The KP came together through two common needs—that of examining the term artistic practice and that of working and processing collectively. With three different languages and each of us a different disciplinary background, we constantly analyse and exchange with different approaches and methodologies, bringing and cultivating diverse perspectives, interests and understandings to our common work. We are asking: Who determines artistic practice according to which criteria? Under what circumstances can I call myself an artist and what definition of value is attached to the work I do? What makes a practice artistic and what makes something be a practice? Can we go beyond the dichotomy of theory and practice? In a wider sense, where are the borders of art as a definition and where are its borders of action-ability in comparison to other fields like the social? We decided to open a Künstlerische Praxis together, not to find definite solutions, but to explore and expand our questions and to give space to practice together. The word play that we create through the double meaning of the term Praxis sets artistic practice as an action in a relationship and dependency with the place, that is in the conventional sense a place to see a doctor, to find healing
or knowledge. In scientific fields knowledge and expertise are well embedded in a system of legitimacy and truth, manifested in the example of a doctor, a therapist and a patient. We are asking, is this also the case in the arts? Who is the patient and who is the expert then? By inventing a Praxis in an art context, we have the freedom to define the knowledge and truth ourselves. Patients and experts, truths and solutions don’t exist—instead, we mark out a playground of experimenting and make the group itself the object of observation. Taking the group as a fixed point, we regularly open the experiment to public encounters hoping for a mutual influence and reorientation. Through our methods, tools and discussions, we seek to explore artistic practices in the realm of social space in order to make visible
social aspects within artistic practice—while also exploring creative perspectives within community networks. Working with process-based methods where field research, discussion and participation shape the character of the project, our focus is not put on finding answers, but rather on keeping questions alive, testing boundaries and blurring them where necessary.
