Key Points

In this tutorial, we've seen how art goes beyond documentation and into the realm of challenge and critique. Even with something as seemingly straightforward as a photograph, art becomes the perfect tool for artists to create powerful visual and conceptual statements they might not be able make otherwise.

Faced with hostile power structures and conflicts, some artists rely upon art for a voice to challenge issues such as racism, nationalism, immigration, and oppression. Given this artistic "power", do you think art and artists have a responsibility to inform and activate the public?

With Tania Bruguera's performance works, for example, the gallery becomes a secluded space in which to confront and contemplate the big issues of discrimination, nationalism, and state power. What do you think a piece like this achieves? What might a visitor gain from this kind of experience?

Finally, some artists like Wang Peng take performance out of the gallery in order to critique a hostile political environment. Despite these political and social restrictions, the artist and his practice flourished – or do you think it's these very restrictions that inspire and enable artists to create engaged (and engaging) works of art?