Abstract
In 1979, the Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar staged his first public intervention in the context of military dictatorship. His inquiry on states of happiness anticipated a working method that Jaar has been following since. In taking Studies on Happiness as an early example of social aesthetics, this article will show that the work itself is not only seen as the product of making (poïesis), but that the process itself is seen as the embodiment of knowledge, the dwelling and outcome of an intended action. However, this action is not simply an act in the everyday (praxis), but as an intended action it is intelligent in itself and calls for the practical wisdom of acting (phronesis). As soon as the project includes a relational process and forms of participation, both in nature of unforeseeable outcome, the aim is no longer the production of a (common) object; rather, it is the social relation itself, established through the aesthetic or “boundary” object that puts into action the relation as well as the reflection on the conditions of its becoming. We will assess how play and phronesis can mediate between research and art by creating a situational knowledge, that is both critique and contributory: a research in the open.
Highlights
In 1979, the Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar addressed a question to passers-by throughout the city of Santiago: “Are you happy?” In a seemingly innocent manner, he managed to disrupt daily routine and measured people’s misery in a country ruled by military dictatorship
The work represents an investigation that sheds an interesting light on methods of artistic research and asks how artists can base their critical activity on social aesthetics, while taking into account methodologies recently developed in social sciences
While research in and through the arts responds to an increasing demand by national and international organs3, artistic research still evokes a number of interrogations, which 2009 ELIA President Chris Wainwright summed up in the simple question: “what can research do for art?” The lack of common epistemology testifies the difficulties to reconcile ideological as well as national approaches, and shows the interest of the value of art itself “as a complex site of critical activity that is improved by the process of research” (Wainwright, 2009, p. 105)”
Summary
In 1979, the Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar addressed a question to passers-by throughout the city of Santiago: “Are you happy?” In a seemingly innocent manner, he managed to disrupt daily routine and measured people’s misery in a country ruled by military dictatorship. In taking Studies on Happiness as an early example of social aesthetics, this article will show that the work itself is seen as the product of making (poïesis), but that the process itself is seen as the embodiment of knowledge, the dwelling and outcome of an intended action. This action is not an act in the everyday (praxis), but as an intended action it is intelligent in itself and calls for the practical wisdom of acting (phronesis). We will assess how play and phronesis can mediate between research and art by creating a situational knowledge, that is both critique and contributory: a research in the open
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