Reflexivity, participatory art, and the failures of monist representation

ABSTRACT

This essay engages in a dual-disciplinary theorizing of reflexivity as response to crises of democratic representation. We trace this crises through the parallel lenses of democratic theory and art history. As political theorists explore alternative representations of ‘the people,’ contemporary artists have developed their own responses to the crisis of monist representation. In both state institutions and in participatory art – and in the theorizing of both – we find the rejection of monist representations of ‘the people’ and the embracement of pluralist, partial, and proximate representations. These public reflexive spaces give voice to new, partial publics, and call attention to past and present exclusions.

KEYWORDS:

• Representation
• reflexivity
• public
• participatory art
• democratic

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Kathleen Tipler is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Oklahoma.

Christina Chang is Interim Director and Curator of the Perlman Teaching Museum at Carleton College.