This course will introduce and discuss different socially engaged art projects. It is addressed to curators, artists and cultural workers, who wish to create, organise or develop projects that involve forms of social engagement, where the participants are involved directly in the creative process. Furthermore this course is for those who wish to generate better tools to work in collaborative situations with social groups, communities and publics outside of the art world.
Artists and curators frequently immerse themselves in working with non-art communities, this course will look deeper into positive and negative conclusions that can result from this approach. When working at the intersection of art and social realms the very first question and communication should be: Who benefits from the project and what are the expectations of the project initiator and different participants? We all carry biases and prejudices and we will discuss ways to (self-)reflect on this.
Furthermore, we will give valuable methods and tips on how to balance the project idea with the interests of the intended participants, taking into consideration the ethical and structural aspects of collaboration and focusing on different understandings of empathy, ethics and social justice from a global perspective. The course will contain a few simple practical exercises tailored to challenge your current collaborative tools and put theory into practice.
Week 1: Collaboration and communication.
- Course overview
- Introduction and discussion of different socially engaged artprojects
- Preparations and research.
- Expectations and intentions for cultural worker and participants
- Simple practical collaborative tools and exercises for Week 2
Week 2: Contracts & ethics vs. project idea
- Feedback on Week exercises
- Different tools and approaches for collaboration with non-artinstitutions
- Positive and negative possible outcomes from socially engaged art
- Who benefits from the project and in what way? Different examples and contract samples
Week 3: Documentation vs. project idea.
- Deciding on an approach – roles and behaviour – own vs. participant(s)
- Different examples of approaches to roles
- Ethical, structural aspects and approaches versus a project idea and the needs of participants
- Assignment: Write a social engaged art project in two versions: in art and non-art language
Week 4: Fundraising, Press and After-life.
- What text version to use when
- Making (time) budgets
- In what conceptual way is the project modifiable?
- When and how to follow up on engagements
