PhD Proposal Presentation : Site Specific Art in Johannesburg - Aesthetic Practice, Political Contestation and the Urban.

This is a proposal for a PhD that aims to explore and critically question forms of art making practices that are crafted with an integral connection to the space and time in which they are made, distributed and received. In the terminology of contemporary art, this is known as site specific art , or referred to simply as site specificity. These practices are contingent, relational and often part of critical or socially engaged cultural or political projects. I will focus on selected forms of site specific work within Johannesburg, after 1994, in order to assess the extent to which this form of art practice with its attendant methods, theoretical frameworks and conceptual genealogies, represents a form of aesthetic research and critical practice that is able to engage with and challenge prevail ing cultural, political, economic and social orders. Johannesburg is the site that I intend to explore from this political and aesthetic vantage point.