Social art as material and process: Towards a new method and ethos for social art

Titley, William David (2023) Social art as material and process: Towards a new method and ethos for social art. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This thesis presents an argument for the existence of unidentified materials utilised by social artists, including chance and often serendipitous encounters with people, environment, and place, which play a critical role in social art. I emphasise the need for a new ethical-social aesthetic model founded on a more comprehensive understanding of the materiality that comprises social art. My contribution to the field reveals the potential of such materiality in the three new artworks and developing a model of creative participatory approaches to art-making. By recognising this potential of seemingly insignificant things and ephemera, I explore a new model of aesthetics within my social art practice that influences the direction of the creative process and, ultimately, the form of the artworks. Through a closer examination of the nuances of social art practice, this thesis presents a fresh perspective on the potential of social art materials. This thesis investigates a new aesthetic in social art practice rooted in a more productive relationship between hylomorphic and morphogenetic qualities (as discussed by Tim Ingold, 2013). To accomplish this, I draw upon Grant Kester's dialogical aesthetics (2004), Tim Ingold's binary approaches to making (2013), Erin Manning's potential of minor gestures (2016), and Yuriko Saito's familiar aesthetics (2017). To undertake this exploration, I reflect on and analyse field notes and personal diary entries from my involvement in creating three new social artworks (two interactive sculptures and a film) 'The Gentlemen's Wardrobe' (2016), 'Time Machine' (2017) and '[birdsong]' (film, 2019). Additionally, I conduct participatory observation in two internationally recognised social art projects: Rick Lowe's Project Row Houses, Texas (1995 - ongoing) and Suzanne Lacy's ‘Shapes of Water - Sounds of Hope’ (2016 - 17) in my local neighbourhood of Pendle, Lancashire.