Art in Times of Gray Democracy

Does art have the potential to stimulate and sustain political participation? On behalf of the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Joanna Warsza invited the artists Alexandra Pirici, Pablo Helguera, and Ulf Aminde to Leipzig to try out three projects in public and semi-public spaces: Pirici staged a choreographic intervention at the Monument to the Battle of the Nations, Helguera an improvised speaking choir, and Aminde the dress rehearsal for an art strike. All the works were shown as part of the Performative Democracy series, whose title is taken from the book of the same name by Polish sociologist Elżbieta Matynia. It describes people as politically active creatures whose collective significance is derived from their actions. The publication Art in Times of Gray Democracy brings to a close the Performative Democracy series. It is produced in magazine format.