Contemporary Art as a Catalyst for Social Change : Public Art and Art Production in a Community of Practice

Abstract: This master thesis contextualise, and discuss the contemporary art as a catalyst for change, and raises social issues through art production in the urban district Nima. Perspectives of "community", and "community of practice" affiliates with examples of placed based art, mainly mural paintings performed in the urban landscape of the community, in the stigmatised community Nima, an area in Ghana’s capital Accra. The study has identified an artistic climate that is emerging from within the community, where artists have created a system for various forms of arts education. The artistic climate is a process of social practice, and this study further discuss the interaction of people in the process of art production, which provides both local, and global perspectives of art. Issues of representation, especially who is in the position to represent others, and how others are in fact represented are discussed and analysed as well as the terminology of “African art”.