ABSTRACT
This chapter explains some of the shifts in thinking about foundational texts, largely formed in response to observing and participating in the challenges that artists and other creative practitioners face when deciding 'what to do' with any given opportunity (or assignment) to work in public space. It describes that studying foundational social philosophers as well as contemporary anthropology that considers imagined communities, as well as actual ones, is perhaps a more useful theoretical beginning point than Marxist critique or Situationist aesthetics. The students that have decided to attend the programme have arrived with a wide array of backgrounds that have led them to commit to a Master of Fine Arts course in Social Practice. Much of the project work that is done in the context of a social/public art practice is only loosely identifiable as 'artwork' in a common sense of the word.
