AAH 2010
The 36th Association of Art Historians Conference

Session Proposal

Co-Chairs
Robin Baillie MA(Hons), HDip (Fine Art)
Senior Outreach Officer, The National Galleries of Scotland
Dr Ken Neil, MA(Hons), MFA, PhD
Head of Historical and Critical Studies, The Glasgow School of Art

'The Rules of (Collective) Art'
Social Engagement and Collaboration in Contemporary Art

Deadline: 9 November 2009.

The dramatic development of the field of socially engaged art over recent
decades demands that new critical methods are developed to evaluate the
status of art produced in this way. We are looking for papers which both
reflect these changes and challenge current artistic practice and its
theoretical basis.

This session will build a frame of reference around such artworks by
calling for papers from art historians, art critics, theorists, artists
and educationalists involved in this field. The session will seek to map
out the shifting boundaries of classification and meaning which arise from
contemporary art production in collaboration with communities.

We are interested in papers which make reference to new approaches to
critical evaluation in this area that may be influenced by social
geography, cultural sociology and social anthropology, as well as by
contemporary developments in art theory. This can be an opportunity to
reappraise the pedagogical basis of art school training and the
implications of the economic and social realities of art based careers
related to regeneration agendas.

At stake in socially engaged artistic processes is the 'consecrated value'
of the art object (modernist and postmodernist) and the definition of the
authorship of contemporary artworks produced through community
collaboration. The work of Pierre Bourdieu, for example, specifically his
examination of 19th Century literary modernism in The Rules of Art, 1996
Les regles de l'art, 1992; Eng. Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of the
Literary Field, Stanford University Press, 1996.
, has led to challenges to traditional modernist notions of the work of
art, its intention and its audience.

Ultimately these artworks and the processes out of which they are made
require a reappraisal of the concepts and methods available to art
historians in assessing their impact and artistic value. This session will
help further that investigation and we welcome all contributions.

Please send an abstract of your proposal, which should be 250 words
describing a 30 minute paper to -

Robin Baillie
Senior Outreach Officer
National Galleries of Scotland
Baden Powell House
3 Victoria Terrace
Edinburgh EH1 2JL.
rbaillienationalgalleries.org<mailto:rbaillienationalgalleries.org>

and
Ken Neil
Head of Historical and Critical Studies
The Glasgow School of Art
167 Renfrew Street
Glasgow G3 6RQ.
k.neilgsa.ac.uk<mailto:k.neilgsa.ac.uk>

If you would like to offer a paper, please contact the session convenor(s)
directly, providing an abstract of your proposed paper in no more than 250
words, your name and institutional affiliation (if any). Please do not
send paper proposals to the conference convenor.

Robin Baillie
Senior Outreach Officer
Education Department
The National Galleries of Scotland
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
1 Queen Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1JD
rbaillienationalgalleries.org
0131 624 6430

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Registered address: The Dean Gallery, 73 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DS.
VAT No. GB270718360

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--.
National Galleries of Scotland is a charity registered in Scotland No.
SC003728
Registered address: The Dean Gallery, 73 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DS.
VAT No. GB270718360

To be kept informed about events sign up for our email newsletter at
www.nationalgalleries.org/ebulletin