What exactly is “social practice”?
Social Practice: We describe it as an art discipline that aims to create social and/or political change through collaboration with individuals, communities, and institutions, often in the creation of participatory art, and focuses on interaction between participants, social systems, & the artist or artwork. People in relationship are “aesthetics” in themselves — not only part of a work’s creation.
For now, we use the term “social practice” to refer to art practices that focus on relationship & process, often spanning and combining artistic disciplines, like visual art and performance. Street Works focus on the subset of social practice arts dedicated to co-creation and public space. Street Work is in itself a social practice project by social practice artists. It is not an “arts presenter.”
We include here examples of art projects that we would identify as social practice. The artists, however, may not. And if you have social practice projects you love, please share them with us.
