesthetic appraisal based on verbal exchange. However the
“dialogical conversations” that Kester discusses are far are more complex and politically
charged than Bourriaud’s affable relational affairs.
Kester assumes to undertake a careful and conscientious study of a “dialogical art”, which he
identifies as an art that generates projects that “share a concern with the creative facilitation
of dialogue and exchange” in which “the conversation becomes an integral part of the
work” 26. The premise seems similar to Bourriaud’s aesthetic approach, however unlike
Bourriaud, Kester envisions these conversations as actions with the possibility of “creating a
framework for empathetic identification” 27 and from this empathetic understanding
developing further “into a set of positive practices directed toward the world beyond the
gallery walls” 28 For Kester “dialogic” art practices have a definite aim of enacting,
facilitating or catalysing change or transformation within ‘real-world’ social/political
structures. Generally, the artists he endorses are involved in practices that take steps to
24
Nicolas Bourriaud “Relational Aesthetics”, Dijon: Les presses du reel (2002, English) p. 31
Ibid.
26
Grant H. Kester, “Conversation Pieces; Community and Communication in Modern Art”, Berkeley:
University of California Press (2004), p. 09
27
Ibid. p. 183
28
Ibid., p.09
25
14
interact or collaborate with social bodies, communities or groups that may be understood as
often falling outside the traditional constituencies of artworld audiences.
Kester acknowledges that ‘dialogic’ models of practice have been challenged and denounced
by “traditional critics”. 29 Kester illuminates that his intentions in undertaking this study
embody an effort to counter these challenges and qualify discourse based practices as viable
and valuable art. In order to do this Kester deems it necessary to develop a new “aesthetic and
theoretical paradigm” 30. In developing this paradigm, Kester considers the models of
aesthetic evaluation developed by formalist exponents of both modernism and
postmodernism, regarding them as intellectualised constructs that shrouded the art object in
layers of inscrutable meaning. He suggests that the emphasis on these models lead to an elitist
mystification of art in cultural institutions. Kester goes on to argue that this taciturn attitude is
in fact removed from aesthetic thought as it was first conceived. Kester claims that aesthetic
models, as conceived by early modern philosophers, such as Kant, in fact supported ideals of
“potential communicability” 31, the potential of aesthetic experience to catalyse new insights
or modes of thought. 32 Via the combination of this premise, with critical theories from the
fields of social theory and ethics, Kester proceeds to develop an alternative, hybrid aesthetic
theory.
The artistic practices that Kester discusses span a spectrum of artistic practices. Projects by
artists such as the British Stephan Willats 33 who works with the residents of high rise flats
aim to develop a “a critical community consciousness” 34 and build a mutual critical
understanding of their collaborator’s surroundings through creative projects, without taking
any further steps. Other artists use such creative, communal projects as steps in building a
29
Ibid., p. 13
Ibid., p. 12
31
Ibid., p. 89
32
Ibid., p. 90
33
Ibid., pp. 91 - 97
34
Ibid., p. 174
30
15
form of collective solidarity, unity or understanding that can become a politicised voice with
enough power to challenge social or political hierarchies and campaign for physical or
procedural changes, achieving “concrete interventions” 35 within the spaces and fabric of
wider socio-political society. An example of this type of practice could be the Viennese artist
collective, WochenKlausur whose practice centres on realising through consultation with
various social organisations and representatives small but “concrete interventions” in the
social/political world of the localities they are invited to as artists. 36 ******** Though these
practices seem to span a wide gap in praxis, according to Kester they are linked by certain
attributes and characteristics important to “dialogical” practice.
In “dialogic” practices the artists empathetic and contextually sensitive understanding of the
area and people with whom they are working are of vital importance. For “dialogic” projects
to be realised artists must have a willingness to allow both themselves and the project to be
open and receptive to the influence and the specific needs of their collaborators 37. According
to Kester the ideal “dialogic” work should create a “discursive framework” 38 with the ability
to “catalyse understanding…and sustain an ongoing process of empathetic identification” 39.
In order to facilitate such a sustained process, and to build a rounded understanding of a
social context, Kester emphasises a relative importance for the “dialogic” artist to be present
and integrated in the world and reality of their collaborators. Some level of a committed
integration on the part of the artist is essential in order to achieve the environment of mutual
35
Ibid., p. 174
WochenKlausur, Artist Collective, Vienna, http://www.wochenklausur.at/methode.php?lang=en Accessed
31.09.13
37
Grant H. Kester “Conversation Pieces; Community and Communication in Modern Art”, Berkeley: University
of California Press (2004) p. 175
38
Ibid., p. 11
39
Ibid., p. 118
36
16
and reciprocal learning and participation that is necessary to create the empathetic and intersubjective nature 40of a “dialogic artwork”. 41
In Kester’s theoretical paradigm the achievement of a “concrete outcome”, a tangible
intervention in the socio-political field, while not absolutely necessary, is a valuable aim in a
“dialogical” project. Kester’s theory also expresses a particular preference for the type of
participant or collaborator that should be partnered with by artists creating “dialogic”
projects. Kester favours the inclusion/participation of “politically coherent communities”,
these according to Kester, are communities or groups that have come to establish themselves
and are united by a shared interest in a common social or political issue. Kester’s reasoning
for favouring such communities stems from an opinion that such communities may be less
likely to be instrumentalised by the authorial force of artists less open to reciprocal creation. 42
This concern surrounding the insrumentalisation of participant collaborators is of widespread
interest across the fields of discourse surrounding socially engaged arts.
Many of the artists that Kester discusses in terms of their “dialogic” practices have already
been practicing under prior existing labels such as “socially engaged art”, “community-based
art”, “activist art”, “littoral art”, “new genre-public art”. Most of these practices represent
very different artistic praxes to those that Bourriaud dealt with under the heading of
“relational” aesthetics. Those artists that Bourriaud identifies as relational artists, remain the
central authors and architects of their works, works which often assemble symbolic aesthetic
gestures, which serve to facilitate the realisation and fulfilment of their own individual
symbolic artistic metaphor 43.This symbolic expression is very often dependant on the context
and environs of the ideological ‘purity’ of the exhibition space of the cultural institution for
40
Ibid., p.151
Ibid., p. 151
42
Ibid., p. 150
43
Nicolas Bourriaud “Relational Aesthetics”, Dijon: Les presses du reel (2002, English) p. 17
41
17
its realisation, presentation and reception. The majority of “dialogic” (etc.) artists aim to
engage non artworld publics and in order to do this many practice beyond walls of the
gallery. Many “dialogic” or “socially engaged” artists desire to challenge cultural/social
norms, structures, practices and hegemonic forces in the “real world”. These artists unite
activist values with artistic ideals and a new range of artistic skills and strategies, striving
towards “concrete” outcomes.
It is highly useful to recognise the faults, drawbacks, and miss-readings of these aesthetic
theories texts. Bourriaud’s “Relational Aesthetics”, represents a substantial misreading in the
discursive field of participatory and social art. Though the theory is often cited in context of
debates on ‘socially engaged art’, and assumed to be a contribution to the development of
social art theory, when surmised in context texts such as Kester’s, it becomes clear that
Bourriaud’s artistic philosophy is considerably different to the philosophies of “social
engagement” or “community based” art.
Kester’s work I feel also signifies a troubling propensity in the discourses of socially engaged
art. Kester’s is a work of justification. In response to the sceptical attitudes expressed by
some critics, he has responded in a manner that adheres to their accustomed academic
expectations in order to achieve validation. It is easy to argue that this work satisfies an
institutional impulse that needs to assimilate these divergent artistic trends within pre-existing
formalised institutional frameworks.
I sense an inherent danger in an irony that on hindsight seems to permeate Kester’s work, for
though his theory encourages balanced and potentially open forms of communication, the
very application of aesthetics, I find an unsettling concept. Despite Kester’s claims, the
school of aesthetics has long supressed any contemplation of the influences of transformative
socio-political contexts in an art work, and instead stands as an academic system that aspires
18
to apply formal mensurability to the experiences of art. The treatment of the subject of a
socially engaged art in the terms of schools of academic aesthetic theory and rhetoric could, I
fear, pose the threat of a consequent re-mystification of previously relatively unconstrained
and organic trends in social art production.
The texts explored briefly here have served to introduce some of the main personalities
associated with the schools of critical assessment and dialogue in socially engaged practice. It
allowed a brief introduction to some of the key concepts and concerns of these theorists. A
grasp of these basic concepts is needed to fully comprehend the conditions that are shaping
the roles and trajectories of social practices. Concepts such as the amalgamation of aesthetic,
ethical and social theory, as illustrated by Kester are useful to understand as this is the
academic rhetoric that has formed the backbone to the operations and discourses of certain
artistic cultural institutions.
By creating a brief survey of arguments and counter-arguments that have attempted to
demarcate the principals and boundaries of this art, my hope is also that this chapter will
provide a foundation, upon which subsequent chapters can examine the relationship between
these works of critical theory, the institutions and the extended community of artistic
practitioners. I hope that this chapter will establish a contextual basis which allows for further
consideration of the symbiotic relationship and mutual dependencies that exist between these
institutions and those involved in the wider fields of ‘socially engaged’ cultural production.
19
Chapter 2
“New Institutionalism”
The “New Institution” and its Relationship with Social Art.
“New Institutionalism”; “the buzzword of current European curatorial discourse” 44,
according to an essay written by critic Claire Doherty, “classifies effectively a field of
curatorial practice, institutional reform and critical debate concerned with the transformation
of art institutions from within. …” 45. Doherty surmises that it;
“embraces a dominant strand of contemporary art practice – … [and] responds to (…
even …assimilates) the working methods of artistic practice and furthermore, artistrun initiatives, whilst maintaining a belief in the gallery, museum or art centre (and
by association their buildings) as a necessary locus of (or platform for) art.” 46
This institutional movement, which aspires to create new formats for the presentation and
facilitation of a public engagement with art, might appear to offer a natural and symbiotic
home for artists interested in socially-engaged, collaborative or participatory art. However,
for artists interested in exploring these areas of alternative artistic action, there are underlying
issues inherent to “New Model Arts Institutions” 47 as arenas of cultural dissemination. These
44
Claire Doherty, "New Institutionalism and the Exhibition as Situation," in Protections Reader, ed. Adam
Budak Graz: Kunsthaus Graz (2006) p. 1
45
Ibid. p. 1
46
Ibid. p. 1
47
Frogget, Lynn Little, Robert Roy, Alastair Whitaker, Leah “New Model Arts Institutions and Public
Engagement, Research Study; Headline Findings”, University of Central Lancashire, Psychosocial Research
Unit.
20
issues may have significant bearing upon the ultimate execution or connotations of an artistic
project.
In Part 1 of this chapter I will delineate the development and the features of “New
Institutionalism”, as an ideological and applied undertaking. I shall discuss elements of the
practices of some various “New Model” institutions and shall focus particularly on the Van
Abbemuseum, a Dutch museum under the directorship of ‘new institutional’ curator Charles
Esche. Part 2 will go on to attempt to identify issues that affect the field of “new
institutionalism” and its relationship with socially-engaged artistic practices in more detail. I
shall examine the role and impact of the curator, and consider the influence of contemporary
political environments on the cultural institutions. This discussion will also feature reflections
of the ideological, and socio-historical legacies of the art institution. This chapter shall draw
on the work of several theorists, critics, writers and curators including Claire Doherty, Alex
Farquharson, Miwon Kwon, Carol Duncan and Alan Wallach, Hal Foster, Charles Esche and
Maria Lind. Ultimately I wish to apply these examinations to the question of what impact the
role of the institution has upon the act, function and execution of an art that desires to
challenge and maybe change the way we experience and understand art.
Part 1:
The ideals of New Institutionalism have grown out of the same discourses that surround
socially-engaged, community based, dialogical and relational art that I reviewed in the
previous chapter. In the way that certain artists increasingly began to aim to create works,
projects or events that in some way directly engaged and interacted with their public or
http://www.bluedrum.ie/documents/Newmodelartsorganisationsandpublicengagementemergentfindings.pdf
Downloaded 07.12.11 p. 2
21
audience, certain curators also wished to create cultural environments that might reimagine
the traditionally distanced nature and roles of art institutions. 48
Doherty identifies the trend as having emerged from the convergence of three fundamental
factors. The first was the increasingly frequent development, on the part of artists, of
‘relational’ or ‘socially-engaged’ type working practices during the nineteen-nineties. The
second factor closely linked to this was the parallel professional development of subsequently
influential curators. Some of these curators had close working links with ‘relational’ or
‘engaged’ artists and shared their interest in imagining new ways of approaching art. The
final factor began to emerge around the turn of the century as, particularly across Europe,
increased funding for cultural activities and the construction of new cultural venues became
available to urban regions under schemes of urban renewal, as a result of political desires to
develop the “cultural industries”. 49
By the time new contemporary art and cultural spaces were coming on-line in the early
2000s, a generation of young, internationally networked and mobile curators was coming of
age. Many of these curators had incubated their careers within the globalised and dynamic
environments of international biennales 50, whose temporary nature and “carnival” 51
atmosphere allowed them to be a space where experimental approaches to cultural praxis
could be tested and shared, through novel display formats, dialogical projects, lectures or
symposiums. Some curators had also worked directly with artists and artist groups as they
had been developing participatory or inclusive methods. The curators Charles Esche and
Maria Lind were both deeply involved with independent artist led spaces in the United
48
Alex Farquharson "I curate, you curate we curate…” Art Monthly 9, no. 269 (2003)
Claire Doherty "New Institutionalism and the Exhibition as Situation." In Protections Reader, edited by
Adam Budak. Graz: Kunsthaus Graz (2006) p. 3
50
An example is the experimental and wandering Manifesta biennale. http://manifesta.org/biennials/about-thebiennials/ Accessed 17.04.13. Maria Lind, later of Kunstverein Munchen, co-curated this event in Luxemburg in
1998. http://www.manifesta.org/manifesta2/e/curateur.html Accessed 17.04.13
51
Claire Doherty "Curating Wrong Places... Or Where Have All the Penguins Gone?" In Curating Subjects,
edited by Paul O'Neill. Amsterdam: De Appel (2007). p. 1
49
22
Kingdom, 52 Nicolas Bourriaud built close ties with ‘relational’ artists through self-published
critical projects 53 and curatorial collaborations.
The consolidation of New Institutionalism as a compelling progressive establishment
movement, rather than simply fringe activity, lay in recognition at ‘city hall’ level of the
considerable socio-economic remunerative value of “cultural capital” 54. Such recognition led
to increased investment in cultural infrastructures. As new art spaces were built or revamped,
a slew of impassioned young curators were in prime place to take on newly available
executive roles. These curators found themselves placed in positions where, as part of
innovative new institutional paradigms, they could attempt to emulate and expand the fluid,
dialogic experiences that had characterised the dynamism of biennale events and the
experimentalism of artist led spaces,. A desire emerged to build a reciprocal space, a
platform and support structure for socially engaged and relational art, that could be “part
community centre, part laboratory and part academy”, 55 a “proactive laboratory of social
evolution”. 56
For New Institutional curators the role of activities promoting the exchange of information,
knowledge, understanding and the generation of active communication are as essential as
displaying art. Artist talks, lectures, seminar programmes or symposium events are common
and necessary features for “New Model” 57 institutions. The New Institutional paradigm has
52
Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt “Harnessing the means of Production.” Commissioned by the Office for
Contemporary Art, Norway,New Institutionalism ( 2003).
http://www.shiftyparadigms.org/harnessing_means.htm Downloaded 18.09.13
53
Farquharson, Alex “Bureaux de Change.” Frieze 101, September (2006)
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/bureaux_de_change/ Downloaded 16.09.13
54
Louise C. Johnson “Cultural Capitals: Revaluing The Arts, Remaking Urban Spaces.” Surrey, Ashgate
Publishing (2009)
55
Charles Esche, quoted in Claire Doherty "New Institutionalism and the Exhibition as Situation." In
Protections Reader, edited by Adam Budak. Graz: Kunsthaus Graz (2006) p. 2
56
Ibid. p. 2
57
Frogget, Lynn Little, Robert Roy, Alastair Whitaker, Leah “New Model Arts Institutions and Public
Engagement, Research Study; Headline Findings”, University of Central Lancashire, Psychosocial Research
Unit.
23
centralised and elevated the propagation of information, discussion and audience education,
pursuits which were under traditional curatorial models, activities ancillary to the main
projects of collecting, conserving and displaying objects d’art.
For many of these institutions an interest in active communication is demonstrated through
various strategies and tools, including artist presentations, seminars and discussion groups.
New institutional curators also aspire to imagine other creative methods of facilitating
engagement with the ideals of their space, for instance the in-house publication of selfreflexive theoretical work is a key undertaking for many institutions of this type. Such
publications do not confine themselves to the narrow subject range of a current exhibition,
and “act as separate platforms for a parallel exploration of ideas through interviews and
commissioned essays” 58, which can be circulated and shared, even with audiences unable to
physically attend the art space. At the Kunstverein München, during her directorship there,
the curator Maria Lind initiated the production of a heavily intellectual quarterly journal,
“Kunstverein München Drucksachen” that epitomised this kind of project. 59 The provision of
research spaces or artistic production spaces are another means utilised by “new institutional”
spaces to attempt to facilitate participatory, democratic communication. In the contemporary
art space SALT Galata (formerly Platform Garanti) in Istanbul, under Vasif Kortun, an
extensive archival library of material relating to art, design and cultural theory was opened to
the public. 60 According to SALT’s website the “library’s facilities have been developed … to
reflect SALT’s desire to encourage research, learning and debate” 61.
http://www.bluedrum.ie/documents/Newmodelartsorganisationsandpublicengagementemergentfindings.pdf
Downloaded 07.12.11 p. 1-2
58
Farquharson, Alex “Bureaux de Change.” Frieze 101, September (2006)
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/bureaux_de_change/ Downloaded 16.09.13
59
Alex Farquharson “Is the Pen Still Mightier.” Frieze 92, June/August (2005).
https://www.frieze.com/issue/article/is_the_pen_still_mightier/ Downloaded 16.09.13
60
Farquharson, Alex “Bureaux de Change.” Frieze 101, September (2006)
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/bureaux_de_change/ Downloaded 16.09.13 and; Salt Research webpage,
24
(Image 3.) Kunstverein München, final edition of “Kunstverein München Drucksachen”
under curator Maria Lind. (2004)
(Image 4.) Salt Galata, Salt Istanbul. Public research archives and library.
http://www.saltonline.org/en/#!/en/182/salt-research_break/http://www.saltonline.org/en/#!/en/42/saltgalata_break/ Accessed 11.04.13
61
Salt Research, Istanbul, http://saltonline.org/en/182/ Accessed 11.04.13
25
The art that ‘new institutions’ display and engage with is a key factor in their paraxial
identification. A theoretic recognition of the value that lies in the experience of the active
processes of producing art has influenced a “new institutional” desire for a unification of
production and reception, the energies of creation and contemplation. To this end new
institutional curation solicits art practices “which employ dialogue and participation to
produce event or process-based works, rather than objects for passive consumption” 62. The
works of relational artists, such as Rirkrit Tiravanija, lend themselves easily to inclusion in
new institutional programming strategies, their sociable “micro-utopias” sit well in
experimental gallery spaces.
Though the works of relational artists often speak largely to pre-established art audiences,
most new institutional curators also highly value practices that are more focused on working
in environments, and with audiences beyond those typically engaged by traditional fine arts
institutions. It has become a practice widely perceived to be key to new institutional
approaches 63 to commission or invite artists and art collectives that are “political, sometimes
activist, well networked at a local and international level…[and] self-organised rather than
instrumentalised” 64, to engage in collaborative, inclusive projects with members or groups
from a local community. The activities which constitute these projects can unfold either
within the walls of the institution building itself, or outside the gallery walls in the everyday
spaces and environments of the social partners involved. An example of this type of ‘socially
62
Claire Doherty "New Institutionalism and the Exhibition as Situation." In Protections Reader, edited by
Adam Budak. Graz: Kunsthaus Graz (2006) p. 1
63
Alex Farquharson “Bureaux de Change.” Frieze 101, September (2006).
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/bureaux_de_change/ Downloaded 16.09.13
64
Ibid.
26
engaged’ project guided by the group Oda Projesi and commissioned by Maria Lind at the
Kunsthalle München 65, will be discussed in more detail later in Part 2 of the chapter.
To complete this overview of “New Institutionalism” I wish to look at an institution that
exemplifies many of the principles of the ‘new institutional’ programme. The Van
Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, The Netherlands has been under the directorship of Charles
Esche since 2004. 66 It is interesting to consider that this museum is in fact primarily a
modernist art museum, housing an important collection of modernist works. Before 2004 Van
Abbemuseum might have been comparable to the traditional ‘white cube’ museum model
offered by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where the primacy of the collection is
central to all museum activities and a strong tendency towards a “top-down” 67 pedagogical
approach to the audience can be felt. 68 The institution that Esche has developed however
appears, at first, to be quite different.
Van Abbemuseum’s online homepage offers a telling indication of the museum’s overall
institutional outlook. 69 A rhetoric recalling the spirit of Grant Kester’s ‘dialogic aesthetic’
permeates the organisation’s self-representation;
“The museum has an experimental approach towards art’s role in society. Openness,
hospitality and knowledge exchange are important.” 70
“In the museum the visitors are offered multiple ways for entering into conversation with the
museum.” 71
65
Maria Lind “Actualisation of Space: The Case of Oda Projesi.” in “Contemporary Art from Studio to
Situation.” (ed.) Claire Doherty, London: Black Dog Publishing (2004) pp. 110 - 121
66
Alex Farquharson “Bureaux de Change.” Frieze 101, September (2006).
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/bureaux_de_change/ Downloaded 16.09.13
67
Ibid.
68
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, “MoMA > Learn”, http://www.moma.org/learn/index Accessed
06.05.13
69
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/about-us/ Accessed 18.04.13
70
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, “About us”, http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/about-us/ Accessed 18.04.13
27
Van Abbemuseum under Esche has reimagined the function of some of the features that
structure the basic interface between the art institution and visitors, in “an attempt to create a
new channel of communication with our visiting public”. 72 Stating that, “At the Van
Abbemuseum we like a good conversation” 73, the institution invites potential visitors to
approach museum staff for “a chat about art” 74. Their floor-staff combine the functions of
invigilators and tour guides. The intended approachability of this staff alters the potential of a
visitor’s interaction with the gallery space, offering perhaps the opportunity for a less
introspective, internalised gallery experience and one more openly shared and articulated.
The alteration of a second basic structural feature at the Van Abbemuseum, continues the
“attempt to create a new channel of communication” 75 with visitors. Though logistically a
small change, this ‘new institutional’ alteration in a modernist museum represents a
somewhat quietly radical gesture. As part of a long term project, “The Curious Museum…” is
an initiative that allows visitors to interact and engage directly with artworks on display and
intervene in the institutional space. 76 “The Curious Museum…” project invites visitors to
write their own thoughts on the once sacred wall of the museum. Visitor members can attach
‘tags’ to the title cards of works, on which they are welcomed to record in keywords their
responses to a piece. In this way viewers’ cognitive responses are made visible and hence,
according to Van Abbemuseum, “become a platform for enthusiastic exchange between
artists, curators and visitors.” 77 The project will archive the ‘tagged’ responses in conjunction
71
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, “The Curious Museum ”, http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/browseall/?tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bptype%5D=29&tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bproject%5D=704&cHash=40c97a2063
Accessed 18.04.13
72
Ibid.
73
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, ‘Learn and Experience’, http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/learn-andexperience/conversations-in-the-museum/ Accessed 15.05.13
74
Ibid.
75
Ibid.
76
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, “The Curious Museum…”, http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/browseall/?tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bptype%5D=29&tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bproject%5D=704&cHash=40c97a2063
Accessed 18.04.13
77
Ibid.
28
with the museum’s “collection online” system. 78 In this way the opinions and contributions
of museum visitors will become a part of the museum’s official theoretical discourses This
type of active inclusivity marks a significant departure from traditional institutional practices,
and displays a type of dialogical production that epitomises ‘new institutionalism’.
(Image 3.) and (Image 4.) Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. “The Curious Museum…”,
research project. Response ‘tags’ attached to museum title cards.
Of course ‘new institutional’ ideals penetrate deeper in Van Abbemuseum than basic surface
gestures. Very important to the museum’s mission statement under Charles Esche is the
conception of “The Museum as Network”;
“Our ambitions as a museum are not confined to within our walls but extend well beyond
them. …. we take part in external projects together with other institutes, initiatives and
78
Ibid.
29
individuals. In effect, we form part of a national and international network of players in the
contemporary art world.” 79
Van Abbemuseum has also endeavoured to engage with parties that lie outside the usual
scene of the “contemporary art world”. The institutions website claims that the museum has
made efforts to integrate itself into its local context and social environment;
“as the museum has expanded its network in Eindhoven, it has managed to set up projects for
neighbourhoods, schools, and youth groups, as well as workshops for businesspeople.” 80
The two major aspects of ‘new institutional’ engagement are illustrated in these statements.
The first statement surmises what is a more usual art institutional configuration. It comprises
of the interaction of players largely from the “cultural industries” or “creative
industries” 81including, but not limited to, artists, curators, academics, other museum
institutions, publishers, libraries, archives or universities. 82 Van Abbemuseum is interested in
“engage[ing] in projects – often long-term in character – aimed at raising understanding and
provoking discussion of contemporary art in relation to the world at large.” 83 Such projects
can include research programmes, joint exhibition ventures, publishing projects, artistic or
intellectual workshops and conferences, and curator and artist exchanges and residencies. 84 A
strong emphasis on international exchange reflects the globalised and mobile nature of the
established contemporary artworld. These projects can tend to be largely self-reflexive and
79
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, “The Museum as Network”, http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/network-anddebate/ Accessed 18.04.13
80
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, “The New Studio”, http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/browseall/?tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bptype%5D=29&tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bproject%5D=706&cHash=6c6d3edfe9
Accessed 15.05.13
81
Louise C. Johnson “Cultural Capitals: Revaluing The Arts, Remaking Urban Spaces.” Surrey, Ashgate
Publishing (2009) pp. 8 -9
82
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, “Networks”, http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/network-and-debate/networks/
Accessed 15.05.13
83
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, “The Museum as Network”, http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/network-anddebate/ Accessed 18.04.13
84
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, “Networks”, http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/network-and-debate/networks/
Accessed 15.05.13
30
often a familiarity with cultural institutional theory and a measure of personal “cultural
capital” 85 is necessary for a full and meaningful participation.
The second type of engagement typifies the “socially-engaged” face of the ‘new model arts
institution”. A desire to enact a “local” engagement reflects a ‘new institutional’ interest in
left leaning social theory and politics. By immersing itself in local activities the institution is
attempting to anchor itself in a local consciousness and by doing so perhaps hoping to
propagate the perception of the art institution as a democratic, egalitarian space. Van
Abbemuseum illustrates this approach by declaring an objective to reach out to those who
might usually be intimidated by fine art and contemporary art through the museum’s
inclusive rhetoric and through special inclusive projects. 86
However despite these egalitarian objectives, there remain discrepancies between the ideals
of “new institutionalism” and the practical realities of running and organising the institutional
space. In the case of Van Abbemuseum despite the claims of experimentation and openness,
there seems to be a disconnect between the museum’s programmes that engage, on one hand,
the “national and international network of players in the contemporary art world” 87 and on a
seemingly smaller scale its local “network”. Based on a more detailed scrutiny of the
museums’ catalogue of projects 88, there seems to be minimal cross-over between these two
strands of activity and engagement. If the “new institution” was to be a “proactive laboratory
85
Pierre Bourdieu and Alain Darbel, (extract from) “The Love of Art; European Art Museums and their Public”
in “Art in Modern Culture: An Anthology of Critical Texts”, Francis Frascina,; Jonathan Harris , (eds.). London:
Phaidon Press (1992) pp. 177-178
86
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, “The New Studio”, http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/browseall/?tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bptype%5D=29&tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bproject%5D=706&cHash=6c6d3edfe9
Accessed 15.05.13
87
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, “The Museum as Network”, http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/network-anddebate/ Accessed 18.04.13
88
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven,
http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/browseall/?tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bptype%5D=29&tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bproject
%5D=1&cHash=3e51305422ab11f2c1bedbfa343e2972 Accessed 03.08.13
31
of social evolution” 89 , where traditional models and hierarchies of institutional paradigms are
transformed, would not a greater level of creative interaction between artworld and nonartworld players allow the kind of reciprocal and mutually enlightening experiences that
Kester discussed in his theory, and that the museum’s rhetoric appears to advocate?
Part 2
The disconnection between international artworld networking and local engagement might be
reflecting historical structures of the cultural institution, and also their inherent ideological
issues. Since their early evolution museums and galleries have been largely the purlieu of the
learned or upper classes. Art museums were not made open to the general public until the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries 90, at which point they were becoming understood as
institutions that could serve to fulfil a function of moral and civic pedagogy for the citizenry
of the city or state. 91 There is a question as to whether “new institutions” rather than
challenging and transforming these underlying ideologies are in fact reiterating them despite
their apparently altered approaches. Is it the case that institutions such as Van Abbemuseum
instead of truly realising a “social evolution” 92, are engendering strategies that result in a
cultural assimilation of marginalised social demographics under long-standing hegemonic
systems and hierarchies?
Many art critics and theorists have problematised the practices of “socially-engaged” and
“community-based” artists, as potentially exploitative especially of these marginalised
‘communities’. The critic Hal Foster has commented that artists can fail to recognise their
position of privilege and power, as culturally, and institutionally sanctioned specialists, in
89
Claire Doherty "New Institutionalism and the Exhibition as Situation," in Protections Reader, ed. Adam
Budak Graz: Kunsthaus Graz (2006) p. 2
90
Carol Duncan and Alan Wallach “The Universal Survey Museum” in “Museum Studies: An Anthology of
Contexts.” Bettina Messias Carbonell (ed.) Oxford. Blackwell Publishing (2004) pp. 55 - 59
91
Carol Duncan “Civilising Rituals: Inside Public Art Museums.” Oxford, Routledge (1995) pp. 13 - 15
92
Claire Doherty "New Institutionalism and the Exhibition as Situation," in Protections Reader, ed. Adam
Budak Graz: Kunsthaus Graz (2006) p. 2
32
relation to non-artworld participants. He criticises artists whose projects effect “only limited
engagement of the community” 93 and in which the artist remains insensitive to the ideology
of their position. Such projects he suggests can display a “sociological condescension” 94, in
which the artist’s collaborators become subjects, presented in a “neo-primitivist guise” 95 to
the institution and its artworld visitors.
Kester has noted how artists are accused of cynically using “communities” in order to
“empower [themselves] politically, professionally and morally.” 96 Though there are artists
that could be accused thusly, many artists interested in socially-engaged practices are
troubled by such implications. However the academic Miwon Kwon, in her study of “new
genre public art”, has drawn attention to the “often unacknowledged” 97, but fundamentally
influential role of the curator and sponsoring institution over the form and realisation of
socially-engaged or community-based art projects. In response to criticism, such as that of
Foster and Kester, Kwon advises that “what looks... like an artist’s ethnographic selffashioning… [or] the kind of reductive and equalizing association drawn between an artist
and a community group is not always the work of a self-aggrandising, pseudo-altruistic artist
but rather a fashioning of the artist by institutional forces” 98
The curator has considerable influence in the “triangulation (of power) between the artist, the
sponsoring institution and the chosen community group” 99. As the creator and gatekeeper of
their institutional organisation’s ideals and values curators are in the position to select the
artists they will commission, invite or accept. They have the power to decide which project
93
Hal Foster “The Artist as Ethnographer” in “Participation. Documents of Contemporary Art”, Claire Bishop
(ed.) London/Cambridge, Whitechapel/MIT Press (2008) p. 76
94
Ibid.
95
Ibid.
96
Grant H. Kester “Conversation Pieces; Community and Communication in Modern Art”, Berkeley: University
of California Press (2004) p. 148
97
Miwon Kwon “One Place the Other: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity”, Massachusetts: MIT Press
(2002) p. 124
98
Ibid. p. 140
99
Ibid. p. 136
33
proposals they will accept, or reject, based on their correlation with their organisations values
and outlook. Curators can have the role of deciding whether projects will be realised outside
or inside gallery spaces and where and how projects might be presented, or re-presented, to
gallery audiences. Curators decide upon the timescales available to artists for the duration of
projects, and how to fit them within the overall programming of the organisation. It is also the
case that the curator can select or predetermine the ‘community’ a “socially-engaged” artist
will work with when invited to the institution.
Kwon highlights such practices with the example of the 1993 “Culture in Action” programme
organised by the ‘New Model’ commissioning body Sculpture Chicago with curator MaryJane Jacob. 100 In the organisation of this project Kwon describes how the curator and the
organisation were instrumental in establishing, mediating and facilitating connections
between local social issue groups and non-local artists.101 She elucidates how in such
situations artists can “find themselves assigned to a certain community group…or be given a
list of groups to choose from” 102, such curatorial assignation can result in pairings that are
essentialised or stereotypical. 103 Kwon reports how such curatorial approaches during the
planning stages of “Culture in Action” caused the artist Rachel Green to withdraw entirely
from the project, unhappy with how the institution was delimiting her interests and her
potential work. 104 Kwon also reports how the curator rejected other artists as she felt their
proposals didn’t match with the objectives of her visions for the project. 105 This can be seen
to illustrate how curators will select the project that transmits the image they wish to convey
100
Ibid. pp. 100 - 103
Ibid. pp. 121 - 122
102
Ibid. p. 122
103
Ibid. p. 141
104
Ibid. p. 140
105
Ibid. pp. 124 -125
101
34
to their audiences. In this way both artists and community groups, can become
appropriated 106 as subjects in the institution’s overall grand project
Of course, the institutional organisation is also subject to political interests and pressures. In
our neo-liberal societies art institutions, particularly when in receipt of public funding, are
certainly increasingly expected, by their financial backers, to be seen to provide justification
for cultural expenditure. 107 Evidence is suggesting that increasingly civil political bodies are
calling for cultural organisations to demonstrate an engagement with the general (nonartworld) society. For institutions, commissioning socially-engaged or community-based
projects are a way to comply with such demands. However political bodies tend to have a
certain vision of social-engagement, one in which art is seen as a potentially “therapeutic or
correctional interaction” 108 which will promote “’social inclusion’…within society as an
integrated whole”. This view is directly comparable with the Enlightenment view of the art
museum as an institution capable of ‘integrating’ the socially marginalised with the values of
the civic hegemony in a unified society. It is also in part a view that has led to the political
endorsement of the use of culture as an agent of urban regeneration.
The type of art favoured by political bodies tends to lean towards rhetoric of social healing or
spiritual rejuvenation, and critics have noted that it is this art that often veers towards a
simplification of communities and social issues 109, rather than becoming an art in which a
social critique is explored bilaterally by artists and non-artist collaborators. Critics and artists
have pointed out how this type of art is often being encouraged, in political climates where
106
Ibid. p. 139
“Not in Our Name”, Artist collective, Hamburg, quoted in “Art in Slack Spaces.” by Annette Moloney,
Limerick, Self –published, (2010) p. 15
108
Editorial for Grant Kester “Dialogical Aesthetics: A Critical framework for Littoral Art.” Variant 9, Varient
Supplement: Socially Engaged Practice Forum. Winter (1999-2000).
http://www.variant.org.uk/9texts/KesterSupplement.html Downloaded 06.12.11 p.1
109
Grant Kester “Dialogical Aesthetics: A Critical framework for Littoral Art.” Variant 9, Varient Supplement:
Socially Engaged Practice Forum. Winter (1999-2000).
http://www.variant.org.uk/9texts/KesterSupplement.html Downloaded 06.12.11 p. 6 - 8
107
35
progressive public social support services have been cut back and/or ‘farmed out’ to private
agencies and contractors. In this climate the cultural institution can risk becoming analogous
to a compensatory social service agency and the art it commissions a conciliatory but
“ineffectual social work” 110.
How extensively this becomes the case depends on the level to which curators’ outlooks
concur with the conciliatory desires of political echelons. Mary Jane Jacob of “Culture in
Action” expressed the view that “Public art is now being viewed as a means of stabilising
community development throughout urban centres” even going so far as to claim that “newgenre public art” or social art could “improve[e] society” and go “from enriching lives to
saving lives”. 111 These dramatic claims correlate strongly with governmental beliefs in the
apparent values of social art. However despite these ambitious desires, if the curator is intent
on focusing on arranging projects that are principally motivated by ideals of therapeutic
social healing, without criticality considering the complexity and inequity of ‘reality’,
resultant projects and artistic engagement can remain largely performative, and fail to achieve
any fundamental, or lasting transformative outcome for either artist or their social subjects.
Such conciliatory projects could be considered similar to relational ‘micro-utopias’.
Even if a curator is more aware of the ethical pit-falls of insensitive, simplified approaches to
social participation and is more committed, as a result, to a greater level of critical awareness
in their approach to social art, artists and external social groups, they can still be subject to
the pressures of vested political interests. For instance, the curator Maria Lind, when
discussing the coordination of a project at the Kustverein Munchen, alluded to the authority
of institutional and political hierarchies over the management of the space, and so implicitly
110
Miwon Kwon “One Place the Other: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity”, Massachusetts: MIT Press
(2002) p. 103
111
Mary Jane Jacob quoted in Miwon Kwon “One Place the Other: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity”,
Massachusetts: MIT Press (2002) p.111
36
over the character of the projects undertaken and their subsequent form. Lind suggests her
preference when liaising with socially-engaged art is to “support it in its “natural habitat” ie.
The places from which it springs. [However] This is not usually popular with trustees and
funders who expect things to appear in the exhibition spaces rather than in distant
suburbs” 112. In her discussion of the project in question, it becomes apparent how these
“institutional politics” 113 directly affect the eventual form of the project and the agency of the
artists.
Lind is discussing a project carried out in 2003 in Munchen, in which a Turkish artist group,
Oda Projesi, was invited to Munich under a socially-engaged art scheme. 114 The initial part of
the project consisted of a month long residency for the group in a space in a block of private
flats in a suburban area. The apartments were largely inhabited by Turkish immigrants with
whom the artists began to establish acquaintance. From initial interactions the artists began
engaging and collaborating with their new neighbours in creating events, situations and
projects that explored the understanding of urban spaces and their uses. This way of working
was similar to a long term engagement they were known for in their native Istanbul. The
projects they undertook in the apartment block were not object orientated, rather were
discursive and process based, and were not created with the intention of being presented to an
audience beyond their immediate collaborators.
Nevertheless, intuitional stipulations necessitated that at the end of the month, the artists
should present work in the gallery spaces of Kunstverein Munchen in order for the
institution’s work “to be more visible within the city centre” 115. This subsequent representation of their work consisted of, an approximated reconstruction of their suburban
112
Maria Lind “Actualisation of Space: The Case of Oda Projesi.” in “Contemporary Art from Studio to
Situation.” (ed.) Claire Doherty, London: Black Dog Publishing (2004) p. 120
113
Ibid.
114
Ibid. 115
115
Ibid. p. 120
37
apartment space with documentary photographs and texts relating to projects carried out
during the residency. The artists were not physically present in this exhibition space. Lind
admits that this presentation was deemed “a bit ‘out of place’….. [by] both the general public
and some critics”, Lind herself seems to share reservations about its effectiveness and its
justification. In later self-composed texts the artists have reflected that they themselves were
not pleased or satisfied with this kind of re-presented work, as it does not adequately capture
or express their artistic interest in activating every-day urban spaces and relationships.
Conclusion
“within the community-based art context, the interaction between an artist and a given
community group is not based on a direct, unmediated relationship. Instead it is
circumscribed within a more complex network of motivations, expectations, and projections
among all involved.” 116
Many artists working in the field of social art are unhappy with their delimitation and
instrumentalisation by institutional bodies. They are also deeply troubled by their co-option
into political gambits, that equate to a form of “soft” social engineering” 117 intended to
sanitise troubled ‘urban neighbourhoods, or to diffuse malaise among socially excluded
constituencies.
This has led to some practitioners, such as Oda Projesi, withdrawing from acting with or in
the officially established institutional arena. Such artists are developing new paradigms and
116
Ibid. p. 141
Miwon Kwon “One Place the Other: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity”, Massachusetts: MIT Press
(2002) p. 153
117
38
ways of engaging symbiotically with their social and physical surroundings. The work of
such artists is carving out new ways to model and imagine artistic engagement and action in
the social sphere. It will be interesting to look in the future to the development of their
practices.
In the meantime, as long as the institutions continue to reach out to incorporate socially
engaged practices within their spaces and discourses it is important for artists to ensure they
are fully aware of the implications that working in such spaces can entail.
39
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Witte de With Contemporary Art, Rotterdam http://www.wdw.nl/about/
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