Inter-Artistic Identities within the Socio-Political Space
In: Cultural and Ethical Turns: Interdisciplinary Reflections on Culture, Politics and EthicsSearch for other papers by Bello Benischauer in
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ART IN PROCESS is a partnership based in Fremantle, Australia. In our work, we explore relationships between humanity, technology and the natural environment in a socio-political context. We work together across installation, video, new media, performance and live art. This work addresses the notions about how we fit into certain places, what impact we have on our surroundings and what impact the surroundings have on us. The artistic outcome is based on certain explorations through onsite projects (residencies, travel) as well as on a reflection of our own living environment and circumstances. Projects constitute a critical engagement with a number of issues specific to Western, consumer culture and behaviour: our intent is to instigate a change of thinking, a shifting of accommodated world conception within the viewer/participant, in continuously looking for an open dialogue with the public (i.e. through art-interventions, performance art and exhibitions with audio-visual and mixed media installations). The chapter focuses on presenting running projects as well as a compilation of past work based on specific aesthetics concerning socio-political issues, especially the 2009 international project series called Intervention, developed in Salzburg/Austria, Evora/Portugal and Kumasi/Ghana about tapping local resources. The chapter tries to reveal how the frame of Art applies in the social context of the audience and life itself, and how artistic practice should engage with the general public. Questions to be answered: What does it mean to make artistic comments on our world? What triggers them? Why has it become a crucial responsibility for an artist once again to serve as the public voice to the extent to educate and inform the public about issues/ethics that otherwise would go unnoticed or even ignored? This should initiate a thriving discussion about how artists should communicate their ethical ideals in engaging with the broader community through public and participatory projects.