Thursday, January 6, 2011

Social Practice Artists


WHO ARE THEY? WHAT IS IT?

In the 1990's, artists and curators carried out a revolution in the concept of public art. Suzanne Lacy named it 'New genre public art'. This new genre over sought dominant conventions of traditional object (sculpture) production and leaped into a new public art. The art of engagement, communication and interaction by which artists can reach and engage differentiated audiences. A collaborative process. 
Social Practice Artists are artists whom explore the social roles by developing and utilizing their artistic skill to engage with society. Artists nowadays are paying more attention to audience and are becoming more involved in the process of critical thinking, and society is becoming more socially conscious. I wish to explore these developmental practices and processes and in choosing to write about these artists I am taking a personal stance in selection. It is not meant to privilege these artists but to highlight different artistic approaches and attitudes. They stand as important examples in the use of identity politics, as a critical perspective in the use in and for art.
Social Practice artists tend to work away from the studio, by this I mean working away from the traditional setting of the closed studio door, working out artistic concerns through commodifiable forms. Artists are now taking to the streets, working with communities, working with architects, working with city planning, working with society to provide a better way of thinking and living. Talking, interacting, performing, acting, sharing, giving.  I am not suggesting that social practitioners are saving the world from  almighty social doom but what I am saying is that artists are now part of a cultural revolution, opening doors to society and not sheltered behind the doors of elitist galleries. 
The idea of social practice has been around for some time. Are we now  in a position to historically contextualize it?
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