ABSTRACT
In the final decades of the 20th century, participation has become a primary instrument of socially engaged art, connecting it to claims of political activism, community-building, emancipation and the creation of public spheres. At the same time critical voices are starting to question its implied concepts of sameness, differentiation, singularity and collectivity. Furthermore, ubiquitous popular media strategies integrating “real people” into the visual production process are now challenging “high” art’s former monopoly and its related claims to seriousness in making “real life” visible.
The article stresses three main fields of critique that contemporary participatory practices are confronted with, and describes exemplary video installation artworks positioning themselves productively within them: Isola Bella (2007/2008) by Danica Dakić blurs the borders between actors and audience and thus shows that the “other” is merely an ever-changing role to play. Aernout Mik’s Communitas (2010) addresses community and political action as a state of crisis by creating a contentious, different and yet equal multitude. And in they shoot horses (2004) Phil Collins refers to historical as well as contemporary entertainment practices of watching “real people” in stressful experimental settings and thereby also scrutinises unreflected concepts of political engagement in participation art. Finally it will be argued that the installations discussed present social action in the form of spectacular aesthetic constellations and yet preclude a final linear, identical or differential observation of the participating “real people”.
