THE ROOM

Rafael Romero
DOGtime 2
2
3
Prologue.
Participant 1.
Participant 2.
Participant 3.
Participant 4.
Participant 5.
My house.
Te jungle.
Te church.
5
7
14
16
17
18
23
25
29
INDEX
4
5
Prologue
This article is a collaborative effort amongst the students of the Ger-
rit Rietveld Academie, at the Fine Arts Class from Dogtime depart-
ment in the second year. During the last semester an assignment was
set to write a text reacting on the book of Claire Bishop Artifcial
Hells. Each text made by the students deploys a matter involved
with the term The Social and it is germane to social art.

In reaction to this assignment I created a consensus about The So-
cial through the participation of subjects that submitted the text to
me. Five participants with their respective entries, including myself,
are involved. This blending is based on the text of the second parti-
cipant My fatmate, that has acted as a catalyst to explore in depth
the additional texts. Three different treatments are given to this tex-
tual cohesion.

I would like to reintroduce this preface with three statements of sig-
nifcant relevance in the following articles:

To conquer a nation, frst disarm its citizens.
Adolf Hitler.

There is no such thing as society.
Margaret Thatcher.

Society is a group of people with different groups, ethnics, cultu-
res, languages, life styles but though, they are bounded with each
other.
Karl Marx.
6
Society is an ensemble of individuals integrated in the same whole.
These individuals are expected to coexist with each other in a neoli-
beral capitalist economical system, within which the free market ope-
rates on an international scale so-called; globalization.
Capitalism encourages such individuals to look after themselves brea-
king up the concept of community conceived by Jesus Christ two
thousand years ago. Religious values are still present. In fact, they are
used on slogans, advertising campaigns and commercial marketing. It
could be said that Jesus Christ was just a great businessman.

Given this input, imagine that we have to share a space and make mo-
ney out of it.
How do affect all these religious values to the matter?
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus Christ.
7
PARTICIPANT 1
Art and the social
Prologue
Tis article is inspired by the discussions at the Fine Arts class and
afer reading the book Artifcial Hells by Clare Bishop. Te theme that
triggered these writings was the assignment called: Te Social. Te
idea of the assignment was to write a piece about this theme, which I
understand as the relations among persons co-existing in society, this
includes the role of artists in society.
I frst try to contextualise Te Social into the system in which it exists
and then I discuss the role of art in this system.
Te System
We are living in an era of free market economy and great degree of in-
dividualism. Te tendency in this era is to consume the products that
the market ofers as much as possible. Tis becomes a sign of wealth
and increases status. Tis system has shaped our behaviour in relation
to society, our way of thinking in relation to what we need and what is
important. In the economical system in which we live, the consuming
individual has become crucial for the subsistence of the system. Te fo-
cus on the individual is aimed at fnding the best ways of manipulating
acquisition desires. Tere is no focus on the community, because this
one can develop its own rules, and those can difer very much from the
ones of the big system. Civil society associations without acquisition
and investment capacities have less possibilities to survive.
Margaret Tatcher said once: there is no such a thing as society in
one of her discourses. Tis speech was, in my opinion, meant to dis-
mantle the troops of civil society, to shut up peoples mouth, to clear
the state of its big responsibilities as a protector of peoples rights. Tese
thoughts have become now mainstream, and it seems to govern in the
free market economics.
8
It is the market economy who in the end defnes our rights and duties
as an individual. Tis leads to great injustices worldwide, to the sacri-
fce of peoples rights, like in the case when dams food peoples lands
because infrastructure creates energy for industries, or mining compa-
nies that have free space to use cancer stimulating chemicals in their
operations because their business creates employment at least for a few.
State authorities cannot easily go against these destroying enterprises
because they promote some capital fow. However they cause great so-
cial and economical damage, leading to a physically and mentally ill
society because of mass production and consumerism.
Since everything has a price in this system, the commodifcation of
the arts has become unavoidable. People acquire art pieces, not only
because of the pure love for art, but very much as an investment or
as a symbol of status. Some pieces of art have reached extremely huge
prices (the current record price was paid for Te Card Players by Paul
Cezanne, which was sold for more than $250 million in 2011), and this
has made of art a big business.
Te Card Players by Paul Czanne (photo of painting)
9
Te danger of this situation is that art as a source for critical thinking
is not necessarily appreciated by the economical system in which we
live, since the tendency of the system is to avoid a critical view of the ef-
fects of the economy in society. Besides, art aimed to encourage critical
thinking in society employs methods and materials that are not really
easy to put on sale. Tis all may be the reason why a great part of art
produced now, is not critically contextualised in society. Terefore, art
production can fail to acquire enough signifcance to stimulate critical
thinking.
Tese are politics that also afect the artist, because he or she is in any
way priced in these free market economy. Te artist cannot scape from
the situation, it is not possible to live in complete isolation, because
almost nobody can survive in that way. So, the artist needs to take a
position about the system that rules society. Art can be socially enga-
ged, provide a critical point of view and if necessary make the pillars
of society tremble.
I guess that it needs a little bit of interest, a slice of involvement, a fee-
ling of empathy for the other, a need to say something and braveness
for an artist to make socially engaged art.
Participatory Art: Its problems and its ways
Tere is a legitimate artistic trend that tries to reconnect with the com-
munity. It tries to democratise art and make it less elitist. It has an
aversion to the focus on the individual only, some try to reinforce the
social bond and empower communities. Participatory art can be a way
to reconnect the individual to the collectivity and break with the sic-
king system of consumerism and individualism.
Unfortunately some participatory artistic eforts have made only a cos-
metic change. Participation with the idea to repair the social bond can
lead to a fake result in art. Examples are municipality projects where
artists are asked to create a project to increase participation and less
criminality.
10
Artists take then a facilitator role to achieve this goal. Tey congre-
gate people from the neighbourhood to encourage participation of the
excluded and then develop workshops. Tese social interventions
create expectations in the public, in participants, and neighbours. Par-
ticipants in these artistic projects get the label of the disadvantaged
or the excluded, this label is not necessarily a good start to empower
people. Te result is that social groups end being used for artistic ac-
tivities that will count at the fnal municipality reports as eforts made
for community development. Art workshops emphasise the responsi-
bility of the individual to get a better life, away from alcohol, drugs and
unemployment, forgetting the role of the state to empower the most
disadvantaged in society. Artists have to get aware of their role in these
projects, because the latter can justify state lip service about peoples
empowerment, and can even increase social discontent.
Tese type of projects stay on the phase of art for reconnection amongst
individuals. But they do not focus in problematic social and political
structures, as for example the free market economy and issues rela-
ted to totalitarian regimes. Real empowerment will happen if projects
would start from the bottom up. But then we enter in the realm of the
social sciences, which can be used in arts as long as the projects are re-
cognised as art projects and evaluated as such. However, many art par-
ticipative projects leave aesthetics behind, and do not want art quality
to be evaluated in the projects, but request to be evaluated in relation
to their social achievements.
Te problem can be to consider that art goal should be to help the poor,
the uneducated, the marginalised, the non included. If this is the aim,
what would be then the diference between art and social work? Since
both will be aiming for the same and are using the same methods. In
this sense art becomes not more than a tool, entering in the realm of
the ameliorative, rather than the creation of singular acts that leave
other behind with a troubling wake.
11
Tis kind of art is sometimes driven from good morality, the moral
of the good soul has then an important place in it's working. Tis can
be a problem because it can give little space for freedom in art, this
morality can be a limitation in the creative process, also for the viewer
and for the critic who will not know in which terms this kind of art
can be analysed. Tis type of participatory art conceals and that risks
the capacity of art for disruption and absurdity which can be crucial
for artistic impact. Art will fnd itself completely closed and repressed
in the discussion about its ethics. Participatory art produced in this
way, is forgetting to count on aesthetics, which is a crucial element for
determining quality.
Art should have an autonomous realm of experience, where perversity,
paradox and negation can have a space. Tis means that some partici-
patory art produced now needs to develop another approach.
Te Ways for Socially Engaged Art
If the goal of participatory art is to make more sustained relationships
in the world, then participation as a concept should be also defned.
How does this participation happens and how does it contribute to the
construction of good art? If it is politically engaged art, we have to ask
ourselves to whose policies is it engaged with?
Te reconnection between the individual and the collectivity is crucial
for the survival of the arts as a relevant aspect of society. Socially enga-
ged art, participatory or not, has the capacity to negotiate the Social:
what is the social? where does it go? which is the direction for society
to take? how should we all relate to each other? how do authorities
should treat people? which kind of economic system do we need? how
can an artist react to the self destruction trend of capitalism? these are
some of the questions that artists can research and answer.
12
Probably one of the most ethical ways for the artist art to negotiate
the social is according to his or her (unconscious) desire than to
modify his or her behaviour for the eyes of the Big Other (society,
family, law, expected norms). Such a focus on individual needs does
not denote a foreclosure of the social; on the contrary, individual ana-
lysis always takes backdrop of society norms and pressures.
In this way, it is important for the artist to follow his or her social
curiosity without the incapacitating restrictions of guilt, being true to
himself and stimulating the same in the other. Art can be a way for
artists to liberate feelings about society, in a way in which the fnal
product becomes a symbol of the social issue in question.
If the project has a participatory aspect, the artist does not need to take
the role of a self suppressed facilitator but can become a directorial in-
stigator, someone who creates the atmosphere but then allows things
to happen without moral restrictions or a feeling of social obligation.
When the artist takes this role, he or she will be stimulating the other
to take some ownership in the project as well, and some ownership in
the message to be presented to the outside world. Tis participatory
process can enrich the fnal product.
Socially engaged (participatory) art needs to have the space and fnd
its ways to disentangle the complexity of inequality, class, political en-
gagement, afect and behavioural protocols, without moral analogies
that fail to understand the aesthetic as an autonomous realm of expe-
rience.
Conclusion
We live in a system of free market economics, where consumerism is
the rule of the day. In this system the commodifcation of the arts has
taken place. Artists can take a position about it and realise how much
they and their communities get afected by this system. One way to it
is using participatory art, which is a trend trying to democratise art.
13
However many participatory art projects have taken a concealing role
instead of becoming a hub for critical thinking in relation to structural
political, social, environmental and economical problems in society.
Besides many have forgotten the role of aesthetics in the making and
understanding of art.
Socially engaged art has a great capacity to negotiate the social. Tis
means that art needs to be contextualised in the society in which we
live, so that the artist can take a position.
And the most ethical way for the artist to do it is following their social
curiosity. Using participatory or non participatory art, but following
their instinct with joy, without being afraid to disturb and taking all
the freedom necessary to shake sick society structures. It is a challenge
for art to scape from the mouth of the big consumers economic system
and strive for its signifcance in our society.
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PARTICIPANT 2
Social
My fatmate is very socially engaged. She holds strong ideals. Lately
she performed anthropological research in a city where people are op-
pressed. She lived amongst them for months in order to understand
their struggles and describe as objective as possible the problems and
concerns that people are facing. Te people there need to get a voice!
Tey need to be heard so that their battle was not an idle one. In that
way they can be supported by the international community and con-
tinue their life in peace and freedom not having to fear for their lives
when they ventilate opinions. My fatmate now is working out all the
interviews and combines all the data in a research report. Also, she
wants to organize a support meeting here in Amsterdam to send some
warmth and support to the oppressed people and show some solidarity
and support. I was very moved by her stories on how she only just es-
caped from the police violence on the streets of the oppressed city and
the overwhelming emotions that this brought unto her. I want to help
her and the people in the oppressed city and therefore we want to or-
ganize a solidarity diner and invite a lot of people from our friends and
neighbors. During her stay in the oppressed city my fatmate asked the
people what their hopes and dreams are for the future. My fatmate and
I were thinking that it would be amazing if we could fnd some of you
(my fellow rietveld students) prepared to make a work or hope-object
based on one of those dreams, to send our support to the oppressed
people. Te oppressed people explicitly asked my fatmate to spread
the word and tell the world about their story. Tese works would be
our gesture to them. My fatmate feels strongly about that it should not
become an exhibition, because the word has negative connotation to
her, but a social gathering.
My fatmate has a boyfriend. He is very idealistic to. He travels to coun-
tries with political problems to make documentaries and shed light on
injustice and create awareness. Right now he is traveling and making
one of his flms that might be awarded at the IDVA. When he comes
15
back from the shooting, they will be living together in his house.
Tis makes her very happy because she loves him very much and she
wants to have children with him.
For the room in my house that will become empty when my fatmate
leaves it might seem logical that a new person would be moving in.
And she already has an idea on who this might be, namely, a friend of
hers that is looking desperately for a house in the city center of Amster-
dam. Because it is a social thing to house as many people as possible,
especially when you have the luck to have a space like ours. We live
with 3 people in a 3 bedroom apartment in Oud-West which is quite a
nice neighborhood with high rental prices when you are not well con-
nected. We however got very lucky because we used to live in a squad
and settled for this anti-squad apartment when the pressure from the
owner to leave the old place got stronger. We were beginning to get
jobs and did not want to risk coming home one day to fnd the place
neatly cleared by the ME. We live in the new space for years already
without any problems which is very convenient. It is not very big, but
hey, we pay almost no rent. My room for instance is 8 square meters
and I just manage to store my stuf somehow and make my work for
the academy. Te only problem is when I need something specifc that
is somewhere in one corner of the room, for instance my blue paint,
I need to move a lot of stuf to the hallway and aferwards put it back,
but hey, we pay almost no rent. Now that its starting to take longer
and longer, living and working in such a small room makes me want to
have some more space to work and live. Now, a problem is occurring.
My fatmate that is leaving the house feels that it is my duty to rent out
the room she leaves behind to her friend that is desperately looking for
a place in the city center of Amsterdam. She is convinced that it should
be in my squatters mentality and idealism to let her friend in the anti-
squad room, instead of using it for myself to work in. She is using dif-
ferent techniques to convince me of her idealism. She uses diferent
argumentation and tries to talk some of her reason into me.
I must be strong.
16
PARTICIPANT 3
Participant 3 on the fuzzy concept.
So, theres a lot to choose from.. If I would choose to react on Modern
uses , my reaction to the above section from Wikipedia would be that
it:a society ruled over by a government which aim to apply resources
in the public interest for example: Social Security - (as it states that in
contemporary society social ofen refers to these redistributive poli-
cies of a government)-, does not sound too social to me, social security.
What is a healthy, sane society? One that is ruled over by few capi-
talists? One that is spending trillions on war, controlling mainstream
media, drugging its inhabitants, yes even poisoning fellow earth wal-
kers and on and on?
As Wikipedia states: Karl Marx view on the fuzzy concept was that
our social characteristic are an objectively given fact, stamped upon
us from birth and afrmed by socialization processes. In reproducing
their material life, people must necessarily enter into relations of pro-
duction which are independent of their will.
Max Weber defnes human action as social if it takes account of the
behaviour of others and is thereby oriented in its course.
Tat is a contradiction.
Weber addresses the sociaal-wenselijkheid in my eyes and I cannot re-
ally relate to that aangepast gedrag, not so much. What I can relate to
is take the others feelings into account and to help out, like most of us
I guess. Eventhough some social clumsiness lurks around the corner. If
one is to belief that all is connected, what is, then- not social? Are in-
troverts anti-social? I do not believe this. Not-social is greed, egotism,
remorseless capitalism, destructive at cost of others. And I am not sure
about if the number of people should be taken into account: if big it is
social, if not not.
17
- Van Dale dictionairy writes this:
sociaal (bijvoeglijk naamwoord, bijwoord) 1betrekking hebbend op
de maatschappij, op het welzijn daarvan: the relating to the commu-
nity, to the well-being of society (for the good of the people)
And that does not sound fuzzy at all.
What kind of social does society ask for? What does it ask of us?
Instead of projecting, one is in contact. Instead of only talking, one
listens. Instead of observing, one is participating. And I believe a frst
step is to be in contact with ones self. Do we know what it is that makes
us a well-being ourselves in the frst place?
What longs society for, what does it ask of us. If we dont know an ans-
wer to this question, can we then, be social? Pretending to know what
is good for one another? Can we answer what would be good, of well-
being, for ourselves? So then we have the question rising: what is a sane
society? And I will read Fromm on that sooner or later.
Social art, it should serve for the good of the people- to try tackle social
problems. Art that moves the viewer/participant. It arouses, enhances,
it inspires, it lifs, it makes people think.. it communicates through
sense -thought ending up in a shared belief, if so: really nice. An ex-
change in emotion and/or thought. It unites. It bonds. It has got some-
thing to ofer for the good of the people. And I believe that if artists
make what serves themselves honestly they can serve human kind, at
least in a way and as a startingpoint. As social is relating to the well
being of community/society.
18
PARTICIPANT 4
Te Social
A Social being belongs to a society. Which in modern times would
mean belonging to a corporate company. Modern dynamic and fair.
Now, imagine such social being living his life in such environmental
structure and ask yourself what real social aspect does such behavior
aspire.
His job routine will unsurprisingly be seen unnoticed by his colleagues
which will act insignifcantly vice versa.
Tis all, while the society will run packed with such individuals.
Social is a stair leading to interaction. At least I believe fondly. Stairs
are architecturally complex but always understandable within our geo-
metry rule. An geometry of interactions, conficts and encounters.
Yet modern individual society has none. As it exists in an impossible
geometry.
19
PARTICIPANT 5
De-hierarchisation
of participatory art.
Lets start with the afrmation of Margaret Tatcher, Tere is not such
a thing as Society.
On the basis that this quote makes Tatcher a radical pupil of Ayn
Rand and the Objectivist movement that she consolidated in the 50s,
we could say that participatory art involves a group of individuals, with
personal goals, those who interact successfully with the others when
the goals they share beneft the individual objective.
Personally I would say, as mere viewer, that the individual objective is
to integrate the audience into the creators, or into the reproduction of
art as well as the art practices, not as viewer standing in front of the
item but as part of it, as a material. Also to deal with the idea of art as
a not tangible product , nor ending of the reproduction process but a
continuous development. Tus, according to the frame of the spectator
as the main participant in the game, the game itself needs to be formu-
lated by its own process. Claire Bishop in her book, ''Artifcial Hells'',
talks about many collectives which are working in this direction, (Col-
lective or Creativity, WHW 2005, Tinking the matter into common
hands. Maria Lind, 2005, Democracy in America. Nato Tompson,
2008.); they are attached to the idea that the spectator has a new role.

We can compare works like the German architect Alexander Beck so
called: Doccupy, in which he placed 28 white tents full of occupiers,
and he adorned them with words representing the basic evils, greed,
proft and pride at the Documenta 13, in 2012. Tereby pronouncing
an act of nonconforming statement about the materialization of art.

Also another example is the work of Tino Seghal Tis progress 2010,
in which he placed his participants all over the Guggenheim Museum
in New York, from kids to elderly, asking to the audience visiting the
20
museum, what is this progress?. Te relationship between the specta-
tor, the partipant, and the creator is still functional, it triggers the par-
ticipant gesture of the audience in which we based this dialog but it is
still commanded in a sense of authority, literally with a previous script.
It is again the end of the reproduction process instead of being the
procedure generator of the next step.Tis interaction is still under the
orders of the composer, Te man with the plan and his participants,
when actually what really persuades me about this approach is the sort
of individualistic idea coming from the Ayn Rands philosophy, auto-
diligence facing adversity. Individual men with individual goals sha-
ring their eforts for their own beneft.
On the contrary, Oda Projesi Collective, the Turkish collective shares
this attitude of relational, communalist or situationist group, not only
for the idea of co-operation without any proft but for the goals they
formulated, they literally say: We shape, and are shaped by, our sur-
rounding..
Performing activities in which they are just part of it, and developing
relationships in between the neighborhood in just one single room,
Oda Projesi girls, sometimes organize just as project space; an exhi-
bition space, sometimes by using the very basic dynamics of the daily
life like eating and drinking. It functions as a meeting point and some-
times becomes a multipurpose place used by them and by the neigh-
bours and sometimes it includes all these diferent usages.
Tese fexibility of the space provides diferent possibilities, it produces
a third language, created with and within the space. Tis non-hierar-
chical usage of the place ofers some new situations and roles which
are not well determined, the spectator as a participant, the creator as
a spectator, and this whole as the work itself and as development. Tis
new spectatorship developed through an unexpected process, can be
called art?, this is the sort of question that calls into question the line
between a social and an art project.
21
Ricardo Basbaum and his Would you like to participate in an artistic
experience? is fascinating, all this researches about the social interac-
tion in between the spectator and the object itself, creating this explo-
rative documentation of it, is a proof that participatory art cannot be
fnally executed at once, it is a process in which you can always amend,
improve and learn in a relative way. Tus, participatory art socially en-
gaged, is creating itself, it is a way of discovering through experimental
researches.
Te reason why I made this comparison is to see the potentiality of
participatory art. Believing that politics and arts are twins, the Prime
Minister and the Artist have quite some similarities.
Both are selected for the Audience. Te Prime Minister is selected to
be responsible for selecting members of the cabinet or dismissing them
in order to evaluate the best out of it, (Ministry of defense, Ministry of
health, Ministry of public works, Ministry of urban planning, Ministry
of culture...), and the Artist for instance has been selected for a net-
work around him which is crucial to evaluate, execute and present his
work to the Audience, as well as the curator, the gallery, the art critic,
the collector, the art historian and the professor but on the contrary he
is not selecting them he is the one who is selected. Both characters have
an important deal with the Audience, there is a purpose of change on
behaviour accord with matters that concern them both the Audience
and the Artist-Prime Minister. In order to succeed agreeing with the
consensus, the Audience has the most important role, they are the ones
whom select and agree with the selections, in other terms they are the
material.
Tis is the link with Claire Bishop's book I see as essential when it co-
mes to talk about participatory art, instead of using art as an aesthetic
language of objects from individuals to illustrate what concerns soci-
ety, I would rather use society to display what concern individuals, not
forgetting the relationships between individuals and society as well as
the aesthetic of participatory interventions.
22
23
For this frst textual cohesion I will base this discussion on the text
of the second participant My fatmate . Employing the texts of the
other participants in order to react on it under the criteria of Margaret
Thatcher and her affrmation, There is not such a thing as society.

My fatmate is very socially engaged, she holds strong ideals. []
Her boyfriend travels to countries with political problems to make
documentaries and shed light on injustice and create awareness.
[] Right now he is travelling and making one of his flms that might
be awarded at the IDVA. [] After this they will be living together
in his house and she already has an idea about a new person would
be moving in. [] We used to live in a squad, now its anti-squat
apartment and we pay almost no rent. [] Even though It is a really
small apartment. []
Now a problem is occurring. [] My fatmate feels that is my duty
to rent out the room she leaves behind. [] Because it is a social
thing to house as many people as possible she is convinced that it
should be in my squatters mentality and idealism to let her friend in
the anti-squat room, instead of using it for myself to work. [] She
is using different techniques to convince me of her idealism. [] I
must be strong.

My house.
24
A socially engaged attitude involves a group of individuals with per-
sonal goals. Those who interact successfully when the objective they
share benefts the individual goals; as the economic market nowa-
days works.
These are the consequences of living in an era of free market eco-
nomy and great degree of individualism. There is no focus on the
community. The consuming individual has become crucial for the
subsistence of the system. Now, imagine a social being living his life
in such an environmental structure like this and ask yourself; what
real social aspect does such behaviour aspire?.
In the other hand, Max Weber, defnes human action as Social ,
if it takes into account the behaviour of others and is thereby orien-
ted its course. Weber, addresses the social coexistence. In my eyes
I cannot really relate it to adaptive behaviour. What I can relate to
is considering the feelings of others, and if possible, help them out.

It is then, we reach the point in which we see how economic policies
affect individuals. Once again this example, My fatmate, proves
that the economic system rules relationships between individuals
and society as two different members of the same whole.
But which sort of ideology does encourage the fatmate to help the
community through sacrifce?. Is there any kind of religious values
behind it?.
25
Imagine that the room mentioned in the previous chapter could be
shared between the fve participants. The room would be amortized
through any artistic activity. The purpose is to create more anti-squat
spaces for disadvantaged people like The Flatmate and provide
an agreed program by majority. This program would be offered to
the neighbourhood for the purpose of helping young artists to de-
velop their work and involve the community. Each member of the
organization, (in this case each participant), is in charge of selecting
the program in turn already selected by the neighbours from the lo-
cation. Thus imagine now that all the statements proposed in the
paragraphs below, are the policies or philosophies of the fve partici-
pants, followed by a small speech about it.
- Philosophy 1. Art has to be contextualised in the society in which
we live.
Art as a source for critical thinking is not necessarily appreciated by
the economical system in which we live [...]
Art aimed to encourage critical thinking in society employs methods
and materials that are not really easy to put on sale [...]
But we enter in the realm of social sciences, which can be used in
arts as long as the projects are recognized and evaluated as such [...]
The Jun-
gle.
26
Participatory art is a trend trying to democratise art. Many have
forgotten the role of aesthetics in the making and understanding
of art[...] What would be the difference between art and social
work?[...] Socially engaged art has a great capacity to negotiate
the social, arts needs to be contextualised in the society in which we
live[...]
- Philosophy 2. I must be strong.
My fatmate is very socially engaged, she holds strong ideals[...]
She performed anthropological researches in a city where people
are oppressed [...] They need to get a voice in there [...] My fatmate
and I were thinking about to make a work or hope-object based on
those dreams, she feels strongly about that it should not become an
exhibition, because the word has negative connotations to her, but a
social gathering [...] I must be strong.
- Philosophy 3. Social is a stair leading to interaction.
Social is a stair leading to interaction [...]At least I believe fond-
ly[...] Stairs are architecturally complex but always understandable
within our geometry rule[...] An geometry of interactions, conficts
and encounters[...] Yet modern individual society has none[...] As it
exists in an impossible geometry[...]
- Philosophy 4. Society based on individuals as a group.
Social art, it should serve for the good of the people, to try tac-
kle social problems[...] Art that moves the viewer/participant[...] It
arouses, enhances, it inspires, it lifts, it makes people think[...] it
communicates through sense-though ending up in a shared belief[...]
It unites, it bounds[...] It has something to offer to the good of peo-
ple... As social is related to the well-being of community/society[...]
27
- Philosophy 5. No autonomous art. Society as context.
Thinking as an artist or from the artistic production perspective,
at the same time we work with objects in a sense of solving shape,
contextual or material problems, we could employ the same kind of
skills on social matters. Thus as public spaces, social environments
or social design [...]
Aesthetics in participatory art or art practices are still indefnite, not
clearly determined [...]
Instead of using art as an aesthetic language of objects made by in-
dividuals to illustrate what concerns society, basically autonomous
art, I rather would employ society to display what concerns indivi-
duals. Thereby not neglecting the relationships in between individu-
als, society as well as the aesthetics of participatory interventions
and the important role of the spectatorship as part of the art repro-
duction [...]
- The next step would be to set up a meeting with the participants and
the members of the house in order to discuss how fnancially will
work out and get a democratic election of the matter.

28
Non-geometric society.
29
The Church.
Tere is always a point at which we concur. Tere are always parts of
the arguments that makes us coincide with each others, either for reli-
gious, cultural or moral values. Also including economic reasons.
Te solution that is observed here triggers the consensus unwittingly
elaborated by the fve participants. It is a review used to match perspec-
tives and create a righteous ending for My Flatmate issue.
Now there is only one participant, one philosophy, one policy; Te
Community.
We were thinking together with our fatmate about to make a work or
hope-object based on those dreams, they need to get a voice in there.
We feel strongly about the idea that it should not become an exhibiti-
on, because we feel that the word has negative connotations to us, but a
social gathering. Instead of using art as an aesthetic language of objects
made by individuals to illustrate what concerns society, basically auto-
nomous art, We would rather employ society to display what concerns
individuals. Social art, should serve for the good of the people, to try to
tackle social problems. Social is a stair leading to interaction. Stairs are
architecturally complex but always understandable within our geome-
try rule, a geometry of interactions, conficts and encounters.
What are the diferences between art and social work?
Socially engaged art has a great capacity to negotiate the social. Arts
need to be contextualised in the society in which we live. Art that
moves the viewer or participant, it arouses, enhances, it inspires, it lifs,
it makes people think.
It communicates through sense-though ending up in a shared belief. It
unites, it bounds... It has something to ofer to the good of people... As
social is related to the well-being of community or society.
I would like to thank to those involved in the contents of this
document.