The Turn to Community: Exploring the political and relational in the arts

This article builds on Mulligan and Smith’s notion of The Turn to Community in the Arts. Recognizing the lack of official histories for these forms of relational, social and collaborative practices, the article offers an expanded cartography for this collaborative art practice through three interrelated terrains: as identity politics; as governmental intervention; and finally, as contemporary art. This new mapping has implications not only for how the field is theorized, but also how its value is understood artistically.