On the surface aesthetics and usefulness seem purely oppositional but it quickly becomes clear that their complexities are deeply intertwined. How do aesthetics and usefulness operate both as independent and interrelated concepts in socially and politically engaged art practice?

Understanding USEFULNESS in this context elicits questions of judgement, impact, and evaluation. What works, what doesn’t? Whose goals are met when an artist enacts a political or social idea? Who establishes these goals and develops relevant criteria? Can a project be useful to some and harmful to others?

Discussing AESTHETICS in socially and politically engaged art practices leads to questions of judgement, taste, and form. Where are the aesthetics of an art project embedded in everyday life? How do aesthetics do political work or advance social change? How and who determines aesthetics in engaged practices? How do constellations of power get reinforced and/or deconstructed?

This conflict considers how we describe this intersection and challenges us to re-define aesthetics and usefulness in order to reach a more precise conceptualization of justice in engaged art practices.

GLOSSARY
Language
Form

STRATEGY
Anonymity

Americans for the Arts
November 2014
Seeing Power and Possibility in Socially Engaged Art
Fisher, Deborah in “Americans for the Arts, Artsblog”, Nov. 19, 2014
Link

Americans for the Arts
November 2014
What is Beauty Without Justice?
Turner, Carlton.”Americans for the Arts, Artsblog”, Nov. 19, 2014
Link

Americans for the Arts
November 2014
Beauty and the “We”
Bedoya, Roberto.”Americans for the Arts, Artsblog”, Nov. 21, 2014
Link