Dialogical art as a challenge for competitive environment

Contemporary society is raising important questions related to issues such as social construction or interpretation of reality, the role of culture and the meaning of art. Modernity replaces the determination of social standing with a compulsive and obligatory self-determination which holds for all periods and all sectors of the modern era, as described by Baumann (2001). This paper focuses on the analysis of problems related to contemporary art and its social meaning. The main focus is on projects which encourage their participants to question fixed identities, stereotypical images through a cumulative process of exchange and dialogue. The use of the community concept revolves around the complex forms of identification that exist between individuals and larger collective entities which encourage people to break down their defensive isolation and fear of others (Kester, 2004). The link between the society, history and culture is analyzed in the context of relational aesthetics (Bourriaud, 2002). The theoretical concept of dialogical art is illustrated by dialogical art projects and activist or community-based art practice, namely WochenKlausur projects. As a response to sociological problems of postmodern society, this could be a challenge for competitive environment, which often tends to position marginalized groups into disadvantaged situations.