This course will introduce and discuss different socially engaged art projects. It is addressed to curators, artists and cultural workers, who wish to create, organise or develop projects that involve forms of social engagement, where the participants are involved directly in the creative process. Furthermore this course is for those who wish to generate better tools to work in collaborative situations with social groups, communities and publics outside of the art world.

Artists and curators frequently immerse themselves in working with non-art communities, this course will look deeper into positive and negative conclusions that can result from this approach. When working at the intersection of art and social realms the very first question and communication should be: Who benefits from the project and what are the expectations of the project initiator and different participants? We all carry biases and prejudices and we will discuss ways to (self-)reflect on this.

Furthermore, we will give valuable methods and tips on how to balance the project idea with the interests of the intended participants, taking into consideration the ethical and structural aspects of collaboration. The course will contain a few simple practical exercises tailored to challenge your current collaborative tools and put theory into practice.