Object of research: Political art practices and their role in shaping the solidarity and networks of care in non-democratic societies.

Research question: The following research proposal aims to outline and explore two blocks of interconnected questions. During the ongoing social and political crises, it became apparent that the forms of vulnerability, codependency, on the one hand, and oppression, control, on the other, reach the deepest layers of existence, affecting the level of intimate settings, turning precarity into a diffuse, characteristic: individuals experience their vulnerability in different statuses and social situations. The question arises whether there is a limit for precarity, whether there is something beyond the work of inclusion-exclusion machines, what is the basis for such a mode of existence and how to form new ways of solidarity and connectivity. In which way is positive vulnerability possible as the basis of solidarity, and how should care infrastructures be built?

We can see how contemporary political art becomes an instrument of social transformations and serves the growth of communities and promotes the idea of solidarity based on care as a structural practice, as an arrangement of life. The artistic gesture, turned into political action, can be an expression of hope for changes, an instrument of political imagination. How did an artistic practice have such a strong effect on societies? Where did this point of intersection between artistic practice and political action arise? How does this affect our perception of the political, art, and action in modern times?

Caring infrastructures and solidarity networks can be created even inside oppressed societies. In a situation of extreme violence, the participants can use the potential of the peaceful, soft tactics in the protests and continue to provide assistance and support, recognizing at the same time the strength and weaknesses of each other. In political art, tools and visual expression are formed that contribute to splitting up monolithic narratives. It creates an opportunity to overcome the internal embeddedness and inviolability of hierarchies; includes many different points of view, perceptions, interpretations, visions and affects. Working with the reality of an affect, modern political art makes it possible for the individuals and groups to realize their involvement in the moment of action, create an independent agenda, and form horizontal network connections outside hierarchical structures.