Art for the People

The History of Participatory Art

The Dutch trend forecaster Li Edelkoort predicted an era of amateurism for the 21st century. Not only a general do-it-yourself trend, but also shifts in areas such as self-management, knowledge acquisition, and not least, the so-called »user-generated content« of our digital media culture prove her right. While critics point out the risk of promoting arbitrariness and dilettantism, others see potential for democratic participation. Cultural scientists have described this development as a participatory transition. 

In the field of art, a move towards participation and involvement already became noticeable in the 1960s. The exhibition »Art for the People« explores these artistic trends, starting with the first manifestations in conceptual and video art, which included viewers through active involvement. These new practices of integrating recipients in the creative process had one democratic aspiration in common: knocking art off its elitist perch by making it accessible and »activatable« for all. The participatory, democratic concepts of the 1960s and 1970s paved the way for the interactive media and computer art of today.

Participatory art is characterized by diversity. The artistic intentions oscillate between affirmative play and subversiveness, and actionist »Kunst-ins-Leben« (bringing art into life) spectacles and activist engagement. It is about rethinking and expanding the concept of art, emancipating recipients, articulating political analyses and criticism, and intervening in social contexts. The common goal of participatory artistic approaches is to erase the distinction between performers and viewers, artists and amateurs, and production and reception. As Umberto Eco already explained in »The Open Work« in 1962, artistic work is not a self-contained production in the classic sense, it evolves through the process of collaborative participation.

The exhibition »Art for the People« establishes a dialogue between artistic approaches from the Biberach region and international positions. It will also present the results of a residency program a participatory artist attended in September 2024 after winning an open call competition.

Mobil Artist Residency Research Station »FOREIGN«

With support of: 

Image credit: Georg Winter, »musée social f«, Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg, photo: Patrick Seeger