Socially engaged art (S.E.A) is the term used to describe a certain type of collaborative work associated with political or social issues which includes the participation of an audience. Social movements of the 1960’s lead to a greater social engagement with art, this combined with the growing popularity in installation and performance art paved the way for S.E.A to become a widely recognised term.
The reading I studied this week was Paulo Helguera’s ‘Education for Socially Engaged Art’ (2011) which provides a manifesto as such for the art term. The handbook explains the origins and basics of S.E.A, as well as a guide to understanding the characteristics this type of work has.
“While there is no complete agreement as to what constitutes a meaningful interaction or social engagement, what characterizes socially engaged art is its dependence on social intercourse as a factor of its existence” – Paulo Helguera’s ‘Education for Socially Engaged Art’ (2011)
Helguera expresses the importance of audience participation in socially engaged art for it to be validated under this term. Four categories separate the levels of participation:
1. Nominal Participation: Audiences will reflect on a piece of work, participation is minimal but still there.
2. Directed Participation: visitor will complete a simple, directed task to contribute to the art work.
3. Creative Participation: Audiences will provide content for the work which will be directed by the artist but they are allowed their own creative input.
4. Collaborative Participation: visitors will have full responsibility for developing creative content for the artwork.
To summarize: social interaction occupies a central and inextricable part of any socially engaged artwork. SEA is a hybrid, multi-disciplinary activity that exists somewhere between art and non-art, and its state may be permanently unresolved. SEA depends on actual—not imagined or hypothetical—social action.
We also looked at a text by Jeremy Deller , The Battle of Orgreave, (2001)
Here is the link for the re- enactment of the battle and further contextual information.
Questions
What might be the benefits of engaging with others in Art practice?
To collaborate with like minded people. Working through an injustice and understanding the human condition and complexities.
Working with broken communities to understand the past.
Altering peoples perspectives by giving it a louder voice. Expanding peoples boundaries and dispelling the fear of mis-understanding.
The participation of others in a piece of socially motivated art naturally gives it a louder voice; Like a protest, the bigger the audience, the more recognition it will usually get . This is an advantage because the message/ issue the work is trying to communicate will be spread much more than say a ‘static’ piece like a painting. The addition of multiple voices will further strengthen work because it will be more diverse and include the viewpoints of a variety of people, not just the one artist.
What might be the disadvantages of SEA as a way of practicing?
The work may be in poor taste and lack empathy and judgement of the situation.
A disadvantage may be the loss of control the artist has over the work.
Audiences are directed to contribute to the socially engaged art with their own creative input and are given a high level of trust, doing this could result in an unsuccessful outcome if the intended message isn’t voiced correctly, this could happen due to a number of things such as a lack of planning, wrong people participating and misunderstanding the purpose of the work.
Do the principles of SEA have a role to play in your own art practice? If so, how?
I have never explored socially engaged art before in my own practice but understand it much more now after learning about it. At the moment I don’t see myself creating a piece of S.E.A but would always be willing to contribute to a piece. Despite this, the knowledge I have gained on this practice will inform my creative decisions in the future which may involve directing my own socially motivated art.
Actually after writing my essay my painting on canvas is considered nominal participation art. Where the audience is viewing the piece so this is the first stage in the hierarchy of participation.