Abstract

This study proposes discourse analysis, as developed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, as a powerful framework for understanding the political dimension of art practices, particularly when given an art-historical focus. It provides a systematic method for studying a broad spectrum of politics, ranging from social movements to state policy, which, when applied to an artistic setting, represents a viable alternative to relational (Bourriaud, Bishop) and philosophical (Rancière) approaches to the politics of aesthetics. Because the method allows for more than texts and actions to be conceived as elements in a discourse, it does not necessarily see, for example, a protest and its image as belonging to separate fields. Thus, there is a fluidity between the aesthetic and the political unified by concepts like hegemony. The study will outline discourse analysis as a methodological framework for approaching aesthetic practices as inherently political and political practices as inherently aesthetic—a method intended to solve the common issues arising when studying and researching art and politics.