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SOCIAL TURN

Social turn was first used in 2006 to describe the recent return to socially engaged art that is collaborative, often participatory and involves people as the medium or material of the work
Jeremy Deller, The battle of Orgreave, 2001, Still Frame
The term was coined by the art historian Claire Bishop in her 2006 essay The Social Turn: Collaboration and Its Discontents. Art that operates under the umbrella of social turn tends to happen outside museums or galleries, although this it not always the case. Because much of the art is collaborative and focuses on constructive social change, it is rarely commercial or object based – two things that are seen as elitist and consumerist.
Often when discussing social turn the filmmaker, writer and founder of situationism Guy Debord is alluded to for his promotion of a participatory art in which he wished to eliminate the spectator’s position.
An example of social turn would be Tennantspin 1999, an art work by Superflex in which they devised an internet TV station for the elderly residents of a Liverpool housing project.
Tenantspin is a Liverpool-based Community TV Channel. It was established by the Danish artists’ group Superflex in 1999 and is now managed by FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), city-wide tenants and Arena Housing, a North-West Housing Association. This unique collaboration enables all parties to explore issues around ways of living and interacting.
For The Fifth Floor, tenantspin will design and establish a fully-equipped TV studio within the galleries where stories, opinions, and views will be collected from visitors, and where live discussions, readings and performances will take place. All content will be available on the tenantspin website.
tenantspin are also providing Media Training to individuals and community groups in Liverpool. In tandem with the International Festival stage, the tenantspin studio will be a hub for a live programme of events on The Fifth Floor.
My own connection with the idea of social turn is that i dont see my own work being a part of a gallery or exhibited aside from where the work is created. My work forms a collaboration with the public and the place in which it is situated so it forms a collaboration in the means of participation with members of the public and those who chose to interact with the work.

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