What to do with Art

"My interest is drawn towards artists who do not use art to merely advance political ideology, but who instead utilise all available institutional resources to articulate new ideas and create new spheres of possibility"

Here we are looking at the journey and transformation of art both within a cultural and spatial environment. We are looking at 'cultural identity' and the 'place' of art within a contemporary culture. How the art machine participates in the broader field of power and knowledge how it compares to that of the war and political machines. Nikos suggests that the emergence of 'spatial aesthetics' demands that artists and writers employ new sets of critical tools to interrogate complex forms of relations with others in the everyday. The idea that we must forward our thinking and combine those other contemporary cultural identity's of war and politics to progress and continue a successful transformation in the art world. These 'new spheres of possibility' and progressions must begin within the art institution before they can be successful within the everyday.

Below is the core outline of 3 of Nikos Papastergiadis, Scott McQuire and Peter Weibel social projects:

Public screens and the transformation of public space - "The core aim of this project is to provide a critical analysis of the impact of large electronic screens on contemporary forms of social agency in public space. Its key hypothesis is that the emergent creative practices associated with the new generation of public screens offer distinctive opportunities for public interaction and civic revitalization. Realization of this potential demands the development of new models for utilizing media technologies, negotiating the competing interests of the public and private sectors, and addressing increasingly diverse and mobile urban populations. The project is designed around two related strands: the sociological analysis of public interactions with large public screens, and the contextualization of artistic interventions in city life."

The spatial impact of digital technology on contemporary art and new art institutions - "The core aim of this project was to provide a critical analysis of the major changes currently occurring to the production of art and its modes of display and consumption. Our approach was predicated on the identification of an important historical shift, in which digital technologies are promoting a move away from traditional visual art collections based around material objects such as paintings and sculpture. Our hypothesis was that the new modes of aesthetic production, display and consumption provide both a vital index of the cultural dynamics of globalization, and a critical example of the profound redefinition of the social role of art."

Large screens and the transnational public sphere - "This project aims to test the use of large video screens as a communication platform for an experimental transnational public sphere. The project involves linking major public screens located in Melbourne and Seoul for three ‘urban media events’ involving specifically commissioned content. Because these cities share a near synchronous time zone, the events will utilise live and interactive components to engage publics in both places simultaneously. Initiation of original content will be complemented by longitudinal analysis of both the process of artistic production and the effects of public dissemination. The five-year time frame facilitates a research methodology based on a series of feedback loops allowing insights from different strands of research to inform the development of future phases. By drawing upon the specific expertise and resources of the research partners, and enabling leading academics to work collaboratively with key large screen operators in Australia (Fed Square P/L, Melbourne) and Korea (Art Center Nabi, Seoul), and peak cultural institutions (Australia Council for the Arts), the project will be uniquely placed to offer critical insights into the process of cultural exchange, the impact of media technologies on public space and the transformation of the ‘public sphere’ in the global era."