Social Practices and the Shifting Discourse: On Collaborative Strategies and ‘Curating the Social’

Abstract

This essay focuses on contemporary art’s increasing incorporation of so-called ‘social practices’ over the past two decades. How are we to regard this moment as social practice has been commented upon more widely, disseminated within critical and curatorial venues, and becomes problematic and challenging in so many respects? What happens when a micro-scaled process-based work is subsumed into the global art economy? How can collectives take advantage of ‘group mind’? What are the distinguishing factors between creative and symbolic representations and ‘actual’ activism? How do social practices function within contemporary curatorial culture? How does an emphasis upon collectivism and participation effect, strain, and potentially expand traditional notions of creative authorship?