The aim of this thesis was twofold: first, to examine whether young artists in Maastricht incorporate their political engagement into their artwork, along with their goals and evaluation of its effectiveness. Second, to explore the prevalence of the concept of artistic activism among my target population as a means of expressing their thoughts and addressing political and social issues through their artistic work.
To delve into the subject matter, I undertook audiovisual research by conducting interviews with five young artists in Maastricht. The research was supported by visual galleries, soundscapes, and explanatory texts. The primary data consisted of video interviews where participants were questioned about their identity, artistic practice, political engagement, notions of artistic activism, and their expression of political engagement through artwork, if applicable.
As a reminder, my research question is :
“To what degree do artists from Generation Z in Maastricht utilize their artwork as a medium for expressing their political engagement?”
With the following sub-questions to further the reflection :
Is Artistic Activism a distinct form of political engagement that is commonly employed by Generation Z artists in Maastricht?
Do artists perceive Artistic Activism as an effective tool for creating change? And what are their expectations regarding their audience?
What political themes and viewpoints are prevalent in the artwork of Generation Z artists in Maastricht?
Per the content analysis and subsequent results, the majority and even the totality of the participants indicated that they use their artwork to translate and share their political engagement. Even though it varies in terms of centrality and importance, there is a common pattern among the participants. The presence of political engagement lies in their motivations, in the artistic product itself, in the way it is displayed, or in the intent concerning the audience.
Therefore, the degree of utilization of the artists' artwork to voice their political engagement can be judged pretty high, as per the scale of this research, since the five participants fulfill this research component.
Although all of the participants do share their political engagement through their artwork, only one out of the five would consider its work as artistic activism.
Indeed, it can be observed through the interviews that the participants have narrow definitions of what activism and artistic activism implies, to the point that they do not consider themselves legitimate to fit under this designation. Yet the definition of artistic activism is described as artwork that intends to express political or social issues, the five participants rightly conform to the definition of artistic activist.
It emphasized the observations made in the literature review regarding youth political participation, and more specifically the fact that the definition of political participation understood and applied by youth people is stuck within the conventional aspects of the concept. The majority of the participants did not describe their art as artistic activism nor themselves as artistic activists because of their erroneous definition of the terms while they are unconsciously using artistic activism as a tool to share their political engagement in their artwork. Consequently, it can be asserted to some extent that artistic activism is a distinct form of political engagement among Generation Z artists in Maastricht but so far unconsciously as they would not describe their work as so, despite the theoretical correlation between their practice and the concept.
Throughout the interview, the participants were asked to provide what notions of artistic activism they have and how effectively they value it.
Overall, they all agree that artistic activism is a powerful tool when it comes to expressing a message to bring about social change. Further points were made; it has been mentioned that artistic activism offers a different approach than regular activism, which can be loud, mean, or barefaced, and thus helps to agree on a certain level of understanding that can be beneficial to communicate with older generations, for example. It has also been pointed out that artistic activism is an opportunity for a larger audience to take part in political participation beyond the boundaries of education, socio-economic status, or nationality, and also by democratizing the political sphere into something easier to understand and be part of.
Relative to the audience, the participants highlighted the benefits of artistic activism as an opportunity to engage with people through collaboration and communication around the artwork. They also aim to create an impact and stimulate certain emotions in their public
Lastly, the political themes captured in the research are decolonization, the democratization of knowledge, racism, and sexism, as well as inequalities and injustices.
When analyzing the profiles, it is easily demonstrated that the identity and background of the participants considerably influence where they politically stand currently. Additionally, we can observe a common pattern in the different topics as they all aim to spotlight, stand for, or allow a societal group that is unprivileged and deprived of certain rights, accesses, or freedoms.
Although the largest part of the research can be answered through the analysis of the content, some parts remain unsolved and would be great material for further research. For instance, the concept of artistic activism remains a partially unknown, or at least unmastered, concept although used by the young artists in Maastricht. It is more a question of the theoretical and conceptual framework rather than a wrong understanding of the term but it would be relevant to pursue this research by assessing the knowledge of participants about political participation, especially the non-institutionalized ones whose artistic activism falls within.
This research is being done within a limited amount of time and under the scope of a bachelor thesis, a few limitations need to be taken into consideration to understand potential biases, inaccuracy, and/or missing pieces.
The first limitation is the size of the sample research being limited to five participants and under qualitative inquiries. Thus, no general assumptions can be made out of the results of this research regarding the presence of political engagement in the artwork of Generation Z artists in Maastricht. Although, the research can later be expanded to a larger set of participants and under quantitative research to gather concrete and numerical data.
Second, participants were not concretely asked if they consider themselves artistic activists. The questions addressed whether they are politically engaged and if it is translated into their artwork, which is the definition of artistic activism, but participants remained free to apply the concept to themselves or not. And only one did. The results could have been different if the question “Do you consider yourself an artistic activist?” was barefacedly asked. Perhaps the participants would have then reflected on their position vis-à-vis the term, leading to a recognition of the definition or not.
Thirdly, some participants elaborated more than others during the interview, thus providing better grounds for further analysis of their statements. When participants develop extensively on their background and motivations, for example, it is easier to understand their current political engagement and thus its presence in their artwork.
Put in broader perspective, this research raises an important point first mentioned in the literature review; the presence and understanding of youth political participation. The study and results show clearly an issue in terms of the definition and implication taken into consideration by youth populations to position themselves within the political sphere.