PhD Defence: Alice Neusiedler

In order to obtain the PhD degree, Alice Neusiedler has submitted her thesis entitled:

NO 'WE' SHOULD BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED
FORMS, PRACTICES, AND RELATIONS OF PARTICIPATION IN ART PROJECT

While participatory practices are euphorically supported and ubiquitous in contemporary society for their promise to include formerly excluded actors in shared collectivises, such initiatives have also been criticized for failing their ethical promise – by shifting responsibilities to marginalized positions, ignoring unequal distribution of possibilities to even participate, and exploiting participants for their own agenda (such as beautiful artworks). Acknowledging the poverty of participation yet carefully siding with the hope placed in these endeavours, I investigate how participatory organizing can contest and survive instrumentalization. I do so by turning to dance, theatre, and visual art, a field that not only increasingly deploys participation but has also been involved in organizing practices that shift social and symbolic orders. Reconceptualizing participation as an organizing principle, and not a mere question of providing (physical) access, my study builds on a qualitative research design and draws on the theoretical lens of organizational aesthetics and ethics of care to zoom in on three core dimensions of participation: representations, practices and relations.

The thesis will be available from research.cbs.dk

Primary Supervisor:

Associate Professor Justine Grønbæk Pors
Department of Business Humanities and Law
Copenhagen Business School
 
Secondary Supervisors:

Professor Timon Beyes
Institute of Sociology and Cultural Organisation
Leuphana University Lüneburg

Assessment Committee:

Associate Professor Liv Egholm (Chair)
Department of Business Humanities and Law
Copenhagen Business School

Professor Maddy Janssens
Department of Work and Organisation Studies, Faculty of Economics and Business
KU Leuven

Associate Professor Ozan Alakavuklar
Utrecht University School of Governance
Utrecht University

Date: 26 February
Time: 13:00-15:00
Online: ZOOM

Location: Dalgas Have
Room: DH.Ø.0.89
Reception: Faculty Club (ground floor next to canteen)

*The CBS PhD School will host a reception, which will take place immediately after the defence.