Doctoral thesis
Art as a Democratic Act: the interplay of content and context, London 2000-2006

Part Fine Art Practice / Part Art History
Oxford Brookes University 2008
Arts & Humanities Research Council Award

Introduction | Section I | Section II | Section III

The thesis begins with some academic discussion about democracy as the enactment of freedom and equality -not necessarily anything to do with voting rights. It goes on to an analysis of Tate Modern as a case study of the pressures against art as a democratic act, namely the pressures of the market and the state.

Some aspects of this thesis I still hold as true but more recent experience and thought has led me to hold some very different, even opposing ideas. These will be explored in an upcoming title published by IB Tauris, 'This is not Art: Activism and other not-art' (2011).