Hybrid Modes of Collaborations in Contemporary Art Practices: Challenging the Politics of Belonging in the Post-1989 Community

  • Abstract:
    This paper problematizes the notion of community enacted at the EU level, through a contextual analysis of two collaborative contemporary artworks, Re:route (2002, in Turin, Italy) by the Hungarian artist Miklos Erhardt and Scottish artist Dominic Hislop and Together/Impreuna (2007, in London, UK) by Romanian artist Matei Bejenaru. I argue that such art projects through their hybrid modes of collaboration based upon a contestational approach to social capital, propose alternative views to a pan-European space with its generally positive notions of belonging and European Citizenship. In contrast to a consensual notion of community among individuals and groups bound together, for instance, by shared norms and interests, I argue these artists, in different ways, utilize the mechanics of social capital as effective resources to engage politically and socially marginalized groups in collective action in order to ultimately inspire an inclusive form of community that embraces dissension and difference.