"Bariera pomagania". Sztuka współczesna jako narzędzie pedagogizacji działań obywatelskich
'The Barrier Hampering Helping'. Contemporary Art as a Tool for the Educationalisation of Civic Activities

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses contemporary practices and artistic discourses referring to the concept of citizenship. The specific way of understanding this concept is shown here as one associated with the mechanisms of Foucault's governmentality, characteristic of the neo-liberal model of governance. This relationship can be seen on three levels. First, the discourses of so-called "civic art" can be inscribed in the pervasive endency to educationalise more and more areas of everyday life. Second, the most important determinant of social relations in the discourses analysed here is the category of broadly-defined individual or group interests. Third, the model of citizenship used by the artists mentioned in the paper refers to characteristics such as activity, responsibility and subjectivity. This model also promotes participation in local policies and inclusion of the excluded. In addition, these practices are often presented by the model's proponents as an opposition to neoliberal policies. The validity of this opposition is called into question based on the reference to Foucault's reconstruction of the concept of homo oeconomicus as the fundamental category of neoliberalism.

• Details
• Contents