Artists increasingly work collaboratively with communities using emancipatory, pedagogic, and aesthetic strategies to address local issues. As social practice gains popularity in mainstream art institutions, we face ethical, conceptual and practical challenges regarding how this art is commissioned, authored, documented, and collected.

This course introduces theoretical, disciplinary and political frameworks underpinning contemporary social practice art. You will examine grassroots arts collectives, Indigenous art centres, and avant-garde movements like Situationist International and Dadaism. Key theories include Bourriaud's 'relational aesthetics,' Lacy's 'New Genre Public Art,' and Bruguera's 'Arte Utile.' You will then move on to explore culturally specific community contexts of art practices within Australia and the Asia Pacific region.