Social practice is an art medium that focuses on social engagement, inviting collaboration with individuals, communities, and institutions in the creation of participatory art. It is also referred to by a range of different names: public practice, socially engaged art, community art, new-genre public art, participatory art, interventionist art, collaborative art, relational art and dialogical aesthetics. Social practice art came about in response to increasing pressure within art education to work collaboratively through social and participatory formats.
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Artists working in social practice co-create their work with a specific audience or propose critical interventions within existing social systems that inspire debate or catalyze social exchange. Social practice artwork focuses on the interaction between the audience, social systems, and the artist through topics such as aesthetics, ethics, collaboration, persona, media strategies, and social activism. The social interaction component inspires, drives, or, in some instances, completes the project. Although projects may incorporate traditional studio media, they are realized in a variety of visual or social forms (depending on variable contexts and participant demographics) such as performance, social activism, or mobilizing communities towards a common goal.
History
Up until 2005 the term social practice was used in a branch of social theory that considered human relationships to each other and to the larger society as “practices”. The term “Art and Social Practice” was institutionalized in 2005 with the creation of the Social Practice MFA concentration at the California College of the Arts. Other institutions of higher education followed suit, including Otis' Public Practice MFA, directed by Suzanne Lacy and PSU's Art & Social Practice MFA, directed by Harrell Fletcher,. Social practice art as a medium has been referenced in the New York Times, Artforum, ArtNews, and Art Practical.
Exhibitions and conferences
Exhibitions of social practice art often include multiple artists or art collectives, and rather than exhibiting art objects, the artist’s participatory role in their work as well as their collaboration with the public becomes the exhibition. Some key exhibitions have been: "Condensations of the Social" at Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, New York (2010), "Living as Form" via Creative Time, New York City (2012), "Shine a Light" at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon (2009-2013), "The Incidental Person" at Apex Art, New York City (2010), and "You Can Have It All" in San Francisco and New York (2007). Several conferences are held nationally and internationally to bring together artists and academics involved in the field. They have featured installation, performance art, film, dance, art talks, forums, and gallery exhibitions, and have included events and projects such as the Pacific Standard Time Festival in Los Angeles in 2012 and Open Engagement.