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매핑 더 커뮤니티아트_파스칼 길랭
매핑 더 커뮤니티아트_파스칼 길랭
매핑 더 커뮤니티아트 :
새로운 커뮤니티를 형성하는
창조적 에너지
파스칼 길랭
네덜란드 글로닝언 예술대학교
무기력한 예술
14 ❙
2010 International Symposium at Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON
예술이 없는 미학
철학자 파올로 비르노(Paolo Virno)에 의하면 상황주의자들의 예술은 정치운동화 될 때 중요한 의미를 지
니지만 이 순간부터 이들의 예술은 더 이상 전위예술이라 할 수 없다.
타인 관계적 예술은 예술적 자살행위를 유발할 수 있다. 그러나 타인 관계적 예술은 상황주의
자들의 예술 행위가 그들의 자취를 추종했던 행동주의자들을 고무시키는 것을 막을 수는 없었다. 동성애자
운동에서처럼 환경행동주의자나 반세계주의자들 사이에서 유행했던 여권운동에서는 사회적 전복에 집중
하는 코스프레, 연극적 표현과 같은 미적 양식과 만날 수 있다. 특히 표현의 예술적 형식은 소위 ‘정체성 정
치학(identity politics)’에서 사회적 주장을 강화하기 위해 선호되는 방식이다. 사람들은 자신들의 ‘문화적
주관성(cultural subjectivity)’ 을 형성해 나간다. 예들 들어 코스프레와 같은 예술 행위 속에서 새로운 주관
성이 발생한다. 다시 말해 놀이나 미적 행위의 즐거움은 체제전복적 운동의 실질적인 구성요소이다. 스피
노자(Benedictus de Spinoza)를 모방해 철학자 안토니오 네그리(Antonio Negri)와 미카엘 하르트(Michael
Hardt)는 다음과 같이 주장했다.
‘즐거움에 이르는 길은 끊임없이 새로운 가능성을 열어주며 상상력의 영역, 느끼고 감동할 수
있는 능력, 행위나 열정을 위한 역량을 확대시킨다. 스피노자의 사상이 표현했듯이 우리의
감동을 줄 수 있는 능력과 감동할 수 있는 능력 사이에는 유사성이 있다. 사유할 마음의 능력이
더 커질수록 타인의 사고에 의해 감동할 수 있는 우리의 능력도 더 커진다. 행위할 수 있는 몸의
능력이 커질수록 타인의 육체에 감동하는 우리의 능력도 더 커진다.’ (네그리 & 하르트, 2009)
16 ❙
2010 International Symposium at Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON
할 수 있다. 이러한 양상은 후기 상황주의자들과 텝 댄서나 소극의 배우들을 결합시킨다. 그러므로 공모한
대중들은 예술적 목표보다는 다른 목적을 위해 자주 이용된다. 후기상황주의자들과 벤야민 베르동크의 정
치적 행위 사이의 차이가 바로 이러한 양상을 정확히 보여준다.
커뮤니티아트 지도 그리기
는 통합이 가져오는 해방, 즉 우리의 권리나 우리가 겪고 있는 불의를 인식하게 하는 효과적인 전복의 전략
을 이끌어내기 때문이다. 반면 서쪽에는 개인에 대한 숭배나 정체성이 중심에 위치한다. 반면 동양철학, 특
히 불교는 자아를 환영으로 간주한다. 그러므로 서쪽과 동쪽은 자기 관계적, 혹은 타자 관계적 예술이 제자
리를 찾을 수 있는 이상적인 지역이다.
-N-
순응적인
-W- -O-
자기 관계적 타자 관계적
전복적인
-Z-
18 ❙
2010 International Symposium at Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON
주민들은 심지어 무엇이 작품의 재료로 사용되어야 하는지도 알고 있었다. 작품의 재료는 물,
돌, 식물 등과 같은 자연적 요소를 포함해야 했다. 조그는 작품이 사회적으로 선호될 만한 결과를 가져와야
한다고 생각하는 후원자들의 뜻에 따라 결국 사회 통합을 강조하는 작업의 틀을 지키지 않을 수 없었다. 그
는 작품을 완성하는데 10여 년이 걸렸으며 여러 차례 후원자들의 요구와 타협해야만 했다. 예를 들어 지역
주민들이 마음에 품고 있는 시골풍경과 부합하지 않는 재료로 작업해야만 했다. 이 문제와 관련해 그는 간
신히 자신의 결정을 실행에 옮길 수 있었으며 작품에 자신의 표식을 남겼다. 따라서 그의 작품을 보기 위해
프랑스 부르고뉴 지방으로 여행하는 사람들은 이것이 그의 개성이 반영된 기의 진짜 작품임을 인정해야만
‘교도소나 소년원에서 시행하고 있는 ‘교도소 내의 예술’ 형식은 사회개입 형식 이상의 의미를 갖는다.
이는 예방, 개입, 사후갱생 모델이다.…… 이러한 범죄-법무 공동체(criminal-justice community)의
이점은 대체적으로 일관성이 없는 제도에 일관성을 부여한다는 점이다.’ (힐만, 2001)
20 ❙
2010 International Symposium at Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON
그러나 작가가 부리오의 의미에서 대중과의 소통을 적극적으로 추구했는지는 대단히 의문스
럽다. 메이플소프의 사진에는 사진을 찍기 위해 포즈를 취하고 있는 동성애자 무리들을 제외하면 공동체를
암시하는 어떠한 흔적도 발견할 수 없다. 그러므로 그의 작업은 자기 관계적 예술로 간주할 수 있다. 그의
관계 미학은 작가의 사회적 태도에서 발견되기 보다는 그의 사진 자체에서 발견된다. 이러한 미학이 미국
사진작가의 의도에 의해 이루어졌는지 확실치 않지만 그의 작업은 커뮤니티아트를 표현하는 ‘정체성 정치학’
과 완벽하게 부합된다.
정을 ‘분출’할 공간을 제공하며 어떤 특정한 체제 전복적 분위기가 실제적인 혁명으로 변하는 것을 방지하는
‘환기구’와 같은 역할을 한다. 게이 퍼레이드는 동성애자의 정치적 권리를 주창하는 일시적인 축제의 성격
을 초월할 때만이 체제 전복적인 영역에 발을 들여놓을 수 있다. 이러한 미학은 개인적인 예술적 정체성보
다는 오직 공동체를 위해 봉사한다. 그러므로 커뮤니티아트지도에서 이러한 예술양식은 전복적인 타자
관계적 예술로서 남동쪽에 위치한다.
2007년 벨기에의 독립연구단체인 바보(VAVO)는 이러한 논의에 중요한 기여를 했다. 바보는
정치 참여적 예술의 귀환에 관한 분석에서 ‘비정부기구-예술(NGO-art)’ 과 같은 예술형태를 비난했다. 바보
는 새로운 형태의 정치적 개입에 관해 다음과 같은 전제를 제시했다.
22 ❙
2010 International Symposium at Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON
잠재적으로 전복적인 예술과 기존권력 사이의 특별한 관계가 베르동크의 작업에 나타난다.
앞서 언급한 베르동크의 초창기 사회 참여적 행위는 그가 일 년 내내 안트워프(Antwerp)라는 벨기에의 한
도시에서 진행한 일련의 사회참여 활동과 부합된다. 이 모두는 앞서 말한 비판적인 불법체류자의 주장이
담긴 논쟁적인 기록물에 포함된다. 이 기록물의 앞부분에서는 안트워프에서 활동 중인 배우들과 심지어 안
트워프 시장이 참석한 회의에서 열정적으로 자신의 비판적인 관점을 소개하고 있는 베르동크의 모습을 볼
수 있다. 회의가 끝난 후 시장은 베르동크의 어깨를 두드리며 성공을 기원해 주었다. 그는 부드러운 미소를
뒤로하고 회의장을 떠났다. 다시 말해 이 다큐멘터리는 베르동크가 현직의 권력자로부터 체제 전복적인 행
위를 보여주어도 좋다는 일종의 승인을 받은 것임을 의미한다. 유태인 철학자이자 사회학자인 헤르베르트
마르쿠제(Herbert Marcuse)(1965)는 이 사건을 억압적인 관용의 좋은 사례로서 묘사했다. 1960년대의 유
산이 망각되거나 억압되는 경우 억압적인 관용은 바람직하지 않은 사상을 중립화시키는 헤게모니 전략으
로 나타난다. 현존의 권력은 전복적인 시도나 묘사를 어느 선까지는 용인하는데 이는 권력이 진정으로 중립
화를 희망하기 때문이다. 그러므로 지원금으로 유지되는 커뮤니티아트가 전복적인 힘을 가질 수 있을지에
대한 의문이 제기된다.
24 ❙
2010 International Symposium at Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON
커뮤니티아트를 넘어
현대의 네트워크 사회에서 공동체는 60년대 사회처럼 단순히 대면관계에만 의존하는 폐쇄된
사회형태가 아니라, 확신할 순 없지만 페르디난트 토니스(Ferdinand Tönnies)가 말한 낭만주의적인 공동
사회(the romantic Gemeinschaft)와 유사한 형태이다. 새로운, 혹은 변화된 공동체는 모든 사람들의 권리
에 의해 공유된 자산이다. 이는 세대, 이웃, 혹은 지역 간의 지속적인 연대를 위한 방향을 지시해준다. 마지
막으로 공동체는 사적인 가족이라는 벽을 뛰어넘는 사랑의 한 형태를 지칭한다. 새로운 공동체는 변화된 현
대의 네트워크 세계에서 새로운 종족으로 존재한다. 새로운 종족은 자신만의 정체성에 더 이상 집착하지
않으며 새로운 것과 만남으로서 자신의 정체성을 끊임없이 변화시켜 나간다. 국가가 없는 공동체의 세계는
신자유주의라는 패권질서 하에서 고립된 섬이 그렇듯 여가, 유희, 사랑, 지식 등 스스로의 경제학을 발전시
킨다.
26 ❙
2010 International Symposium at Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON
참고문헌
Pascal Gielen
28 ❙
2010 International Symposium at Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON
The short-circuit which took place between the illegal immigrant and the artist, could
well be considered symptomatic of all art venturing beyond the boundaries of its own world.
Whenever art leaves the familiar surroundings of a theatre or a museum, it falls prey to different
opinions, appreciations and comments. It does not even have to flatter social engagement or
political activism for that matter. Even an aesthetically sound and ‘nice’ image in a public space can
provoke a storm of protest, if only because of the simple fact that it stands in the way. In the
abovementioned account, however, something more is going on. With his artistic intervention
Verdonck not only chooses to break free from his destined place, but he also ventures to make a
statement on society addressed to a specific part of that society.
All art – shown or performed inside or outside the confines of a concert hall, a theatre
or a museum– makes a statement about society to a particular part of society. In other words, all art
is relational. Even the artistic work of the most idiosyncratic hermit needs to be seen or heard in
order to pass for art as such. Even the most abstract art which is shown in a highly exclusive
environment to which only a select group of insiders has access makes a statement about society,
in society and to society. French curator and art theoretician Nicolas Bourriaud (1998) made a
rather poor choice when he used the word ‘relational’ to shed light on a specific segment and
tendency in the art world, for art is de facto relational or it is not art. Nevertheless, Bourriaud uses
the concept esthétique relationnelle for a particular form of art, though his examples in fact seem
to rather indicate a specific attitude of certain artists. The relational artist’s attitude can be
described as consciously seeking communication with his public. Moreover, he actively includes
this aspect in his work. The kind of art he applies for this purpose, does not stand entirely apart from
this endeavour, but may be considered as secondary to it. In fact it does not matter that much what
his art has to say about society and the context in which takes place – inside or outside of a museum.
As long as the artist actively seeks a relationship with the public and attempts to engage it in a
dialogue, a relational aesthetic is at work, according to the French curator. This does not imply that
the relational artist makes critical, let alone subversive work. The only criticism which one might
detectin his artistic work is rather indirect, for his explicit hunger for communication and dialogue
could be expressive of the lack of sociability in current society.
The example of Verdonck and the illegal immigrant given in the introduction, goes
beyond that, however, for Verdonck explicitly denounces a social problem. With his action the artist
not only seeks a relationship with a public, he also serves this public a critical message. The playful
packaging of the artistic statement barely covers its clear, political, perhaps slightly subversive
character. It goes without saying: This particular artist clearly chooses the side of illegal
immigrants. His action is explicitly aimed at denouncing their situation. Yet why is this one
particular illegal immigrant not completely satisfied? The answer has already been given: He takes
offence at a particular aesthetical form. So Verdonck’s authentic artistic signature does not really
seem to serve the good cause. The credibility of his action with its real political claims gets lost in
an impotent world of fiction. For in the first place the artist still aims at realizing an artistic project.
No matter how well-intended his engagement may be, his civil action only comes second. While, on
the other hand, what matters for the illegal immigrant is his anxiety that his social appèl might not
be taken seriously, for the artist the thought of a possible loss of his artistic prerogative seems
scary. First and foremost his childish touch needs to keep him within the art world. It is this
wayward label which distinguishes the artist from the activist, the artistic world from the political
and artistic work from social work. The question as to whether the illegal immigrant is helped
better or becomes happier from it, is an entirely different matter.
Meanwhile it is quite certain that Verdonck can count himself lucky, because a year
after his intervention, for sure, the material traces of his reported action could be admired in a
museum for contemporary art. The work on display stimulated the imagination, was by all means
poetic and at times even critical of society. It may come as no surprise that the unanimous public
nodded approvingly when it was able to ascertain that the political message it had deciphered was
the correct one. The very same project which in the street could still enjoy a certain degree of
subversion, in the museum dissolved into common sense. Indeed, the significance and especially
the effect of art depend very much on its context. Inside the museum, Verdonk’s work by all means
met the strict criteria of contemporary art. One thing seems certain: with or without Stella, the
artist has come home. The question as to whether the illegal immigrant in the meanwhile is able to
enjoy a home rather than drowning himself in Stella, is a question which is somewhat more difficult
to answer. From an artistic point of view it is even completely irrelevant. Aesthetics and ethics are
two different things.
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2010 International Symposium at Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON
Allo-relational art can indeed lead to artistic suicide. However, it does not preclude
that the happenings of the Situationists inspired many activists following their traces. In the
feminist movement, as the gay movement, among environmental activists and anti-globalists, you
will come across costume plays, theatrical expressions and other aesthetical forms which seek to
highlight (at times literally) a certain social subversion. Especially within the so-called ‘identity
politics’, artistic forms of expression seem to be a favourite way of reinforcing one’s social claims.
People literarily colour their own cultural subjectivity. Moreover, in the artistic act of a costume
play for example, new subjectivities are generated. The pleasure of the play and the aesthetics are
in other words a substantial, constituent part of subversive movements. In imitation of Baruch
Spinoza, philosophers Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt claim that:
‘The path of joy is constantly to open new possibilities, to expand our field of
imagination, our abilities to feel and be affected, our capacities for action and passion. In
Spinoza’s thought, in fact, there is a correspondence between our power to affect and our
power to be affected. The greater our mind’s ability to think, the greater its capacity to be
affected by the ideas of others; the greater our body’s ability to act, the greater its capacity
to be affected by other bodies.’ (Negri and Hardt, 2009)
The relational power of the aesthetical expression, unlike Negri and Hardt’s allusion,
however, has absolutely no subversive intention. In his article on community art Jan Cohen-Cruz
(2002) points out that not all forms have a progressive, political character (which of course does not
coincide with subversive). He reinforces his argument by suggesting that the Nuremberg Party
Rallies of Adolf Hitler were an aesthetical, communal ritual. During those rallies not only blond,
athletic workers paraded, but there were also women in traditional Teutonic attire performing folk
dances. Cohen-Cruz’ example leads us to a next point. Without necessarily subscribing to a nazi
ideology, popular art often is intended at bringing people together. This very aspect binds the late
Situationists to clog dancers and farce. Both make allo-relational art, for in both cases the artistic
aspect is snowed under the political respectively communal goal. Making a public complicit
therefore serves other goals than artistic goals. Precisely in this very aspect lies the difference
between the political actions of the late Situationists and those of Benjamin Verdonck.
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2010 International Symposium at Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON
community art, a bottom-line is actively involving people in an artistic process or in the production
of a work of art. In that case, is a director who is engaging professional actors for a theatre
production also making community art? The earlier quoted Cohen-Cruz, would probably answer to
that the process of involving people in a work of art should at least be as important as the artistic
process or project itself. In short, the community is at least as crucial as the art. The fact that the
people participating are often not professionals, not even art connoisseurs per se, only goes to
further delineate the territory concerned. For certain, a community art project has only ‘succeeded’
when it realizes an interaction between the participants it was aimed at. The purpose of such
interaction can be political or subversive, social as well as identity forming or again therapeutic. In
all these cases the aesthetical aspect serves as a mere medium. Only when symmetry between the
community and the art is realized, the expressive form has a claim within the professional art
world. In other words, a relational work may well be aesthetical, but it is not necessarily a
successful work of art. By the same token, an artistic project involving a community, is not
necessarily a successful community project. The story of Verdonck teaches us that serving both the
community and art, presupposes a very precarious balancing act. In the jargon used earlier it calls
for the right balance between auto- and allo-relational aesthetics. This distinction immediately
exposes two directions in which community art may navigate. In the first case, community art
serves mostly the rules of professional art. In the second, it merely serves social interaction. The
possible purpose of that interaction adds two more directions to the map, as a distinction needs to
be made between Situationists and farce. Whereas the first aim at radical subversion, the second
group is only interested in the socially integrating effect. The latter dimension may therefore be
called the digestive effect of the community art. In much the same way as a digestive potion helps
to enhance one’s metabolism, this form of art helps to integrate social groups into society. This is
done without questioning the dominant values, norms or habits. Digestive community art is, if you
wish, a form of ‘naturalizing art’. It conforms with rules which are already in place within society. In
some cases they are deliberately put in place and subsidized – by companies, governments, or other
official agencies – to bring about integration. Conformity and non-obstruction are at the centre,
which makes digestive art the opposite of the subversive artistic act. However the division between
both poles is not insurmountable, as integration may lead to emancipation – for example becoming
conscious of one’s own rights and of the possible injustice one is suffering – which subsequently
elicits (more) effective subversive strategies.
When the outlined poles auto- versus allo-relational and digestive versus subversive
art cross one another, a wind-flower with four directions comes into being, as should be the case in
any cartography worthy of that name. In this configuration the North stands for what is reasoned
and slightly hypothermic, and is opposed to the warm and sanguineous South. The clichés which
they evoke indeed serve as ideal metaphors to contrast digestion with subversion. In the West,on
the other hand, the cult of the individual dominates and his own identity is at its centre, whereas, on
the other hand, Oriental philosophy – in particular Buddhism –regards the self or the ego (atman) as
an illusion. The West and the East therefore form ideal regions to which respectively
auto-relational and allo-relational art can come home.
-N-
Digestive
-W- -O-
Auto-relational Allo-relational
Subversive
-Z-
However, as only a few people of this globe actually live in the far North or South,
likewise the community art will mostly be located in ‘impure’ places. The distinction between auto-
and allo-relational art should also be understood as the distinction between digestive and
subversive, in other words as a gradation rather than exclusively. Moreover, there is also a
North-West or a South-East, where interesting hybrids thrive. In this cartography it is furthermore
only possible to locate oneself in relation to another point of reference. Interrelations are always
relative: x lies more to the South of y and a more to the West but more to the South of x, and so on.
Finally, throughout time, artistic trajectories may transmute or change directions. So the
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development of an artistic idea may at first be a mere auto-relational matter which finally
debouches into a digestive allo-relational (repetitive) process, after which the final product is again
summarized auto-relationally, though it may be very offensive for the artistic in-crowd who is
confronted with it. The aforementioned shift of Verdonck from a public intervention with illegal
immigrants on the street to an exhibition with the remaining artefacts in a museum, illustrates that
on the map of community art different itineraries are possible. Whereas an intervention on the
street fluctuates between slightly subversive auto- and allo-relational art, the exhibition in a
museum has a far more digestive auto-relational character – which has nothing to do with the
artistic quality and persuasive power of that particular exhibition. The context and the
approachable public together will decide on the place where an artistic project may be located on
the community map. To illustrate this, we will use our compass to navigate a number of concrete
examples.
Art scientist Simone Kleinhout (2010), for example, describes a project of Les
Nouveaux Commonditaires in the small French village of Blessey. In this village counting only 23
inhabitants, a laundry was being restored and the mayor and inhabitants wanted a work of art to be
included in this project. The artist Rémy Zaugg was willing to take on the job. He was confronted
with a population of mainly farmers who barely knew anything about contemporary art. However,
they very well knew which requirements the work of art had to measure up to. It had to be in
harmony with the sensitivity of the location and also had to have favourable economic
consequences. They even had an idea as to which material should be used to realize the work. The
material had to include the characteristics of the environment such as water, stone and plants. And,
as the sponsors thought his work also had to have favourable social consequences, in the end
Zaugg was forced to, reluctantly, realize his work in the framework of a social reintegration project.
The realization of Zaugg’s work would take almost ten years, a period in which he had to go through
the trial of many negotiations. He, for example, chose to work with concrete, a material which did
not immediately fit in with the rustic image the inhabitants had in mind. The artist did finally
manage to carry his decision through in this matter and in doing so leave his mark on the work of
art. Anyone who goes to take a look at the work in the French Bourgogne region, has to admit: this
is a real ‘Zaugg’. Meanwhile ‘Le lavoir de Blessey’ (2007), as the work which was posthumously
realized is called, blends in almost perfectly with the natural slopes and the heritage of the village,
not unhinging the history and the identity of the village, but rather confirming it. In other words,
through the intervention of himself and Les Nouvaux Commonditaires, Zaugg succeeded in making
a perfectly digestive auto-relational work of art, to which the inhabitants even relinquished part of
their private premises. Let it therefore be clear once and for all that – in case anyone would have
doubts on this matter – the word ‘digestive’ is certainly not synonymous to ‘bad’ art.
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continued further developed similar projects. In the case of California several millions of dollars
were invested in such projects. The belief in the healing effects of the arts is obviously remarkably
strong in certain regions of the world. Grady Hillman defends the project with the following
argument:
It goes without saying that these kind of community arts programmes aim at social
integration, whereas the artistic signature of the artist only comes second. On the map, such
programmes clearly navigate in North-Eastern direction, where digestion and allo-relatedness
meet each other.
position that Mappelthorpe makes auto-relational art. His esthétique relationnelle is not so much
to be found in the social attitude of the artist, but in his photographs as such. Whether it was
consciously intended by the American photographer or not, his work fits in perfectly with a kind of
‘identity politics’ in which a community finds expression. In any case, the work of Mapplethorpe can
not only be read as a manifestation for the right of artistic freedom, but also as an expression of the
right to make the – often socially suppressed - culture of a specific community visible.
Mapplethorpe proceeds as an anthropologist in his own country, confronting the American society
with its own fantasies, self-indulgence or its ‘alterity’. By launching an extravagant lifestyle into the
public space, the photographer makes for its legitimacy, which may well be understood to be a
political act. In this respect, the work of this eccentric individual is perhaps far morecommunity
-forming and–confirming than many intentional artistic fieldwork.
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individual artistic identity. Therefore, on the map it navigates in the South-East as subversive
allo-relational art.
Nowadays many (municipal) governments compete with each other for their own Gay
Parade. Politicians hope that the colourful parade will highlight the openness of their city and at the
same time attract a new type of tourism. In the rush of the creative cities a solid population of
homosexuals are also synonymous to aproportionately high creative potential – that is, according to
the work of the American social geographer Richard Florida (2002). In this logic the Gay Parade
simply serves to tap into a new economy, as ‘alter-sexuals’ constitute a substantial part of the
creative class. Given the meanwhile generally established belief in the potency of this class and
their industry, each homophobe policy shows an economically irresponsible short-sightedness.
The tolerance of the administration, feigned or not, does in any case raise the question as to
whether the Gay Parade and other alternative manifestations have not entirely lost their subversive
feathers. In a wider context,it opens the discussion on the social position of any form of community
art.
‘It is noble and necessary that artists proceed to take direct action against the
often harrowing abuses typical of these times. However, when it comes to judging the
effectiveness of these politically engaged practices in tackling the current problems in a
more fundamental way, they often leave much to be desired. (…) They tend to reason and
operate in the same manner as humanitarian organizations or NGO’s: rather than tackling
large-scale, political problems, they focus on what they can do immediately, here and
now, within the confines of what is obtainable (…). In the same way as is the case with
humanitarian organizations one may detect self-censorship in this so-called NGO-art.
Humanitarian organizations consciously do not make statements about political
questions, because this could interfere with their relief operations, (…). NGO-art is in fact
characterized by a denial of politics: above all it has to do with the practicability of a given
action. These artists deliberately avoid confrontation with governments or sponsors,
because the concessions or funding which they need to execute their actions, may be
compromised by such politics. The question as to what can be done, here and now, and
how this can be realized in the most efficient manner, is more important than exposing
and fighting deeper lying structures – which is in fact the quintessence of politics’ (Bavo,
2007).
In the Netherlands – where currently quite a few community art projects are being
financed by municipal administrations – one can regularly literally feel the limits of this form of
artistic engagement. For example, artists are often approached by policy makers to liven up the
social life in one or other disadvantaged neighbourhood. When the politically engaged artist
discovers halfway through the execution of such a project that the problem of the structural
disadvantage does not rest on the individual shoulders of a few ‘anti-social’ residents, but rather
that it is to blame on the negligent policy of a housing organization, the social servants who
commissioned the project all of a sudden become slightly nervous, for the artist might well publicly
expose the fact that the putative ‘win-win situation’ of a private-public cooperation between the
housing organization and the administration leads to little gain for the inhabitants. With such a
threat above their heads, they would rather stop this once much welcomed community project.
Once social engagement turns into political engagement, administrations prefer to withdraw their
financial engagement. Or, in the terms of the abovementioned cartography: be it auto-relational or
allo-relational, once the border between digestion and subversion is crossed, one would rather rid
oneself of such art. Therefore it is very much the question what a municipal administration would
do with a Gay Parade which would expose an essentially embedded homophobic policy behind the
facade of verbal tolerance.
The peculiar relationship between potentially subversive art and established power
also emerges in the story of Verdonck. His earlier described public action fitted into a series of
interventions by the artist in the Belgian city of Antwerp which lasted an entire year. These were
included in a controversial documentary, in which the aforementioned story of the critical illegal
immigrant was also given a place. In the beginning of the documentary you can see how Verdonck
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announces his not always uncritical actions enthusiastically during a meeting with cultural and
political actors of the city of Antwerp. Even the mayor of Antwerp is present in person. At the end of
the meeting the mayor gives Verdonck a verbal pat on the shoulder and wishes him success, after
which he leaves the meeting with a benign smile on his face. In other words, the artist had received
the green light from the incumbent power to show some subversive behaviour. Jewish philosopher
and sociologist Herbert Marcuse (1965) would probably qualify this incident as a nice example of
repressive tolerance. In case the heritage of the 1960s is forgotten or repressed, repressive
tolerance is a hegemonic strategy which neutralizes undesirable ideas by granting them a place.
Incumbent power tolerates subversion to a certain degree, because it hopes to verily neutralize it in
doing so. The possibility of such mechanism therefore raises the question if subsidized community
art can acquire any sort of subversive power at all.
Now the connexion between government, social work and community art is made, a
last point of discussion remains. The triumvirate suggests an ongoing specific form of power and
disciplining practices. The aforementioned example of the ‘arts-in-corrections’ programmes in the
United States confirm this intuition. It leads us, almost blindly, to the work of Michel Foucault, for
the French philosopher was also particularly interested in prisons.
In his world-famous work dating from 1975 Discipline, 「Surveillance and Punishmen
t」 Foucault describes the birth of the prison. He goes to show how punishments gradually acquire
an increasingly ‘humane’ character. Public torture and executions disappear to the background
and are traded in for confinement and the guidance of an increasingly expanding army of nurses,
psychologists and social workers. The crux of Foucault’s work lies in the theorem that this model of
discipline is disseminated throughout society through institutes such as hospitals and schools.
Foucault continues his research into the execution of power in his lectures at the Collège de France
in which he discloses the notion of ‘pastoral power’, during the academic year 1977-1978. The
philosopher finds that the origin of this technique of power with the shepherd who ‘manages’ his
herd in a particular manner. The shepherd pays lot of attention to the individual animal without
losing the whole of his herd out of sight. Subsequently, the church has applied this method of
herding to human beings and institutionalized it. The central point of it is that human life is taken by
the hand from the cradle to the grave. The art of the shepherd or pastor consists of addressing the
members of one’s parish as individually as possible, to penetrate their private lives, and to take note
of their deepest secrets through confession. The pastor performs a sort of micro-politics, by which
he is able to continuously evaluate and correct the members of his herd, in order to at last lead
them to or keep them on the right path. The difference with the sovereign power of the nation state
is that pastoral power does not deal with geographically delineated territory, but rather is aimed at
people of flesh and blood. For this reason, pastoral power is also a form of ‘biopower’:
administration directed at life itself. Based on in-depth interviews French sociologist Maurizio
Lazzarato (2010) demonstrates how this pastoral power is part of an official ‘system of correction’.
In doing so the inspecting civil servant constantly oversteps the division line between public and
private territory, in order to get through to the deepest intimacy of the ‘client’. Under the threat of
possible sanctions (the withdrawal of social benefits) he checks toothbrushes and if beds have been
slept in or not. The inspector of the unemployment office hopes to help the person who is eligible to
receive social benefits on the right – productive – path. Via elaborate registration and records in
individual dossiers, the life of the person eligible for social benefits ‘doubles’ in a paper or digital
register in which each personal step is carefully followed. Though the client is constantly reminded
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of his own freedom and individual responsibility, he is in fact put in an asymmetrical power game in
which he is constantly shown ‘the right path’. Within the welfare state, not only inspection services,
but also a large group of psychologists and social workers thus form an extension of the ‘police
power’. In a subtle way they infiltrate the daily private sphere of people to register, correct and
make the most intimate life economically productive (again). The point is now that quite a few
community art projects – especially when orchestrated by the government – are at the service of
this pastoral power. In the aforementioned ‘arts-in-corrections’ programme in the United States
this is all too obvious. There community art projects are explicitly launched to turn detained people
into ‘productive citizens’. Yet even the artists who enter disadvantaged neighbourhoods with the
best intentions, are often not conscious of the fact that they are stepping into this ‘correctional’
logic. They sometimes even enter deep into people’s private world. For example,quite a few
would-be artists consider themselves exceedingly original, by distributing photo or video camera’s
to socially disadvantaged families, asking them to record their lives and that of their neighbours.
While the social worker on a house-visit records their intimacy on paper and in files, the community
artist in this case goes even a step further, as the confidential document is traded in for a
registration which may become public at any given moment. In other words, the artist
enthusiastically encourages the residents to participate in a ‘public confession’ of their own misery
and life circumstances. Like confession, it is one of the pastoral power techniques to keep the herd
under control. In case of the priest, the psychologist and the social worker such confession still
takes place in relative confidentiality, for the artist, however, the precarious social misery hasan
expressive character. While the socially engaged artist with all his good intentions thought he was
fighting against injustice in this world, he in fact finds himself at the service of the power which
maintains the injustice.
make for some self-reflexion. This is the reason why intentionally the most extreme boundaries of
this artistic practice were scanned, as in the Mapplethorpe case. Hopefully it will help to better
estimate and clarify the future position of the socially engaged artist, allowing her or him to also
develop effective strategies. Whoever may think that with the above analysis community art is best
carried to its grave, has missed the point. Firstly, let it be clear that the digestive, integrating power
of some artistic projects is particularly useful in a globalized world counting a growing number of
diaspora’s and homeless people. Apart from that, it should also be noted that the notion
‘community art’ nowadays carries with it a remarkably subversive potency, which is hidden in the
very word ‘community’. Within a neoliberal world in which individuality, personal gain, competition,
and risky speculations have become the leading morale of the day and govern the social fabric, the
community probably gives rise to associations which may sound naive but which are no less
revolutionary within the current hegemony. When the community does not retreat onto itself, but
consequently uses its principles to the defence of an unknown other and the other, she might well
offer an unexpected ideological counterforce. In short, nowadays the community still stands for an
alternative way of life. According to the American philosopher Richard Sennett, she even provides
the most important architecture against the current, hostile economic order (Sennett, 1998).
In the current network society the community can no longer be understood as a closed
social form with mere face-to-face relations, as was the case in the 1960s, and most certainly not
as the romantic Gemeinschaft Ferdinand Tönnies (1887) once pinpointed. The new oralter-
community does however evoke associations with ‘the common’, and the possibility of shared
property which belongs by unalienable right to everybody. It does point in the direction of lasting
solidarity across generations, inside and between neighbourhoods or (world) regions. Finally, it
indicates a form of love which reaches beyond the walls of private family life. These new
communities operate as neo-tribal groups in an alter-modern network world. The latter implies,
amongst others, that they do not stick to their own identity, but are continuously transforming it and
having it transformed by new meetings. These worlds of stateless communities develop their own
economies of leisure, pleasure, love and knowledge, as islands within the neoliberal hegemony.
‘Keep on dreaming, baby’, sounds a sober yet ironical voice, very near from afar.
Dreams do probably contain a sense of reality. Perhaps it is up to art to transform them into
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concrete forms. It will certainly take a lot of imaginative power to shape the new communities. In
other words, beyond community art presupposes first of all an art of communities, in which artistic
reflexion is not at the service of the evident questions vented in the media nowadays with a
neoliberal logic, and in which the aesthetic does not serve to slavishly patch-up the holes a blind
capitalism leaves behind. Arts of communities know how to occupy these holes in an adequate way
and manage them tactically by constantly generating ways of escape. In short, community arts only
make sense when they refuse to be used as instruments of a uniform, homogenizing, calculating
logic, but when they produce the most divergent communities, through the confrontation of many
singular and dissonant forms of imaginative power.
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