Things for Politics' Sake: Aesthetic Objects and Social Change

Project Information

THINGSTIGATE

Grant agreement ID: 101041284

DOI

10.3030/101041284

EC signature date 12 July 2022

Start date 1 March 2023

End date 29 February 2028

Funded under

• European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 499 586,00

EU contribution

€ 1 499 586,00

Coordinated by

GOETEBORGS UNIVERSITET
Sweden

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - THINGSTIGATE (Things for Politics' Sake: Aesthetic Objects and Social Change)

Reporting period: 2023-03-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In a world increasingly shaped by emotion-driven politics and fragmented social imaginaries, the need to understand how imagination and affect intervene in sociopolitical structures is urgent. Art, especially when it engages with social life, often responds to this complexity—offering ways to reflect or intervene. Among these forms, socially engaged art is often positioned as a tool for social change, yet its actual mechanisms remain under-theorised—and what constitutes “change” remains contested. Existing discourse tends to prioritise utility or dematerialised participation, overlooking the role that aesthetic objects play in shaping social relations.

THINGSTIGATE addresses this gap by investigating how aesthetic objects mediate sociopolitical transformation, focusing on micro-shifts in perception, relation, and institutional dynamics. Rather than assuming large-scale impact, the project traces aesthetic objects to understand how subtle shifts emerge through relational, often fleeting encounters—gestures, conversations, or affective responses—that shape shared imaginaries. Using an interdisciplinary framework rooted in artistic practice-based research, it explores how objects—both physical and digital—operate within the entangled processes of imagination, emotion, and institution.These processes—when activated through aesthetic encounters—can spark small shifts in how people relate to the world. Over time, these shifts can build up and take shape as shared ways of thinking, which we eventually recognise as institutions or sociopolitical imaginaries.

By foregrounding the aesthetic object as a site of encounter and potential instigation, the project challenges dominant narratives of art’s “usefulness” and instead offers an account of its more elusive—but no less consequential—roles in social life. The project is expected to contribute new theoretical and methodological insights to socially engaged art, object studies, and the wider discourse on aesthetics and political imaginaries.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

THINGSTIGATE has made important progress in exploring how aesthetic objects influence social and political life. A central component of the project, the workshop-performance "Make Your Own Passport", completed fieldwork across multiple locations in Sweden in 2024, and is being prepared for fieldwork in Italy. This participatory performance invites individuals to make, hands-on, their own 'passports'—imagining alternative identities, facing randomised scenarios such as statelessness, and reflecting on borders, migration, and belonging. The sessions generated a rich set of observations and reflections, which are now being prepared for in-depth analysis.

The concept of “things-in-common” has also been developed through interdisciplinary conferences, keynote presentations, and a solo exhibition at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art/HMoCA ("Tintin Wulia: Things-in-Common", 21 Sep 2024 to 5 Jan 2025), dedicated to exploring this idea through artistic research. As part of the exhibition, the research team, including Postdoctoral Researcher Kelly Ka-Lai Chan and MA intern Maxine Chionh, contributed a new participatory artwork, "Butsu-butsu Ko-kan (物々交換)" conceived in collaboration with HMoCA’s curators. This live exchange space allowed over 300 objects, each linked to a personal story, to be traded over the course of 39 days as part of the exhibition “Meeting Point: Encounter, Get to Know, Exchange” (21 Sep to 4 Nov 2024). This evolving installation offered valuable insight into how material things can act as shared anchors for meaning-making. A book was published by HMoCA to accompany the exhibition, featuring contributions from across disciplines—including curator Naoko Sumi, cultural scholar Ariel Heryanto, anthropologist Karen Strassler, ecologist Deborah M. Gordon, and journalist Vincent Bevins—further extending the project’s research into public and scholarly contexts.

The project also produced a peer-reviewed article, “Aesthetic Resistance: Publicness, Potentiality, and Plexus,” published in the Journal of Political Power, an interdisciplinary journal in political and social theory. The article offers a framework for understanding how art resists dominant structures not through direct confrontation, but through subtle shifts in perception, emotion, and relation. Its three core dimensions—publicness, potentiality, and plexus—align closely with THINGSTIGATE’s broader investigations into how aesthetic objects move through and influence social life.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

THINGSTIGATE develops conceptual and methodological contributions that deepen understanding in socially engaged art, aesthetic theory, and political aesthetic research. The concept of aesthetic resistance, published in a leading interdisciplinary journal, introduces a structured lens for understanding how art influences power relations through subtle, affective shifts—whose effects may not be immediate, but can return or gain new relevance over time. Rather than relying on direct confrontation or quick outcomes, this framework considers how aesthetic objects—whether held in the hand or in memory, as physical things or as ideas—can fade into the background and later be picked up again in different contexts. It offers a way to trace how artistic practices can resonate across time, often in unexpected or quiet ways, and contribute to how we experience and respond to social and political realities.

The project’s participatory methods, as exemplified in "Make Your Own Passport" and "Butsu-butsu Ko-kan (物々交換)", provide working examples of how artistic practice can be simultaneously activated to generate research data, foster public engagement, and create shared meaning in contested or fragmented contexts. These models have demonstrated potential for adaptation across disciplines and sectors, including migration studies, scholar-activism, education, and community-based research.

Additionally, the concept of “things-in-common” offers a new language for understanding how objects—beyond their material or symbolic form—can function as relational anchors across social differences. This contributes to both academic discourse and real-world applications in cultural programming, museum practice, and participatory policymaking.

To ensure further uptake and wider impact, key needs include:
1. Comparative, cross-cultural research to deepen the analysis across field sites and identify patterns of interaction and relational change;
2. Wider international collaboration, especially with institutions working in migration, public education, and cultural infrastructure;
3. Ongoing publication and translation of findings into both academic and public formats;
4. Capacity-building in interdisciplinary practice, including training opportunities for researchers and practitioners working across art and social research.
Together, these results offer new ways of thinking and working with aesthetics—not just as an expressive tool, but as a method for understanding and shaping how we relate, organise, and imagine future forms of coexistence.