Claire Bishop's "Artificial Hells" presents a critique of participatory art, challenging the widespread belief that its engagement with audiences inherently promotes emancipatory social relations. Bishop scrutinizes the political and aesthetic ambitions of socially engaged participatory art, or "social practice," arguing for a less prescriptive approach that values more compelling and troubling artistic outcomes over purely ethical criteria.
The book offers the first historical and theoretical overview of this art form, tracing its development through key moments of twentieth-century art, including Futurism, Dada, the Situationist International, Happenings, the 1970s Community Arts Movement, and the Artists Placement Group. It concludes by examining contemporary long-term educational projects, providing an alternative framework for evaluating participatory art beyond its claimed social impact.
Key concepts
- Social practice — The US term for socially engaged participatory art, widely accepted as the ultimate political art form.
- Emancipatory social relations — The claimed outcome of participatory art, where audience involvement promotes new social structures.
- Participatory aesthetic — The development of an aesthetic centered on audience involvement, traced through key historical art movements.
- Ethical criteria — Alternative standards for evaluating participatory art, proposed as distinct from artistic merit.